Freedom Journeys

How does the story of the Exodus echo in our own generation and in our own lives?

"For us to hear the Oneness of God, we must grow into a place where the cosmic and the political are deeply the same truth."
―from Part V

The story Jews retell on Passover is about rising up against tyranny, about the triumph of the God who sides with the despised against a resplendent emperor. Exploring how this tale applies to our own time enriches the ancient account―and it expands and transforms the community for which Exodus is a collective family story.

Exodus is not only the saga of the escape from slavery, but also a story of courage, celebration, rebirth and community from which people of all faith traditions have learned and can continue to learn. Calling us to relearn and rethink the Passover story, Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow and Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman share:

• The enduring spiritual resonance of the Hebrews' journey for our own time
• Social justice, ecological and feminist perspectives on the Exodus
• How the Passover story has been adapted and used by African American as well as Christian and Muslim communities to provide insight and inspiration.

With contributions by

Dr. Vincent Harding: "Exodus in African America: A Great Camp Meeting"

Dr. S. Ayse Kadayifci-Orellana: “Exodus in the Qur'an: Mercy, Compassion, and Forgiveness”

Ched Myers and Russell Powell: “Exodus in the Life and Death of Jesus”

Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow is recognized as one of the leading thinkers of the Jewish renewal movement. He has been at the forefront of creating Jewish renewal theory, practice and institutions. He founded and directs The Shalom Center, and is a Pathfinder of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, an international network. He is founder and editor of the journal New Menorah, and helped found the Fabrangen Cheder and the National Havurah Committee. His previous books include Godwrestling; Godwrestling―Round 2: Ancient Wisdom, Future Paths, which was named "Best Religion Book of the Year"; The Freedom Seder; Seasons of Our Joy; Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus and Wilderness across Millennia; Torah of the Earth: Exploring 4,000 Years of Ecology in Jewish Thought, Vol. 1: Biblical Israel and Rabbinic Judaism; Torah of the Earth: Exploring 4,000 Years of Ecology in Jewish Thought, Vol. 2: Zionism and Eco-Judaism and Down-to-Earth Judaism. He is the co-editor of Trees, Earth, Torah: A Tu B'Shvat Anthology (Jewish Publication Society).

He and his wife, Phyllis Berman, who is also a leader of Jewish renewal, often join to speak, teach new forms of prayer and lead retreats and workshops in many Jewish and interreligious settings. Together they wrote Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World.

Waskow lives in the Philadelphia area. He has two grown children of his own, is "associate parent" for two others and has one son-in-law and one daughter-in-law.

Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow is available to speak on the following topics:

• Freedom Journeys across Millennia
• Jewish Wisdom on the Earth and Human Earthlings
• Praying with Our Legs: Social Action Rooted in Spiritual Commitment
• Transformative Judaism
• The Flow of Jewish Time

Rabbi Phyllis O. Berman is coauthor, with Rabbi Waskow, of A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral as a Spiritual Path and Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus and Wilderness Across Millennia (Jewish Lights). Rabbi Berman is the program director of Elat Chayyim, a Jewish retreat center for healing, and coauthor of Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World. Berman founded in 1978 and now directs the Riverside Language
Program, an intensive English-language school for adult immigrants and refugees from around the world. With her husband, Arthur Ocean Waskow, she lives in Philadelphia, and she shares four grown children, one son-in-law, and one daughter-in-law.