EXOD407 Many traditions articulate their fundamental assertions about the nature of life in their central stories, the tales describing their founding and many of their basic convictions. Judaism's central story, for example, is Exodus- Sinai; Christianity's is the Passion-Resurrection of Jesus; and the central story of the United States is the American Revolution and the adoption of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. When core commitments are described in story form, it is easy for adherents to understand the affirmations, to remember them, and to apply them to daily life. ... In the beginning of the Bible, there is Genesis, in which we hear about Creation and meet the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. The central Jewish story, though, comes later: It is the Exodus from Egypt to meet God at Sinai and to continue to the Promised Land. The last four of the five books of the Torah all revolve around the Exodus from Egypt, the trek to Sinai, the Revelation the forty years in the wilderness, and the anticipated end of reaching the Promised Land, together with the laws and theological concepts that are announced along the way. Like the Torah, much of the later Jewish tradition also concentrates on these events. Thus the Exodus from Egypt is the paradigm that is repeatedly invoked when the authors of traditional Jewish prayers wanted to demonstrate that God acts in history and that God has been, and will be, our Redeemer. Passover, of course, focuses on the Exodus story, and, at least in rabbinic tradition, Shavuot does as well, marking the time when the revelation at Sinai occurred. The Torah also connects Sukkot, the harvest festival, to this story, asserting that the festival should remind us of the huts in which the Israelites lived as they wandered through the wilderness on their way to Israel. (Leviticus 23:42-43). Even the Sabbath, first announced in the Torah as a reminder of Creation, shifts in focus in the book of Deuteronomy from slavery in Egypt. (Genesis 2:1-3 and Exodus 20:11 tie to Sabbath to Creation, whereas Deuteronomy 5:15 ties it to the Exodus). Thus the story is not only a prime feature of Jewish sacred scripture but also permeates Jewish liturgy and holidays.