Journal Entry 1:

November 3, 1650 B. C., a Hebrew who moved to Egypt

    My name is Ariella and I am a Hebrew. Judaism is a monotheistic religion as we only believe in one god, Yahweh. We believe that Abraham is our “father” and that Yahweh protects us because of a covenant between Yahweh and Abraham. I recently moved from my home in Canaan to Egypt due to a drought and the threat of famine. In this case our environment and our economic well-being are forcing us to move. The drought is an environmental hazard and the fear of famine ties in with the economic well-being of our people. I hoped that this new area would be just as nice as or better than Canaan. We left Canaan to escape starvation, but we were not prepared for the hardships that we would encounter in Egypt. Whereas Canaan was considered a cultural crossroad, Egypt was isolated and distant. When we first moved here we were treated as equals, even honored, but as time passed we have been forced into slavery. I am not really sure why this has happened and it is a bit traumatizing.