Passover is one of the most significant holidays of Judaism. Many Jews consider it second to the Shabbat. It is the first command given to the Israelite ancestors during the period when Moses was rescuing the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. It teaches that Judaism stresses the need for all people, not only Jews, must be free, use their intelligence to learn and improve themselves, become all they can be from what they learn, and use what they learn to improve the world for all that is in it. The message is repeated often in different ways in the Haggadah, a word meaning “the telling (of the message).”

In Echoes of Egypt: A Haggada, Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman—professor of Tanakh at Bar-Ilan University and an internationally respected biblical scholar—brings his formidable academic expertise into the home dining room of the Passover Seder. The Seder is a non-biblical setting where the message is repeated by reading the Haggada. The result of Berman’s book is a presentation that is intellectually serious, visually stunning, and spiritually stirring.

Rabbi Berman is well known for his earlier works, including Created Equal and Inconsistency in the Torah, as well as his more recent Ani Maamin, published by Maggid Books. In those volumes, he explored the theological and literary dimensions of the Torah with scholarly precision. In his Haggada, however, he turns his scholarship toward experiential understanding. He does not merely explain the Exodus—he reconstructs its world.

His Haggada’s most distinctive feature is its rich visual presentation. The 156-page volume contains nearly four dozen colorful images drawn from the art, inscriptions, monuments, and iconography of ancient Egypt. These images are not decorative embellishments; they are interpretive tools. They allow readers to see the imperial world that shaped the Israelites’ bondage and, more importantly, the ideological revolution that the Exodus represents.

Rabbi Berman frames the Exodus not simply as liberation from slavery, but as a bold theological protest against tyrannical empire. Ancient Egypt was not merely a powerful state; it was a civilization built on the control of humans by powerful kings, rigid hierarchy, and the sacralization of power. Against this backdrop, the Exodus emerges as a radical rejection of tyranny and a redefinition of human dignity. The God of Israel, unlike Pharaoh, cannot be contained in monuments or manipulated through ritual. Time itself is transformed: history is no longer cyclical and oppressive, but purposeful and redemptive.

The book opens with nearly twenty concise yet thought-provoking essays that illuminate central themes of Passover. Throughout the Haggada, these insights are expanded upon on the pages following the traditional text, enriching rather than overwhelming it. Rabbi Berman’s tone is accessible without sacrificing depth. He writes as both scholar and teacher, guiding readers through complex ideas with clarity and passion.

The famous declaration—”In every generation, a person must see himself as if he himself came out of Egypt”—serves as the heartbeat of this work. By immersing readers in the sensory and ideological world of ancient Egypt, Rabbi Berman makes the mandate of full freedom tangible. We begin to grasp not only what Jewish ancestors endured, but what they defied. The Exodus ceases to be a distant memory and becomes an ongoing moral challenge: How do we resist modern forms of Pharaoh? How do we affirm the Torah’s revolutionary vision of human worth? What is the purpose of life?

Echoes of Egypt succeeds on multiple levels. It is visually sumptuous, historically grounded, theologically rich, and spiritually energizing. For families seeking to deepen their Seder discussion, educators looking to contextualize the Exodus, and readers who appreciate the fusion of scholarship and Jewish religion, this Haggada offers a rare and compelling contribution.

In short, Rabbi Berman has crafted more than a commentary—he has created a joyous and educational experience. Echoes of Egypt invites us not only to remember the past, but to see it, feel it, and carry its message forward to an improved world.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)