Moses, the Exodus and the Torah

The central story of the Hebrew Bible is the Exodus: according to the narrative, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt until God, through Moses, freed them, and at Mount Sinai gave them the Torah, including the Ten Commandments. The Torah ('teaching' or 'instruction') refers most narrowly to the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and more broadly to all Jewish teaching. Tradition counts 613 commandments (mitzvot) in it, covering worship, ethics, diet, justice and care for the poor and strangers.

Archaeologists have found no direct evidence of the Exodus as described, and scholars debate whether it reflects a smaller historical event, collective memory or later theological reflection. For Jews, its meaning is less about archaeology than identity: freedom from slavery, received law and the duty to remember. The phrase 'you were strangers in the land of Egypt' grounds repeated biblical commands to treat outsiders justly.