(ב) אָנֹכִי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים
(2) I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
The process towards Knowing God, Hearing God's Voice
On Liberation Being the Ability to Speak, To Tell One's Unique Story
The word "Pesach" can be read as two words, Peh Sach, "the mouth speaks." On this night, the heart and the mouth come together, and Pharaoh's grip is loosed from our throats. Coming out of exile means the fulfillment of one's potential. And there is no greater fulfillment than when one touches the root of one's soul, and gives expression to it in ways that are uniquely one's own. --Rabbi Yitzchak Luria
The Encounter with the Human Other as Commanding: Levinas
“The face speaks. It speaks, it is in this that it renders possible and begins all discourse.... The first word of the face is the “Thou shalt not kill.” It is an order. There is a commandment in the appearance of the face, as if a master spoke to me." Emmanuel Levinas, Ethics and Infinity, Conversations with Philippe Nemo, translated by Richard A. Cohen, Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1985, pp. 86-87.
(ו) וידיעת דבר זה מצות עשה שנאמר אנכי ה' אלהיך וכל המעלה על דעתו שיש שם אלוה אחר חוץ מזה עובר בלא תעשה שנאמר לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני וכופר בעיקר שזהו העיקר הגדול שהכל תלוי בו:
(6) The knowledge of this matter is a positive commandment, as it says, "I am the Lord your God" (Ex. 20:2). And anyone who brings upon his mind that there may be another god beside Him violates a negative commandment, as it says, "You shall not have other gods before Me" (Ex. 20:3). And this [thought] is complete heresy. For this [knowledge of God] is the greatest principle upon which everything else depends.
"God's Great Bravery"
Yochanan Muffs,
God's Personhood, page 16
"Any meeting of personalities requires great bravery. One who attempts to communicate with another endangers his own life, for to do this he must reveal what is in his heart. Such an act is potentially dangerous because one does not know ahead of time if he will find a receptive ear.
There is always the possibility that the ear of the listener will be impervious. Any real communication, then, is a dangerous leap. But if one never screws up the courage to jump, he will wither away in silent isolation . . .
The dialectical tension in the loving relationship – the painful need to express feeling and the anxiety that the expression might not be properly received – is the inner dialectic of the human personality, as well as of the Divine, and is impossible to avoid. Humankind can only overcome this tension by imitating God, by undertaking an act of bravery, a leap of faith, as God has done – by reaching out to the other, to communicate, to love.