The founding stories of Israel, the departure of Abraham, who leaves his country and goes toward an unknown land, and the exodus that is a way out from slavery to freedom, show the Jewish people as an alien people in their origins and in their character. The exodus, in particular, is the historical expression of a fundamental ontological question: the exodus from Egypt is a coming out from oneself, that is to say a collective liberation from a community identity, which is closed. The exodus impresses the seal of the being-alien into the Jewish people, who are led in their way of emancipation by an alien man: in fact, as Freud showed, Moses is an Egyptian. Moreover, maybe God himself, who guides Moses, is an alien god. The exodus is a double liberation for the Jews: liberation from closure in the ghetto, that separated them from the rest of the people, and liberation from a closed type of community. The memory of having been alien in Egypt (Exodus 23, 9: «You shall not oppress an alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt») inspires the foundation of another type of community, a community of aliens, of arrivals. Heidegger teaches that the alien is the other, is someone who doesn’t wander, but walks to another place, where he remains alien. This community is – as Derrida says – the community of the event of the other, who arriving demolishes every property, first of all the property of yourself, that is your identity. It’s a being-in-common, which connects individuals who share their otherness. This community of those who are ontologically exposed to the other is a community of guests. In this case hospitality isn’t the simple experience of homeless shelter, but the experience of living in our home as in a land of asylum, that is the experience of impropriety of ourselves. This idea of community, this idea of unconditional hospitality, which possibly draws out from the memory of the Jewish exodus, should inspire future immigration politics.
Exodus: an alien identity, a community of aliens
SURACE V
2019-01-01
Abstract
The founding stories of Israel, the departure of Abraham, who leaves his country and goes toward an unknown land, and the exodus that is a way out from slavery to freedom, show the Jewish people as an alien people in their origins and in their character. The exodus, in particular, is the historical expression of a fundamental ontological question: the exodus from Egypt is a coming out from oneself, that is to say a collective liberation from a community identity, which is closed. The exodus impresses the seal of the being-alien into the Jewish people, who are led in their way of emancipation by an alien man: in fact, as Freud showed, Moses is an Egyptian. Moreover, maybe God himself, who guides Moses, is an alien god. The exodus is a double liberation for the Jews: liberation from closure in the ghetto, that separated them from the rest of the people, and liberation from a closed type of community. The memory of having been alien in Egypt (Exodus 23, 9: «You shall not oppress an alien; you well know how it feels to be an alien, since you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt») inspires the foundation of another type of community, a community of aliens, of arrivals. Heidegger teaches that the alien is the other, is someone who doesn’t wander, but walks to another place, where he remains alien. This community is – as Derrida says – the community of the event of the other, who arriving demolishes every property, first of all the property of yourself, that is your identity. It’s a being-in-common, which connects individuals who share their otherness. This community of those who are ontologically exposed to the other is a community of guests. In this case hospitality isn’t the simple experience of homeless shelter, but the experience of living in our home as in a land of asylum, that is the experience of impropriety of ourselves. This idea of community, this idea of unconditional hospitality, which possibly draws out from the memory of the Jewish exodus, should inspire future immigration politics.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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