The Bush was Burning with the Fire of the Revolution

By Hanna Sedletsky

A foundational myth of Jewish origins, the Exodus is filled with primordial motifs and symbols that convey the message of liberation. In the ancient Near East, many economies were based on slave labor and a large section of the population were enslaved people whose stories of liberation predate the written language.1 Modern scholarship2 does not offer any substantial proof of the actual Exodus of Israelites happening, yet that does not exclude the possibility of some exodus happening on a smaller scale. In an Egyptian document from 20-19th century BCE, the Ipuwer Papyrus,3 we find a record of a group of slaves breaking free and running away after a major destructive seismic activity in the region. While the academic consensus is inconclusive4 on whether or not the Ipuwe papyrus describes events of our Exodus, the experience of enslavement was shared by many nations at the time. However, it was the Jewish tradition that preserved the ancient theme of liberation from enslavement and made it central to the Jewish origin narrative.

From a historical perspective, it is likely that this story was transformed over time, its scale was inflated and details were added to the core narrative. Much of the imagery and symbolism behind the Biblical Exodus reflect the primordial need of enslaved people to seek justice and liberation from exploitation and suffering. The bush engulfed in flames that was not being consumed, which Moshe encountered in the wilderness, powerfully symbolizes the resilience of the people despite being subject to continuous oppression. or the struggle of persisting in existence. At the same time, while we preserve the past, our orientation is to the Messianic future. According to Benjamin, Messianic cessation would be a cessation of the homogenous fabric of history, a revolutionary chance in the fight for the oppressed past. In other words, the Messianic age will reveal the hidden and forgotten history, and those whose stories fell victim to the brutally exclusionary process of historical preservation will be redeemed.

Throughout the Exodus story, God empathizes with the Israelites and opposes their abuse and exploitation. The Exodus itself is a radical revolutionary movement, and God is its leader. While the concept and character of God change throughout different periods of Jewish history, the liberatory and merciful aspect of God has persisted in the Jewish culture and textual tradition.

A messenger of Hashem appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed (Exodus 3:2).

The burning bush represents the Israelites, or oppressed people in general, that suffer but are not destroyed.5 Moshe has no choice but to acknowledge the stark reality of human suffering, and the resilience of the Israelites empowers him to ignite a rebellion.

With the symbol of the burning bush, the Israelite God who leads people out of Egypt proclaims the ethics of freedom, justice, and opposition to tyranny and oppression.

And Hashem continued, “I have marked well the plight of My people in Egypt and

1 Mendelsohn, I. “Slavery in the Ancient Near East.” The Biblical Archaeologist 9, no. 4 (1946): 74–88.

2 Dozeman, Thomas B., Craig A. Evans, Joel N. Lohr, and Lester Grabbe. Essay. In The Book of Exodus: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. Leiden: Brill, 2014.

3 Lichtheim, Miriam, and Antonio Loprieno. Ancient Egyptian Literature. I. Vol. I. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006.

4 Dozeman, ibid.

5 Sforno on Exodus 3:2; Shmot Rabbah 2:5.

Walter Benjamin, a Jewish German thinker of the 20th century expresses an anxiety about the process of recording history and victors’ abuse of it, in his work “Thesis on the Philosophy of History.”6 According to Benjamin, past events are fleeting and images of the past that are not deemed relevant to the present are under threat of being lost in the annals of history. Despite the monopoly of the victors on recording history, the struggling, oppressed class itself is the real depository of historical knowledge. Jewish history is a collection of stories of defiance, rebellion, and liberation, of the effort to exist, survive and transmit our stories. Since the Jewish tradition has always valued and prioritized communal survival, we exemplify the concept of conatus essendi, or the struggle of persisting in existence. At the same time, while we preserve the past, our orientation is to the Messianic future. According to Benjamin, past events are fleeting and images of the past that are not deemed relevant to the present are under threat of being lost in the annals of history. Despite the monopoly of the victors on recording history, the struggling, oppressed class itself is the real depository of historical knowledge. Jewish history is a collection of stories of defiance, rebellion, and liberation, of the effort to exist, survive and transmit our stories. Since the Jewish tradition has always valued and prioritized communal survival, we exemplify the concept of conatus essendi,

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15).

This evocation is inextricable from Judaism, and it reminds us of the responsibility to record and transmit the history of the oppression. In order to build a just future, we must recall the oppressed past and have hope for its redemption.

Hanna is a Post-Soviet queer activist and educator from Moscow. Before coming to Pardes as a PEEP fellow, they studied Talmud with ZeKollel in Berlin and finished a degree in Middle Eastern studies. Hanna is passionate about philosophy, Post-Soviet Jewish history, social justice, and languages.