In Shmot 2: 23-25 we read: During those many days, it happened that the king of Egypt died and B’nai Yisrael groaned because of the work and they cried out (vayizaku). Their outcry (shavatam) due to the work went up to God. God heard their moaning (na’akatam), and...
In Parshat Shmot, Shmot 3: 1-5 we read:Moshe tended the sheep of his father-in-law Yitro, Kohen Midian. He led the sheep to the edge of the wilderness and he came to the mountain of God in the area of Chorev. An angel of God appeared to Moshe in the heart of the...
In Parshat Vayigash, Briesheet Chapter 46, beginning with sentence 8, we read the list of Yaakov’s descendents who went down to Egypt.After the list of Leah’s descendents which number 32, we are told (Breisheet 46:15):Those were the sons whom Leah bore...
In Shmot 1:22-2:3 we read:Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every boy who is born must be thrown into the river; but every girl shall be allowed to live.” A man of the house of Levi went and married the daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and...
In Parshat Shmot (Shmot 2:5-6), we find a very unusual occurrence:Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe by the river, while her maids walked along the river’s edge. She saw (vatere) the basket among the reeds and sent her maid and she fetched it. She...
Parsha Points- Shmot 5778Sponsored by Hanna and Rosa Hollander in honor of Gedaliah ben Shoshi, a generous uncle and brother who should be blessed with good health and prosperityPharaoh’s behavior: a blueprint for antisemitismIn Parshat Shmot (Shmot 1:9-10),...
Sponsored by Barbara BEISS Muskinin memory of, zecher nismat avi mori, David Ben Efraim, DAVID BEISSwhose yahrzeit is the 19th of Tevetand my sister Rachel Leah bat David whose yahrzeit was on 5th of TevetIn Shmot 1:12 we read: “But the more the...
Should the Prayer for the Welfare of the Government, “May He who gives salvation to kings…” be recited on behalf of the government of the United States of America, even by those who are not happy with the results of the election?The wording of...
In Parshat Shmot, we see a family of seventy turn into a vast nation. How did this happen so quickly?In Shmot 1:7 we read: “And B’nai Yisrael paru, vayishretzu, vayirbu, vayaatzmu, b’meod meod, proliferated, swarmed, multiplied and grew more and...
In Shmot 1:22 we read: “Pharaoh then commanded all his people saying: ‘Every boy who is born must be thrown into the river; but every girl shall be allowed to live.’”According to Rashi, The Egyptians were also subjected to this terrible...
In Parshat Shmot, Shmot 2:10, we read: “When the child grew up, she (Yocheved) brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moshe, for she said, “I drew him from the water.” According to Shmot Raba, this...
In Divrei Hayamim (Chronicles) Chapter 4 we read about Calev ben Yefuneh and his children. In sentence 18 it says: “And his wife, the Jewish woman, bore Yered, the father of Gador and Hever, the father of Sokho and Yekutiel, the father of Zanoach. And these...
In Parshat Shmot, God approached Moshe at the burning bush asking him to help take the Jewish people out of Egypt. In Shmot3:7-8 we read: God said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people that is in Egypt and I have heard its outcry because of...
In Midrash Tadsheh we find a listing of eight female converts: Hagar, Tziporah, Shifra, Puah, Pharaoh’s daughter, Rachav, Ruth and Yael. Out of the eight that were on that list, four appear in Parshat Shmot: Shifra, Puah, Pharaoh’s daughter and...
In Parshat Shmot (Shmot 2:11-12) we read: “It was in those days when Moshe was grown that he began to go out to his brothers and he saw their burden. He saw an Egyptian beating one of his Israeli brothers. He looked all around and when he saw that no man was...
Sponsored With Love by Elinor Goldberg in Honor of Edythe and Jerry Margolin In Parshat Shmot 3:2 “An angel of God appeared to Moshe in a blaze of fire from amid the bush. Moshe saw that behold the bush was burning in the fire but the bush was not...
We are living at a time that is full of darkness. There are four different ways that we can transform the darkness into light: Physically, spiritually, through chesed/ lovingkindness and through Torah and Mitzvot. 1. PhysicalThe book of Shmot opens with darkness....
Parshat Shmot begins with the words, “V’Eleh Shmot Bnei Yisrael Habaim Mitzrayima”, “These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt.”At the end of Sefer Breisheet, we saw Yaakov and his sons’ families go to Egypt...
The midwives who appear at the beginning of Parshat Shmot stand out for their courage. Pharaoh commanded the midwives to kill the Jewish baby boys immediately after they were born. The midwives disregarded the king's command. In Shmot 1:17 we read:...