…as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Shemot 19:16). Not only is the duality worked out in the form of law and ethics, covenant and command. It is also expressed in Judaism’s dual epistemology (philosophy of knowledge), its twofold scheme of human knowledge – Chokhma and Torah. Chokhma is the truth we discover; Torah is the truth we…
…Egyptians.” [1] Shemot Rabbah 3:6 [2] Judah Halevi, Kuzari 2:2. Ramban, commentary to Exodus 6:2. [3] Jacques Monod, Chance and Necessity (New York: Vintage, 1972); Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (New York: Norton, 1996) [4] We even find this sentiment in one place in Tanach, in Kohelet (Ecclesiastes): “Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits…
The Parsha in a Nutshell The parsha of Yitro (Jethro) is divided into two episodes. In the first (chapter 18), Israel receives its first system of governance – delegated to leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens – at the advice of Jethro, Moshe’ father-in-law, whose name the parsha bears. In the second episode (chapters 19-20), Israel receives its eternal…
…a bowl of soup, losing eternity in the pursuit of desire. [1] See Shemot Rabbah 46:4, Bamidbar Rabbah 1:15. [2] Antonio R. Damasio, Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain (New York: Putnam, 1994). [3] Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). What is the connection between the two goats in this week’s…
…us the question of the religious significance of the land of Israel. Israel is clearly central to Judaism. The overarching story told in Tanach is the promise of and journey to the land. Jewish history begins with Abraham and Sarah’s journey to it. Shemot to Devarim are taken up with the second journey in the days of Moshe. Tanach as…
…era, the word tevah is used to mean an ark – a large one in the case of Noach and the flood, and very small one in the case of the basket that protected baby Moshe on the River Nile (Shemot 2:3). More generally, it means “box.” However, by the time of the Midrash, tevah had come also to mean…
…both in connection with telling the story of Pesach (Shemot 13:8), and making the first-fruits declaration (Dev. 26:3). But the reading of the verse found in the Haggadah is not easy. The words aram and oved are radically reinterpreted. How can we read Lavan into the phrase, Arami oved avi, “A wandering Aramean was my father”? Answer: only Lavan and…
…and Moshe’s father-in-law. Yitro returns to Moshe after the Exodus, bringing with him Moshe’s wife and children, and after hearing the story of what happened in Egypt, he says, “Praise be to the Lord [Baruch Hashem], who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians” (Shemot…
…Shemot, just before the Giving of the Torah, where it says: …vayechan-sham Yisrael negged hahar. .וַיִּֽחַן־שָׁ֥ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל נֶ֥גֶד הָהָֽר… …and Israel encamped there, opposite the mountain. Exodus 19:2 The Torah uses the singular form: “and Israel encamped (in the singular) there opposite the mountain”. The famous words of Chazal, echoed by Rashi “k’ish echad b’lev echad”, explain that the singular…
…of a particular faith. It believes in a universal connection between God and humanity – we are all in God’s image (Bereishit 1:27) – and a particular one – “My child, My firstborn, Israel” (Shemot 4:22). It believes in a universal covenant with Noah, and a particular one, with Abraham and later the Israelites. So, it believes in the universality…