One of the issues of dealing with Pharaoh is that he refuses to allow the Jews to define who they are. The issue is that only the Jews get to define who we are, not anyone else.
A Quick D’var Torah – Names and Freedom
One of the central issues in the story of the Exodus is names. In fact, in Hebrew the book is not called Exodus at all, but Shemot—Names. That is not incidental; it is essential.
When Moses comes before Pharaoh and says, “The God of Israel has said, ‘Let My people go so that they may serve Me,’” Pharaoh responds, “Who is the God of Israel? I have never heard of Him.” Moses then shifts language and says, “The God of the Hebrews.”
That shift matters. In much of the Bible, the term Hebrew is a derogatory label, used by outsiders. Pharaoh does not see the Israelites as a people with dignity or identity; he sees them as an inferior labor class. That is why, later in the Torah, the phrase is not “a Jewish slave” but “a Hebrew slave”—someone stripped of full status.
Freedom, however, requires more than physical release. Pharaoh must be broken enough to recognize that these people have a God—and the Israelites must regain self-respect. You cannot be free if you are defeated mentally. Slavery begins with the loss of identity.
Years ago, there was a television series called Roots, about the African-American experience of slavery. One scene captures this perfectly. A slave owner insists that a man’s name is “Toby.” The man refuses, even as he is beaten. He keeps saying, “My name is Kunta.” At one point the master says, “He can’t be too smart—he doesn’t even know his name.” And the overseer replies, “He knows his name. He just doesn’t want yours.”
That is exactly the issue in Shemot. We know our name—and we refuse to accept the names others impose on us.
The world constantly tries to define who we are. We are told what Judaism is, who counts as a Jew, and what we are allowed to believe. I once heard a Jew-hater say, “Judaism is just a religion. If you don’t believe in God, you can’t be Jewish.” That is simply false. We are a people, a nation. There have always been Jews of varying belief, yet they remain Jews.
This struggle goes all the way back to Pharaoh. He wanted to define us in a degrading way. Every generation has its Pharaohs who try to do the same.
Our response is not only pride, but responsibility: to live as Jews, to do what is right, to follow God’s commands—and even when we fall short, we still define ourselves.
That is the message of Shemot: redemption begins when a people reclaim their name.
Something to think about.
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