Remember What?: Traditions of Gerut and Avdut in Egypt 2024 CCAR Convention

(1) Then Joseph came and reported to Pharaoh, saying, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that is theirs, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the region of Goshen.” (2) And carefully selecting a few of his brothers, he presented them to Pharaoh. (3) Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They answered Pharaoh, “We your servants are shepherds, as were also our fathers. (4) We have come,” they told Pharaoh, “to sojourn in this land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, the famine being severe in the land of Canaan. Pray, then, let your servants stay in the region of Goshen.” (5) Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “As regards your father and your brothers who have come to you, (6) the land of Egypt is open before you: settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them stay in the region of Goshen. And if you know some men of abilityamong them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

(8) A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. (9) And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. (10) Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.” (11) So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. (12) But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites. (13) The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites (14) the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field.

(14) And when, in time to come, a child of yours asks you, saying, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall reply, ‘It was with a mighty hand that יהוה brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage.

(2) I יהוה am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage:

We were slaves to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt. And the Lord, our God, took us out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched forearm. And if the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our ancestors from Egypt, behold we and our children and our children's children would [all] be enslaved to Pharaoh in Egypt.

(17) You shall not subvert the rights of the stranger or the fatherless; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pawn. (18) Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that your God יהוה redeemed you from there; therefore do I enjoin you to observe this commandment. (19) When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, do not turn back to get it; it shall go to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow—in order that your God יהוה may bless you in all your undertakings.

(9) You stand this day, all of you, before your God יהוה —your tribal heads, your elders, and your officials, every householder*householder Lit. “participant whose involvement defines the depicted situation.” Moses’ description of those present treats their social station as more germane than their gender. Trad. “[all the] men.” See the first note at 1.31. in Israel, (10) your children, your wives, even the stranger within your camp, from woodchopper to waterdrawer— (11) to enter into the covenant of your God יהוה, which your God יהוה is concluding with you this day, with its sanctions;*its sanctions I.e., the curses that covenant violations will entail.