Exodus and Emancipation: Biblical and African-American Slavery - Hardcover

Chelst, Kenneth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9655240207 ISBN 13: 9789655240207

Publisher: Urim Publications, 2009

Synopsis

Presenting a new perspective on the saga of the enslavement of the Jewish people and their departure from Egypt, this study compares the Jewish experience with that of African-American slaves in the United States, as well as the latter group’s subsequent fight for dignity and equality. This consideration dives deeply into the biblical narrative, using classical and modern commentaries to explore the social, psychological, religious, and philosophical dimensions of the slave experience and mentality. It draws on slave narratives, published letters, eyewitness accounts, and recorded interviews with former slaves, together with historical, sociological, economic, and political analyses of this era. The book explores the five major needs of every long-term victim and journeys through these five stages with the Israelite and the African-American slaves on their historical path toward physical and psychological freedom. This rich, multi-dimensional collage of parallel and contrasting experiences is designed to enrich readers’ understanding of the plight of these two groups.

About this title

About the Author:

Kenneth Chelst is a professor of operations research in the department of industrial and manufacturing engineering, as well as the director of the engineering management masters program, at Wayne State University. He received rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, and is the author of Kaddish: The Unanswered Cry. He lives in the Detroit area.

Review:

"Dr. Chelst, it would seem, has read and considered everything of consequence that has been written on both subjects, and Exodus and Emancipation is filled with page after page of stunning and illuminating insights."  —Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author, A Code of Jewish Ethics and Jewish Literacy


"Dr. Chelst, who combines empathy with a statistician's accuracy, illuminates what was similar and what was terribly different in the movement more than three thousand years ago and the movement today of a group from slavery to freedom." —Dr. Rivkah Blau, author, Gender Relationships in Marriage and Out

"An impressively informed and informative work of seminal scholarship...an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to both community and academic library collections." —Able Greenspan, http://www.midwestbookreview.com

About this edition

• Publisher: Urim Publications
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 9655240207
• ISBN 13: 9789655240207
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 446