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 the slave’s wish then “his master … shall take him to the door-post … and pierce his ear with an awl; and after that he shall remain his slave forever [i.e. until the jubilee year.]” (Shemot 21:6) In contrast to other ancient societies where slaves...

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 or plural connotation. ‘Fish’ can mean one fish or many fish. The simple meaning of ‘frog’ in our verse is that it means that the frog plague came up and swarmed over the land. Yet the rabbis of the Talmud (Sanhedrin 67b), sensitive to the...

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 being beaten to death. The Torah then says that Moses “looked this way and that; he saw that there was no man, so he struck down the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.” [Exodus 2:12] Rabbi N. Z. Y. Berlin (19th century, Volzhin), author...

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 they seem and there can be other factors at play. Take a look at the biblical world. A classic case in point is the promotion of Joseph to the position of Viceroy of Egypt. Joseph has been languishing in prison. Pharaoh has a dream. No...

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 related his dream to Joseph, who explained that in three days, the butler would be back in his former capacity dutifully serving Pharaoh.   The baker was encouraged by this interpretation. He told Joseph his dream, expecting also to be given good news. To his...