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Exodus
“The entire community of the children of Israel complained
against Moses and against Aaron in the desert. The
children of Israel said to them, If only we had died by the
hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots
of meat, when we ate bread to our fill! For you have
brought us out into this desert, to starve this entire
congregation to death.” —Shemot (Exodus) 16:2, 3
The way to freedom is exceeding long.
So long that heard are many lamentations—
that leaving bondage was plain stupid, wrong,
that it’s no way to recreate a nation,
that being slaves had had its benefits—
there had been food, not plenty, but we’re patient—
there had been work—exhausting but that fits
the role of slaves and their ignoble station.
We could be still within the splendid realm
and serve the ones who rule all lands we know.
It rubs on us as well—we’re at the helm,
of course, not quite, but that’s because we’re low.
And Moses took too much upon himself.
He’s tired and so are we and manna’s boring,
and we are dupes, for he’s been able to sell
us stories sweet and make our life abhorrent.
Why don’t we ask our leader to turn back?
Why not submit to voices of pure reason?
It’s time that we are cut some real slack—
alike that sea, which parted in good season.
Why don’t we try to get on with our lords?
So what if they would whip us on occasion:
such is the life. We only draw our lots…
Look, all is lost and there is no salvation.
There is no end to travels and travails.
It was all lies. We’re crying from despair.
There’s nothing but fantastic fairytales.
There is no Land we’re promised. It’s nowhere.
.
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Michael Vanyukov is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Psychiatry, and Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh. He immigrated to the United States 30 years ago as a refugee from the Soviet Union.
Michael, this is truly profound. The very first verse — even the first line — made me sit up wide-eyed. The whole poem is amazingly insightful about human nature, so much so that the specific time and place of this event is immediately applicable to all of humanity throughout history, including us and our current situation. As many times as I’ve read the Exodus story, I hadn’t seen very deeply what you have revealed here: that people would rather return to slavery than take on the responsibilities and the long road to freedom. “Manna’s boring,” indeed! There surely is no perfect “promised land” on earth; and freedom is so valuable here that few are willling to pay the price for it.
Dear Cynthia, I can hardly take any credit for that, which you so kindly approved. The Bible is truly a sacred history for all times, and freedom is ever a double-edged sword that needs to be handled with both love and caution. It is way too easy to give up in order to shed off personal responsibility – that is what all the statists, of whatever socialist shade (Nazi or Communist), play on. Right you are. Once responsibility is out, slavery is in, if not physical then spiritual. The road back to freedom – if any – may never end. After the 40 years of Exodus, most of the former slaves were dead, never reaching it. Thank you for your understanding.
This excellent poem reminds me of a saying that has been going around in memes on the internet for some time now:
“The freedoms that you surrender today are the ones that your children will never know existed.”
Dear Joseph, thank you for your kind words. That is really a good meme. It is indeed much easier to forget freedom than to forget slavery, which keeps creeping into the souls – now as never before on at least my generation’s memory.
Excellent !
So glad you liked it!
This is excellent work, Michael. You have a keen eye for psychological detail here. It only goes to show that Mankind’s inclination to whine is deep-rooted and the inspired willingness to invest time and effort in something better is fleeting. But cutting the Israelites some slack… it can be quite frightening to face the unknown. I don’t think it is that they loved slavery so much as that, having never experienced freedom, they did not fully recognize that it was a wonderful thing worth pursuing. They took it on a leap of faith, and faith can often waver. This wavering and the whining you depict are certainly very modern.
Dear Brian, sure, they did not “love” slavery – that’s the thing about it. Slavery is simply human default: it requires no effort to maintain. Freedom is much more demanding. To me, Passover has a special meaning, because I’ve had my own Exodus from the house of slavery. It was, however, so much easier for me than for those who left Egypt – because I knew that the land I was going to did exist. I did not need any proof of that – but still, the sea did part for me, and I did feel the mighty hand. Thank you for your kindness.
This is an important poem that resonates across the centuries as we grapple with the gradual loss of our own freedoms and constitutional rights. There are those who sit on the sidelines accepting government mandates and not realizing what effect that loss will have on future generations. Excellent work!
Dear Roy, that is indeed a never-ending story. When people have choice, they frequently are prone to choose the safety of slavery over the uncertainty of freedom, eventually losing the ability to choose. The government, the faceless and indifferent bureaucrats, will decide for them – what to eat, what books to read, where to go or not to go, and finally what to believe. You’ve seen that.
Great job! This is an excellent poetic summary of the Exodus narrative, which endlessly fascinates me. What I have personally learned from the Torah and the Bible is that each of us has exactly the amount of freedom which we are willing to let Jehovah bestow upon us at any given time.
Dear Yael, thank you! That is exactly true: freedom is given by G-d; slavery by people.
Ah, the stability of Slavery…
I really enjoyed reading this.
Thank you, Tonia!
I savor the irony of this poem. An important message about the toxic nature of rationalization. Age old.
I especially like these lines:
“Why not submit to voices of pure reason?
It’s time that we are cut some real slack—
alike that sea, which parted in good season.”
Which shows how we’ll even talk ourselves out of factual events…
Important thoughts to be related in this poem.
Dear Daniel, humans can really rationalize anything and the rationale will always be to somebody’s satisfaction. Whether for one’s own slavery, especially when one is not the only slave but part of a group, or for other horrible things I don’t want to mention during this holiday of freedom. Thank you!
Michael, good thoughts to bring up as the anniversary of the first Passover is being celebrated. You take persons delivered from Egypt (when the firstborn died in every household NOT celebrating as directed by God) and bring them into the unexpected trials resulting from the miraculous delivery. They want the goods of life, but wish to reject the necessarily associated “travels and travails,” and thus they forget the meaning of the whole. To you and yours who are making every effort to remember with greatest care, a kosher and joyous Passover this year.
Dear Margaret, I am really glad Evan found it possible to publish this on the first day of Pesach. Thank you for you deep comment. One can only hope that people keep G-d’s gift of freedom in mind when there is an easier way of bondage.
Excellent work, Michael, very true to human nature and very true to scripture.
Dear Morrison, thank you! One deviation from scripture there is a misalignment of the epigraph and the beginning of the poem, which is some time soon after the sea, before manna, and the manna complaints there, which happened at the end of the journey, but then it’s not like i am really retelling the story.
I think the poem illustrates an uncomfortable truth; that people can almost get to like victimhood, can rationalise it. And sometimes, indeed, freedom doesn’t end well (witness present-day South Africa.) It also shows how very human the Israelites were; they don’t follow Moses with undaunted faith, they whinge and doubt. Just like people today. Thanks for this thought-provoking piece.
Thank you, David, all true. People can rationalize everything—from the worst evil, as they do now on campuses around the US with their genocidal terror support, to the best of good. For the good to prevail sometimes requires divine intervention. Note that the Land, of course, did exist and entering it is what happened next. And indeed, the story rings true because it reflects common human qualities without any veneer.
A year after it’s published, I noticed a mistake in the epigraph. It should be chapter 16, not 15. Really sorry. I hope Evan will change it.
Fixed!
I am so happy! and ashamed.
Hey man, it’s a simple typo… no problem at all…
Michael, I’m so glad you put this in a comment and reminded us of Passover and your Exodus poem last year. Matters may look a bit better now, but you are always correct that the “way to freedom is exceeding long” and bondage is easy. Salvation is real, though, as is the Promised Land. We can do without fantastic fairytales.
Thank you, Margaret, so much for your kindness. It is indeed better now – and there is always room for improvement, especially in human minds, which keep leaning towards slavery, all history lessons notwithstanding.