The Exodus meme is the story of how Israelites became Jews after escaping Egypt. The tribe is persecuted by the world as a whole, and can take retribution against any group in retaliation. After the Israelites get the ten commandments, they proceed to invade, rape, murder, and enslave an innocent population that had nothing to do with what the Egyptions had done, all with God's blessing and participation.

There is also the bit about Israel being a promised land. Even knowing that there was no God my whole life, it's difficult for me to think about the political situation there without an itch at the base of my brain that says "but that land was promised to us!"

I was taught all of that as a history of my people, not as a religious truth, but it still is a foundational part of my thinking. One approach I've been considering has been passing it on from the perspective of the cities that were razed. But how do I do that going from a text that applauds their death?

That being said, I believe that there is happiness in knowing your roots, and in celebrating traditional rituals. Just talking about the universe as it is doesn't fill the same void for a 5 year old. At what age do you tell a child that some of their ancestors were villains? Can you have rituals and traditions that acknowledge them without tacitly celebrating their actions? How solid does their foundation need to be before they can understand that their ancestors have been both victims and persecuters?