Exodus and Emancipation Biblical and African-American Slavery By Kenneth Chelst Urim Publications, 2009, 446 pages ISBN 13: 978-965-524-020-7

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - April 8, 2010

There is a basic teaching of educational psychology that people cannot really understand a subject unless they also know how it is similar to and different than something else. There is also a basic teaching about religion that people need to recognize that God loves all people of all faiths, and people need to know about others and be sensitive to their problems. The prophet Amos pointed this out in 9:7. He quotes God as saying that He gives special attention to all nations: "Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians (blacks) to Me, O children of Israel? Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?" Kenneth Chelst makes the biblical story of the Exodus clear by his very readable, comprehensive, respectful, and thought-provoking comparisons and analysis of the biblical and African-American slavery experiences, their freedom, and the after-effects that lasted for many generations.

Chelst is a professor at Wayne State University with a Ph.D. and a rabbinical degree. He focuses on many of the terrible people-altering experiences of the ancient Israelites and blacks, matters that can be seen to have relevance today. Did it make any difference, for example, that the Israelites entered Egypt as a free people who were given a unique preferable status by the ruling class, while the blacks were driven to America as chained slaves in miserable slave ships during a long crowded trip where many died? How did the fact that the slavery of both people began with the sale of a brother into slavery effect the slaves? Did the retention of pre-slavery names help sustain either culture? Where both groups able to react favorably to freedom? How did they differ? Do the blacks still suffer from their ancestral experience and, if so, why?

Chelst raises, investigates, and clarifies many other matters. Did either group have an expectation of freedom? How did the giving up of the blacks' pre-slavery religion and the adoption of Christianity degrade the slave's life? How was the spirit of each group systematically broken? Were the women of both enslaved? What effect did rape by slave owners have on the women and on the men? Did women have a voice among the blacks and Israelites? Did either group have leaders while enslaved? What lies did the masters develop to describe both groups and why did they do so? How did the "righteous" people among the non-slave class act? How does the manner of remembering the ancient experience help mold both groups? These are just some of the tantalizing subjects that Kenneth Chelst explores and clarifies.

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