…would have so many descendants, that they would be like the stars of the heaven, the sand on the seashore, the dust of the earth, uncountable. And Abraham was told he was fated to become the father, of not just one nation but of many. At the beginning of Shemot, we read of how the covenantal family, numbering a mere…
…in Egypt.” (Shemot 7:3) The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is mentioned twenty times during the story of the Exodus. Sometimes it is Pharaoh who is said to harden his own heart. At other times, God is said to have done so. The Torah uses three different verbs in this context: ch-z-k, to strengthen, k-sh-h, to harden, and k-b-d, to make…
…prepared for battle.” (Shemot 13:17-18) God did not lead the people through the coastal route, which would have been more direct, because He did not want the people to be attacked on the highway by groups like the Hittite army. He knew if they felt too much fear, they would ask to go back to their old lives in Egypt….
…it was given through fire? From the verse in Shemot 19:18: “Mount Sinai was all in smoke as God had come down upon it in fire.” How do we know it was given through water? As it says in Shoftim 5:4, “The heavens and the clouds dripped water [at Sinai].” How do we know it was given through wilderness? [As…
…u’nechaltanu, forgive us our sin and our affliction and stay with us. [Shemot 34:9] This is the first time the verb selichah appears in the Torah, the first call for forgiveness in Jewish history and God forgave the Jewish people. And the sign of that forgiveness was the second set of Tablets, which Moshe Rabbeinu brought down Mount Sinai on…
…the concept of Shabbat? Shabbat and the Manna Shemot 16:22-30 Core Questions What can we learn about Shabbat from here? How does this story introduce us to the faith required to observe Shabbat? How does this connect to our lives today? Shabbat in the Ten Commandments Shemot 20:8-11 Devarim 5:12-15 Core Questions What are the differences between the two versions?…
…A: The words “vayigdal” – meaning “and he grew” – and “vayigdalu” – meaning “and they grew” are used in connection with Yitzchak (Bereishit 21:8); Yishmael (Bereishit 21:20); Ya’acov and Eisav (Bereishit 25:27); and Moshe (Shemot 2:10). Your family may have additional answers of people we see in the Torah growing and changing in different ways, such as through teshuvah….
The year 2001 began as the United Nations Year of Dialogue between Civilizations. By its end, the phrase that came most readily to mind was ‘the clash of civilizations.’ The tragedy of September 11 intensified the danger caused by religious differences around the world. As the politics of identity begin to replace the politics of ideology, can religion become a…
Some measure of the radicalism that is introduced into the world by the story of the Exodus can be seen in the sustained mistranslation of the three keywords with which God identified Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush. At first, He described Himself as follows: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of…
…commanded to do for God. On the other, it means slavery — what the Israelites were forced to do for the Egyptians. Avodah is a key word in the opening chapter of Shemot. So they, Egypt, made the children of Israel subservient with crushing labour. They embittered their lives with hard servitude in loam and in bricks and with all…