What Is Your Own Personal “Exodus”?
By Shlomo Maital
Survey of the Children of Israel, 3000 years ago: +/- 3% random error,
“Should we leave or stay?”
Today is the seventh and last day of the Jewish religious festival, Passover. It coincides with Easter, because the Jewish religious calendar is lunar and Easter too is determined by the lunar calendar (The Last Supper was the Passover Seder).
During Passover, we recount the story of the Jews’ Exodus from Egypt. Today, in synagogue, we read the Song of the Sea, a Biblical passage that extols how G-d saved the Jews by parting the Red Sea, then drowning the Egyptian King and his soldiers. My wife and I struggle with that passage (which is also read in daily prayers), because we do not think Jewish values condone exulting when people die, even if it’s your fiercest enemy sworn to kill you. So, here is how I deal with it.
Every nation has a legend about how it was born. The Exodus from Egypt, from slavery to freedom in our own land, is that of the Jewish people. This story, about defying impossible odds, confronting Pharaoh, persuading the majority of doubters, and making a 40-year dry-as-dust sojourn through the Sinai Desert to reach the Promised Land, is seminal. It led Israel’s leaders to declare statehood, in 1948, when every sane advisor advised not to and when the entire population of Israel was less than the rounding error of surrounding Arab nations. It leads young Israelis to launch startups, against impossible odds. The story of the Exodus had to be dramatic enough to burn itself into the culture and consciousness of a people and to stick there for 3,000 years. And it doesn’t matter if it happened or if it didn’t. It achieved its goal – to shape and sustain a people, even through the Holocaust.
Every person has a legend. A personal legend is about what happened to you in the past, what is happening to you now, and what will happen to you in the future. You own your legend. You have EVERY right to interpret the past, as you wish, to alter it, to shape your consciousness and behavior. And for sure, you have the right to make an Exodus – to examine where you are, coldly and objectively, and if you are not where you wish to be, make your own Exodus, lead yourself out of bondage, and into the freedom you seek. Make your own legend. And do it now!
I did. After prostate cancer, I chose to take early retirement (Exodus) from an uncomfortable university professorship (comfortable in every way except the useless research I was churning out), and since then have produced books and textbooks that I hope are useful for managers and students of management. My latest book, due out soon, is about creativity and how to strengthen it. I have my own personal legend – breaking the invisible chains of tenure to do only what is productive and useful and meaningful, to find meaning.
What is your Exodus? What is your personal legend? What will you tell yourself, ten years from now, about what you are living today? Is it a legend you love? If not, what will you do about it? What excuses are you making to avoid your Exodus, and will you be Moses or Dumbo? Are you making meaning? Or money?
Don’t listen to your internal pro-Pharaoh voice. Defy it.
TIMnovate 
3 comments
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September 18, 2021 at 8:32 am
G.D.
Reblogged this on Exodus Network and commented:
I know this post is old, but reading this is what helped me determine my blog name today and why I am able to write this first post. I have been tinkering around in WordPress for a few days now, knowing that I wanted to create a blog, and even knowing some of the things I wanted to explore and offer on here. However, for the life of me I could not come up with a name. I know that I wanted my blog to be a form of journal as I (finally!) am able to pursue my degree. At 30 years old, I had long given up. Especially after 2 failed attempts. For more than 5 years, nothing in my life seemed to go right. When I found myself in the same situations time and time again, I realized it was time to change my mentality. I spent two of the last three years alone, doing some intimate and often uncomfortable soul searching. At the end of it, I was able to confidently say that I needed to, and was already, changing me entire mindset. A year later I am pursuing the only bucket list item I have ever had: my degree. Education is one of my core values, but even more so, I wanted this ‘journal’ to be a living testament to my children that they can keep going, even if they get knocked down time and time again. I also wanted my blog to be an opportunity to explore art, which is another hobby of mine. I wanted to provide inspiration, receive inspiration, and overall just develop a positive and drama-free environment. That being said, the first name I picked out for the blog was ‘Cyborgs and Muses’. I held off under suspicion that it wouldn’t look entirely professional on a resume. So I stayed in limbo. Until I found this blog post. The 4th paragraph spoke to me louder than the noise from the cup of water spraying across my math homework did (I regretfully got too excited and knocked it over). I knew it was perfect.
September 18, 2021 at 7:59 pm
timnovate
Wow. Thank you GD! You are creating a new and powerful narrative for yourself. Well done!
February 13, 2022 at 10:52 pm
yschauster
Thank you very much for your story! I thought about Exodus a lot and what it means to me as a Christian with PTSD and such and I just loved your real life example of what Exodus means to you.