Parashat Bo: On Memory and Suffering

Why are we a people who suffer? Why did we need to begin our existence as a people with the story of Egypt and slavery? Why must we always remember Egypt?

Indeed, Egypt is where memory starts for us. Yes, we have the whole book of Breshit with all of its beautiful narratives about our matriarchs and patriarchs. But we are never commanded to remember them. There is no Jewish holiday commemorating Avraham’s visit from the three angels or Yaakov’s ladder dream. The first and primary point of memorable history for the Jewish people is the exodus from Egypt.

It is in this week’s parsha that narrative actively turns into eternal history; at the very moment that they do the paschal sacrifice, on the eve of their exodus from the land of their suffering, the people learn that this is to be a permanent institution, their first permanent institution. And, as part of this new memory making process, they are given the calendar, a way to mark an anniversary each year to commemorate this event. Though in the Torah we have had days since Day 1 of creation and years since we counted how many years people lived, months are new and it is the months within the year that help us create a calendar and a way of remembering history.

Almost everything we do in Judaism ties back to this event -- zekher leyitziat Mitzrayim. Why? Why did we need to start our peoplehood in suffering? Why was it so important that we suffer and be redeemed, so much so that God told Avraham ahead of time that this was always part of the plan?

There may be many reasons for the centrality of Egypt in our religious psyche, but this year what seems paramount is that it teaches empathy. We are meant to be a people who – from our own experience – know about suffering and therefore care when others suffer. We are a people who remember what it is like to be a slave and also what it is like to be a refugee in a boat that is turned away from the one country in the world we had hoped would take us in. We know what this is like and we are commanded to remember it. May we not need more of our own suffering to remind us.