Each year we read the story of our exodus from Egypt during the Pesach seder. The story is one of human liberation from oppression. Yet, most of the imagery we encounter, the drama of the story so to speak, involves nature: a river that saves a baby, a burning bush, the plagues, the re(e)d sea, the wilderness, lack of food and water and the promised land itself. What does this mean?
In general, it means that human liberation is intimately connected to the liberation of all of creation. In particular, the exodus story can teach us many lessons about environmental justice. I’m going to explore five of them here: do not manipulate nature, use water wisely, form a connection to the land, imagine G-d differently and treat humans, animals and the land well.
LESSON ONE: DO NOT MANIPULATE NATURE
The long narrative about the ten plagues not only shows the horror and destruction which human misuse of nature can bring, it also shows us just how important balance is. While the parting of the Re(e)d Sea allows the Israelites freedom, it also destroys the Egyptians and their horses. Our celebrations need to be mindful of the ways in which our liberation was achieved through manipulating nature so that it killed others.
TWO: USE WATER WISELY
Moses’ mother placed him in a reed basket and floated him down a river so that he wouldn’t be killed. She knew that women used that river to bathe and one of them would find the baby 
and raise him as her own. She used water wisely and in doing so saved her baby’s life.
Yet, drowning of the Egyptians is still happening today when water is polluted with pesticides, privatized, overused and a daily struggle for many people today. While water may have helped us gain our freedom, it came at a high price. It still does.
FORM A CONNECTION TO THE LAND
Wandering in the desert for 40 years and the constant complaining of the Israelites about the lack of food and water has a number of lessons to teach us. First, it is highly probable that coming from the Egyptian society in which they could have been quite disconnected with nature, they had no idea what was edible in the desert and no clue how to find drinkable water. G-d is merciful and provides the Israelites with food that they recognize (quails and manna) and easily obtainable sources of water. If there really was no food in the desert, this is also a good illustration of the ways in which humans need nature to survive and they need certain things from the natural world. Forming a connection to the land doesn’t come through its severe modification so that it is habitable for humans, it is a process that takes generations of knowledge concerning how to live off the land.
IMAGINE G-D DIFFERENTLY
The Shekinah in the form of pillars of cloud by day and fire by night provide us with a different understanding of G-d’s presence in the natural world. G-d guides the Israelites in their wanderings showing them where to camp and when to leave. They are not alone in what for them is a foreign and quite terrifying place. It is also an image of an immanent, caring G-d working through creation and not wholly separate from it. It is an image of G-d that I find comforting and often think of when I see fog hanging low in the air or wrapped around a mountain peak.
TREAT HUMANS, ANIMALS AND THE LAND WELL
Finally, we have the gift of the Promised Land to the Israelites whose conquest is a lesson in and of itself on how not to treat human beings. This Promised Land is not given as property. The Israelites can live there as long as they hold up their end of the covenant with G-d. This
includes rules about the farming of the land including sabbatical resting of the land, not harvesting the corners of fields so that the poor may eat, not taking all the fruit from the vines and trees so others may have some and giving an additional portion of the harvest to the poor every three years. Working animals must have Shabbat rest, be treated fairly, not be beaten and be worked at their own pace so as not to cause injury. If one wants to eat the meat of animals, their slaughter must be done in a humane way. The land is said to be flowing with milk and honey, an abundance that humans must help maintain by following the covenant they have chosen. Failure to abide by these rules will lead to exile from the land.
***
This is just the tip of the iceberg on how this Jewish story of human liberation is directly connected to the liberation of the entirety of creation. So much more could be said, so many other connections could be made, other images drawn from and so many more lessons to be learned. Alas there is not enough room here.
The most important point is that liberation is not an otherworldly phenomena, but keenly grounded in the here-and-now. It comes through the balanced use of nature, the wise use of water, different imagines for G-d, a strong connection to the land, in just relationships with each other, animals and that place and so much more. The reward is a good life in a land flowing with milk and honey. I can think of nothing better.
Ivy A. Helman, Ph. D. is a US feminist scholar currently living abroad in Prague in the Czech Republic. Her most recent publications include: “Queer Systems: The Benefits of a More Systematic Approach to Queer Theology,” in CrossCurrents (March 2011) and Women and the Vatican: An Exploration of Official Documents(2012).
feminismandreligion.com 
Brilliant and beautiful. Thank you!
LikeLike
Those a very interesting lessons. And a whole new view of the Book of Exodus. I had no idea the story could be interpreted to hold these lessons.
LikeLike
Wow, Ivy, what an eye-opening interpretation! I would like to share your post with my Bible study group, if you don’t mind.
Thanks so much for writing this!
Linda
LikeLike
Thanks! I would be happy if you did.
LikeLike
I had mixed reactions to this. At first I read it exegesis of texts, which for me left out or de-emphasized many ideas important to the text itself (which left me unalbe to participate in Biblical traditions), including that God was pictured as a “Man of War: in Exodus 15 and as you say: “our liberation was achieved through manipulating nature so that it killed others.” In that regard it reminded me of sermons of my childhood in which (to use a term I later learned) eisogesis was more important than exegeis, or in other words, the minister found what he wanted to find in a text, even if the text seemed to have very little to do with what he was saying.
However if we read what you wrote as an ecofeminist midrash on the texts that inform Passover, we can see it as a re-reading, sometimes against the text, intended to transform a central ritual of Judaism. In that you have succeeded. Good ecofeminist midrash!
LikeLike
The second was my goal. I’m currently teaching a class on ecofeminism. It seems to be seeping out of my pores and onto the page.
Although to your first point, there is so much I could say about each one of these examples, I was leaving stuff out. Not because I was doing it in order to read what I wanted to into the text, but rather because there was no way I could possibly cover everything in one blog post. The warrior language in Exodus 15 alone could be many, many blog posts about power over and G-d as patriarchal figure par excellence as well as the way in which the song celebrates that imagine of G-d (incidentally, it was in one of the early drafts of this post). I’m convinced that finding imagines of G-d that undermine this patriarchal image is just as important as the critique of it itself and is perhaps just as sufficient as the critique.
LikeLike
I agree that there are different ways of reading texts. I think what I found mystifying as a child and irritating as an adult was the attempt to find meaning in texts that probably was not intended by its authors. As a child I wanted to say, come on, that was not in the text you were citing. As an adult I often felt there was special pleading–see our tradition has everything you need if you just read it correctly (you stupid fool who thinks otherwise). Now I see that for those who have other reasons (other than that their tradition is perfectly good and wholesome overall) to stay in their tradition, can work to transform their tradition, so that it becomse something other than (and hopefully better than) it has been in the past.
PS I have never been interested in dwelling on critique without moving forward to re-imagining (to quote a phrase).
LikeLike
I read this post the morning after my first meeting of the Green Party of Canada. Good combination! Gives me hope for the future. The Canadian Greens btw, are led by Elizabeth May, an intelligent, mature, thoughtful, caring, woman. Would love to see her as PM!
LikeLike