GOING THROUGH THE DOOR There is a curious law that is described at the beginning of our parasha. A Hebrew slave who had served his six-year term and was entitled to go free but chose to stay with his master, was required to have his ear pierced. After the judges decided that this genuinely was...
CALL UP THE FROG(S) The second of the ten plagues, frogs, commences in this week’s parasha with the words: Vata’al HaTzefarde’a Vetchas Et Eretz Mitzrayim (Shemot 8:2) Literally, this means: “The ‘frog’ came up and it covered the land of Egypt.” Hebrew, like English, will sometimes use a word that can have both a singular...
EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL EGYPTIANS 13th century BCE: Moses leaves the comfort of the royal palace and goes out for himself to see the condition of his fellow Israelites under Egyptian slavery. He is shocked to discover that an Egyptian Taskmaster is beating a Hebrew slave for apparently no reason. To his horror, the slave is...
FOOD FOR THOUGHT One of our most important responsibilities as intelligent human beings is to identify the cause and effect of the decisions we take. Sometimes it takes a David Attenborough to draw to our attention how our disposal of plastic is having a deleterious effect on our environment. Yet matters are not always as...
LIFE’S CHALLENGE – A LESSON FROM RABBI LORD SACKS At the end of the sidra we read how Joseph found himself in prison together with the Pharaoh’s baker and butler. One morning the men awoke, disturbed by dreams they had the night before. Joseph offered to listen and attempt to interpret the dreams. The butler...
