Feiler finds Moses in America

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Savannah-born writer Bruce Feiler wandered the Middle East looking for traces of the biblical patriarch Abraham, but he had to come home to find Moses' trail.

Feiler, who now lives in Brooklyn, will speak at the Atlanta History Center Tuesday about his latest book,  "America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story."

He first found Moses' footprints on a trip to Plymouth one Thanksgiving. On board a replica of the Mayflower, the Pilgrim's ship, a reenactor was reading a Bible.

"I asked him what he was reading, and he said, ‘Exodus,'" the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Feiler said.

The Pilgrims fled persecution in England, adopting the tale as their own.

Feiler thought, here I am in the middle of the quintessential American holiday, and the hero is Moses.

He recalled President George Washington's letter hanging in the Savannah synagogue he attended.  Washington compared the founding of the United States to the establishment of the Hebrew nation.

Feiler said, "So I kept finding this story everywhere. Slaves singing "Go down Moses."  Superman modeled on Moses. Martin Luther King comparing himself to Moses the night before he died. And I thought, ‘Wow, I should really go out and see this story.'"

As he did for his books "Abraham" and "Walking the Bible," which became a PBS television series, Feiler put on his walking shoes and went to the spots that many others can't.

"It is my job to get to the Liberty Bell tower in Independence Hall or go where Martin Luther King gave that speech and ask the questions that you would want to ask if you were there,"  said Feiler. "I feel I am doing it on behalf of other people who would like to do that but have a day job."

He visited sites and talked to people who knew the inside stories. He walked part of the Underground Railroad, and he found the keepers of the Bible upon which George Washington took his oath of office. He tried on Charlton Heston's robe from the movie "The Ten Commandments," and he talked to Atlanta's Andrew Young and other King confidants.

"In every troubled time in America, people have gone back to this story for inspiration and hope," Feiler said.

"Moses calls us all to dream. When you are in a challenging place, you have to imagine a new Promised Land…this story reminds us that … all across American history, people have made it through challenging times and helped create a better world."

Feiler will speak Tuesday at the Atlanta History Center, 130 West Paces Ferry Road NW at  8 p.m.  Admission $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. 404-814-4150.