The Psychology of the Exodus from Egypt | Dr. ROY COHEN

Dr. Roy Cohen

A. "And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel liftedup their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?". After years of arduous servitude, the children of Israel are redeemed and leave the land of Egypt. But why, despite the historical turning point and contrary to healthy instinct, do they complain, fear, and wish to return to the place where they were enslaved? As they said to Moses: "Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians."

B. One of the characters in the famous film "The Shawshank Redemption" is Brooks, a prisoner who spent many years in prison. Finally, when he is very old, he is released. He faces freedom, the pinnacle of every person's dreams, and certainly of one who has been a prisoner for most of his life. But the released Brooks fails to adjust to the life of freedom – he remains trapped in the consciousness of the prisoner, and he chooses to take his own life. The process of changing consciousness is complex and ongoing. The children of Israel were slaves in Egypt for a significant period, to the point that their consciousness was ingrained. They "got used" to their slave consciousness. At times, such consciousness is in a sense "rewarding." In his book "Phenomenology of Spirit," the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Hegel notes that the slave, like any person, needs recognition: "Self-consciousness exists in and for itself only in so far as it is acknowledged." The slave finds that recognition in the ruling gaze of his master, but ostensibly, he does not live for himself. To a great extent, the enslaving master also finds his "selfhood" from the enslavement of the slave and his dependence on him.

C. It is quite difficult to break free from the slave consciousness, and this can be clearly seen in the conduct of the children of Israel during the Exodus. Let us preface by saying: there is no intention here to retroactively judge the behavior of the children of Israel. Admittedly, it is very easy to read Parashat Beshalach, which deals with the Exodus, and wonder: 'What a stiff-necked people. They saw so many miracles and still continue to whine and complain.' But one must remember the difficult psychological state they were in, they and their parents, and their parents' parents, etc. To summarize: it is easier to take a person out of Egypt than to take his consciousness out of the straits of slavery and the feeling of submission. Indeed, after all the ten plagues and miracles that the children of Israel saw, they stand between a rock and a hard place: behind them are "all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army," and before them is the Red Sea. In response, the children of Israel cry out and complain, in a pattern we will also encounter later: "For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness"; "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us forth out of Egypt?" Ostensibly, they prefer what is familiar to them, what they have become accustomed to – the life of slavery, over the possibility of freedom, over the belief in a better future. Admittedly, the power relations and the topographical situation are not so much in favor of the children of Israel, but the psychological circumstances are the Achilles heel that further solidifies their soul.

D. For the most part, psychological change does not happen suddenly. Often it is a process as difficult as the parting of the Red Sea. It is comfortable for us to remain in the "comfort zone" of our habits – even if they are negative, rather than to start and practice a constructive and active perception. But there is no choice, one must start from some point. And so Moses our Teacher answers the children of Israel, in a kind of accelerated course for changing consciousness: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord." Moses seeks to establish confidence in the hearts of the children of Israel – self-confidence and confidence in the Rock of Israel. He also offers them a useful tool: "For the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever." Meaning: 'Stop looking back; stop longing for the slave consciousness that controlled you for so many years.' The backward glance, when obsessive, can turn into a fixation, as can be interpreted symbolically, by what happened to Lot's wife.

E. As much as it is of great importance for a person to analyze the events of the past, to dwell on them, and to try to understand how they affect his present, there is also importance in not getting used to and stuck only in the past, in blaming it, or in endless analyses that fixate the gaze backward, to what can be called: the primordial pain. Here we wish to propose a conceptual distinction between "cry" and "speech." The cry is backward, to the past, to the familiar and previous consciousness. "He who cries over the past," as the Mishnah in Berakhot states, "this is a vain prayer." In contrast, speech is forward, it is an active and pragmatic attempt to change and move forward from here. (Of course, there are additional contexts to the word cry, some of them even effective: "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry." And Rabbi Nachman writes: "Sometimes there is, that the mind and the divine abundance are in concealment, in the state of pregnancy, and then a cry is good for a person"). Analogously, in the world of therapy, one can also find parallel approaches. We will examine below the opinions of three significant Jews in the field of psychology. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic approach performs an archaeological excavation in the human soul, and mostly in its past. In a sense, it analyzes the "cry" and its sources. On the other hand, the psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, in his book "The Unconscious God," called what we defined as "cry" when it is pathological and suffers from excessive introspection – as "hyper-reflection." Indeed, against Freud's approach, stands, among other things, the existential approach that deals more with the present, and mainly with the ability and responsibility of the person to adopt and choose for himself a better future. In his book "Existential Psychotherapy," the famous Jewish-American psychiatrist and author – Irvin Yalom, stands on the distinction between the approaches: "In Freud, investigation was always interpreted as digging deep, [however] to investigate deeply from an existential aspect does not require investigating the patient's past..., the past is not the best area for focusing therapeutic efforts. The future becoming the present' is the main time focused on in existential therapy."

F. Now, the Holy One, Blessed Be He's answer to Moses, regarding the complaint of the children of Israel near the Red Sea, receives another perspective: "Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." Or in other words: 'Release yourselves from the slave consciousness, and from the cries to the past. Instead, start looking ahead. Speak, go forward – the matter depends on your will, your faith, and your consciousness.' Admittedly, it is easier for us to "cry" and blame the past, but the time has come when one needs to learn to speak and build the future. This is not a simple task at all, but it is essential. And as the psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk wrote, in his book "The Body Keeps the Score," which deals with the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders: "Nobody can 'treat' war, abuse..., or any other horror. What happened cannot be undone. But one can treat the imprint that the trauma left on the body, mind, and soul..., [admittedly] trauma robs you of the feeling that you are in charge of yourself..., [but] the challenge of recovery is to establish a sense of ownership of your body and mind - of yourself."

G. And back to "The Shawshank Redemption." Morgan Freeman, who plays Brooks' friend in the film, says that Brooks is not crazy. He goes on to explain, while pointing at the prison walls: "These walls are funny. First you hate them, then you get used to them. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them." Brooks was indeed a prisoner in prison, but he also served as the librarian. He "built" himself a "life" behind bars. But in fact, he got used to a life without hope and without independence, a life from which he found it difficult to break away. He did not believe in the possibility of being free and successful. Brooks' case is extreme and pathological, but one can learn from it how important it is to invest and preserve the bird of the soul, the person's belief in himself. From here, the commandment and psychological duty become clear to every person: "To see himself as if he came out of Egypt." A person must free himself from the consciousness that thwarts him, erase that self-doubt that Amalek and the circumstances of life cast upon him – to remove the mental and spiritual leaven: "Go out to war against Amalek." As much as things are not simple, one must muster strength, overcome, and adopt a positive consciousness of a free person, as well as an optimistic belief in the very possibility of redemption. But where does one start?

H. "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off." The main change required is a change of the heart and from there to the creative speech and the world of action. A practice that seems as if it was taken from the worlds of mindfulness, is found in the book "Kitzur Shulchan Aruch," in the laws of the Passover holiday, and can also be adopted for matters of the soul: "The main nullification is in the heart - that he should resolve in his heart that all leaven in his possession is as if it does not exist and is of no importance, and it is like dust and like something that has no need at all. And the sages ordained that he should also express these things with his mouth." In an era where there are so many external "recommendations" for happiness and freedom - 'If only you buy this..., if only you earn such a sum..., if only you have this product'..., one must remember that building a happy consciousness of a free person starts precisely in the heart, and depends on the person's will, his decision, his speech, his hopeful gaze forward, and his good deeds. And in the words of encouragement of Rabbi Kook: "There is no need to fear too much - courage is the foundation of victory."

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Dr. Roy Cohen is a Doctor of Philosophy from the Hebrew University,

Lawyer and mediator, producer, director and content creator.

Author of the book: "A Journey to the Inner Will –

The Psychological and Philosophical Encounter,

Between Nietzsche and Rabbi Kook",

Published by Hanir Veedrecha (Israel).

The book website:

 https://hanirveedrechaa.wixsite.com/home

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