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Bo (Exodus 10:1−13:16)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Bo – בֹּא Exodus 10:1−13:16)

This week’s Torah Portion, Bo, begins in the middle of the story of the plagues upon Egypt which will inevitably lead Pharaoh to let our people go. Time and again, as each plague increases in severity, Moses asks Pharaoh to let the People of Israel go into the desert to worship their God and Pharaoh says, “No.” Now, God brings the plague of locust upon Egypt and even Pharaoh’s advisors exclaim: “Let the men go, that they may serve Adonai their God, do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?” And Pharaoh seems ready to relent. He calls for Moses and Aaron and tells them that he will allow only the men to go and worship their God.

Pharaoh thinks that only the men should go because he does not grasp the notion of freedom for all. Pharaoh cannot imagine that God wishes to relate to each and every one of this miserable people he has enslaved. Moses, on the other hand, explains the core value of monotheism to Pharaoh, and to us. All of us, young and old, men and woman, must stand before God – all of us as individuals, all of us as equals. All of us stand in relationship with God. And so, all of Israel must be allowed to go and worship God in the desert. God, who created every one of us, has a relationship with every one of us. All of us stand as equals before God.

Parsha Bo Torah Summary:

God sends the plagues of locusts and darkness upon Egypt and forewarns Moses about the final plague, the death of every Egyptian firstborn. Pharaoh still does not let the Israelites leave Egypt. (10:1-11:10) God commands Moses and Aaron regarding the Passover festival. (12:1-27) God enacts the final plague, striking down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt except those of the House of Israel. Pharaoh now allows the Israelites to leave. (12:29-42) Speaking to Moses and Aaron, God repeats the commandments about Passover. (12:43-13:16)

Va-eira (Exodus 6:2−9:35)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Va-eira – וָאֵרָא Exodus 6:2−9:35)

This week’s Torah Portion is called Va-eira, “and I appeared”.  In it we begin the journey from slavery to freedom. God appears to Moses and calls him to “Go unto Pharaoh” and to tell him to “Let My People Go.” Could there be a more appropriate parashah for this Martin Luther King Shabbat? “From slavery to freedom… let my people go.” 

Here in our weekly Torah Portion, we remember the beginning of our journey, from slavery to freedom – the journey which God promised us, would one day lead us to the Promised Land. Dr. Martin Luther King, who began for us our own journey as a nation, from slavery to freedom, once said: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” In Dr. King’s memory, and in the memory of all those who have carried us to this day, let us strive to keep on moving forward, until we have built together that Promised Land of liberty and justice for all.

Parsha Va-eira Torah Summary:

Despite God’s message that they will be redeemed from slavery, the Israelites’ spirits remain crushed. God instructs Moses and Aaron to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt. (6:2-13) The genealogy of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and their descendants is recorded. (6:14-25) Moses and Aaron perform a miracle with a snake and relate to Pharaoh God’s message to let the Israelites leave Egypt. (7:8-13) The first seven plagues occur. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh rescinds each offer to let the Israelites go. (7:14-9:35)

Sh’mot (Exodus 1:1−6:1)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Sh’mot – שְׁמוֹת (Exodus 1:1−6:1)

“A new king arose over Egypt; And he said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.’”

From Pharaoh who enslaved us in Egypt, till today, we find the same hate speech coming from leaders and tyrants.

When leaders incite against minorities in their midst, when they speak about us and them, instead of caring for all the inhabitants of the land, when they try to divide and not to unite. 

Then you know you are dealing with the same kind of tyrant pharaoh was!

Parsha Sh’mot Torah Summary:

The new king of Egypt makes slaves of the Hebrews and orders their male children to be drowned in the Nile River. (1:1-22) A Levite woman places her son, Moses, in a basket on the Nile, where he is found by the daughter of Pharaoh and raised in Pharaoh’s house. (2:1-10) Moses flees to Midian after killing an Egyptian. (2:11-15) Moses marries Zipporah, the daughter of Midian’s priest. They have a son named Gershom. (2:16-22) God calls Moses from a burning bush and commissions him to free the Israelites from Egypt. (3:1-4:17) Moses and Aaron request permission from Pharaoh for the Israelites to celebrate a festival in the wilderness. Pharaoh refuses and makes life even harder for the Israelites. (5:1-23)“A new king arose over Egypt; And he said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.’” From Pharaoh who enslaved us in Egypt, till today, we find the same hate speech coming from leaders and tyrants. When leaders incite against minorities in their midst, when they speak about us and them, instead of caring for all the inhabitants of the land, when they try to divide and not to unite. Then you know you are dealing with the same kind of tyrant pharaoh was!

Va-y’chi (Genesis 47:28–50:26)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Va-y’chi – וַיְחִי (Genesis 47:28–50:26)

Jacob our ancestor blesses his grandchildren saying: “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh” (Genesis 48:20). That is the traditional blessing for children till today. But their names are really Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob’s blessing is saying to them and to us, May God make you who you ought to be, may God make you true to yourself. May you be you! And that will be the greatest blessing of them all.

Parsha Va-y’chi Torah Summary:

Jacob blesses his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh. (48:1-20) Jacob’s twelve sons gather around his deathbed, and each receives an evaluation and a prediction of his future. (49:1-33) Joseph mourns his father’s death and has Jacob embalmed. Jacob is buried in Hebron in the cave of the field of the Machpelah in the land of Canaan. (50:1-14) Joseph assures his concerned brothers that he has forgiven them and promises to care for them and their families. (50:15-21) Just before he dies, Joseph tells his brothers that God will return them to the Land that God promised to the patriarchs. The Children of Israel promise Joseph that they will take his bones with them when they leave Egypt. (50:22-26)Jacob our ancestor blesses his grandchildren saying: “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh” (Genesis 48:20). That is the traditional blessing for children till today. But their names are really Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob’s blessing is saying to them and to us, May God make you who you ought to be, may God make you true to yourself. May you be you! And that will be the greatest blessing of them all.

Vayigash (Genesis 44:18−47:27)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayigash – וַיִּגַּשׁ (Genesis 44:18−47:27)

“Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come forward to me.’ And when they came forward, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt.’”

For twenty years Joseph is in Egypt, Pharaoh (the good and kind one) changed his name, he dressed like an Egyptian, he worshiped the Egyptian Gods, and he blessed God for making him forget his father and his family.

And yet in one moment of seeing his brothers coming near him, he is Joseph again.

Such a powerful statement about our own identity. We try to change; we try to adopt new ways of life and beliefs. But at the end, can we really change who we are? Can we really escape our family roots?

Parsha Vayigash Torah Summary:

Judah pleads with Joseph to free Benjamin and offers himself as a replacement. (44:18-34) Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and forgives them for selling him into slavery. (45:1-15) Although the famine still rages, Pharaoh invites Joseph’s family to “live off the fat of the land.” (45:16-24) Jacob learns that Joseph is still alive and, with God’s blessing, goes to Egypt. (45:25-46:33) Pharaoh permits Joseph’s family to settle in Goshen. Pharaoh then meets with Jacob. (47:1-12) With the famine increasing, Joseph designs a plan for the Egyptians to trade their livestock and land for food. The Israelites thrive in Egypt. (47:13-27)“Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come forward to me.’ And when they came forward, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt.’” For twenty years Joseph is in Egypt, Pharaoh (the good and kind one) changed his name, he dressed like an Egyptian, he worshiped the Egyptian Gods, and he blessed God for making him forget his father and his family. And yet in one moment of seeing his brothers coming near him, he is Joseph again. Such a powerful statement about our own identity. We try to change; we try to adopt new ways of life and beliefs. But at the end, can we really change who we are? Can we really escape our family roots?

Mikeitz (Genesis 41:1−44:17)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Mikeitz – מִקֵּץ (Genesis 41:1−44:17)

The story of Joseph and his brothers became a Broadway musical. It shows how dramatic is the story, maybe the biggest drama in Genesis.

In his youth, Joseph is a dreamer, and foolish enough to tell his brothers he was dreaming about being their ruler.

The drama is that by trying to prevent Joseph from fulfilling his dreams, by selling him as a slave, the brothers actually ensured the dreams would be fulfilled.

But there is a much bigger drama in this story. Joseph is the only person in Genesis that manages to change. The annoying spoiled teenager, the dreamer, becomes the saver of the world, and the second in command in the biggest empire in the world. He literally saves Egypt and the rest of the world, including his own family, from famine.

Change is so difficult, especially changing who we are, the way we act, Joseph manages to change who he is, and becomes what he ought to be. He manages to overcome his own faults, and by that he manages to help create a better world!

Parsha Mikeitz Torah Summary:

Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s two dreams and predicts seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine. (41:1-32) Pharaoh places Joseph in charge of food collection and distribution. (41:37-49) Joseph marries Asenath, and they have two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. (41:50-52) When Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy food during the famine, Joseph accuses them of spying. He holds Simeon hostage while the rest of the brothers return to Canaan to retrieve Benjamin for him. (42:3-42:38) The brothers return to Egypt with Benjamin and for more food. Joseph continues the test, this time falsely accusing Benjamin of stealing and declaring that Benjamin must remain his slave. (43:1-44:17)

Vayeishev (Genesis 37:1−40:23)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayeishev – וַיֵּשֶׁב (Genesis 37:1−40:23)

Parashat Vayeishev, begins the Joseph tales and, as it often does, this week’s Torah Portion falls during our celebration of Hanukkah. Generations of rabbis have sought a connection between these tales of Joseph and the Hanukkah story. It is not an easy match. 

Joseph is a spoiled child, favored by his father, dreaming of some future glory and angering his brothers to no end along the way. Joseph is cast into a pit, sold into slavery, and then tossed into prison… only to rise to glory in Pharaoh’s court. Hanukkah is a tale of bravery and self sacrifice, the triumph of the few against the many, the value of independence and the commitment of our people to the service of the One true God. 

The only real connection between the two stories lies in the unlikely outcome of them both.What they have in common is less about the events and more about God’s quiet role within them. The passage of time and the path of history can sometimes be a pretty strange and treacherous journey for us to make. At times we see God’s hand in its direction and at times we can only see God’s hand in its unfolding, but the lessons of Vayeishev and Hanukkah come to teach us that at all times we are cradled in Divine hands, seen and unseen, as we journey forth along our way.

May this Season of Light, and the light of Torah’s learning, carry us always out of the darkness and into the light. And may our journeys bring us wisdom along the path to a brighter day.

Parsha Vayeishev Torah Summary:

Jacob is shown to favor his son Joseph, whom the other brothers resent. Joseph has dreams of grandeur. (Genesis 37:1-11) After Joseph’s brothers had gone to tend the flocks in Shechem, Jacob sends Joseph to report on them. The brothers decide against murdering Joseph but instead sell him into slavery. After he is shown Joseph’s coat of many colors, which had been dipped in the blood of a kid, Jacob is led to believe that Joseph has been killed by a beast. (Genesis 37:12-35) Tamar successively marries two of Judah’s sons, each of whom dies. Judah does not permit her levirate marriage to his youngest son. She deceives Judah into impregnating her. (Genesis 38:1-30) God is with Joseph in Egypt until the wife of his master, Potiphar, accuses him of rape, whereupon Joseph is imprisoned. (Genesis 39:1-40:23)

Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

Jacob is left alone, on his journey home, on the night before his momentous meeting with his brother whom he has always cheated and deceived. He wrestles with a man, an Ish, all that night. Neither wrestler can overcome the other, and when the dawn breaks, Jacob receives his new name Yisrael, which will become our name, the name of the Children of Israel forever.

Who was this mysterious wrestler who encountered Jacob in the night? Was it an angel sent by God with the blessing of a new name; was it Esau his brother, come to test him in the night; or perhaps it was all a dream and this is Jacob wrestling with himself, the deceiver he has been and the better soul he knows he can become? All the Torah tells us is that Jacob wrestled with an Ish.

But something about this story sounds familiar. There is another man, another Ish, who Jacob’s son Joseph encounters on a journey of his own. Joseph meets a “man in the field” an Ish Basadeh, who directs him towards his brothers and begins the incredible journey which will lead Joseph to be sold into slavery and cast into prison, only then to rise and become second only to Pharaoh, saving all of Egypt from famine, and bringing his family down to Egypt as well.

Could Jacob’s Ish and Joseph’s Ish Basadeh be one and the same? The mystical mathematics of gematria gives us a clue. Based on the numerical value of the letters of each of the words we can learn: איש (Ish) equals 311 and בשדה (Basadeh) equals 311 as well. A convenient coincidence don’t you see, particularly when you add the Hebrew word for “equals”, שוה (Shaveh) the numerical value of which equals 311 as well.

Jacob encounters a person on his journey to find his destiny. Joseph encounters a person on his journey to find his own. Each of us has encountered such a person who directed us on our own life’s journey. Each of us can be that person for those we meet and those whose lives we touch. Perhaps it was an angel who Jacob wrestled with that night. Perhaps we too are angels, messengers of the Holy One, as well.

Parsha Vayishlach Torah Summary:

Jacob prepares to meet Esau. He wrestles with a “man,” who changes Jacob’s name to Israel. (32:4-33) Jacob and Esau meet and part peacefully, each going his separate way. (33:1-17) Dinah is raped by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, who was chief of the country. Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi take revenge by murdering all the males of Shechem, and Jacob’s other sons join them in plundering the city. (34:1-31) Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin and is buried in Ephrah, which is present-day Bethlehem. (35:16-21) Isaac dies and is buried in Hebron. Jacob’s and Esau’s progeny are listed. (35:22-36:43)This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayishlach – וַיִּשְׁלַח (Genesis 32:4-36:43)

Vayeitzei (Genesis 28:10−32:3)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Vayeitzei – וַיֵּצֵא (Genesis 28:10−32:3)

The story of Jacob’s Ladder is one of the most luminous spiritual moments in all of the Torah.  Our wayward ancestor Jacob, having set forth on a journey he is totally unprepared to complete, lays his head down in the darkness of a desert night and dreams of a ladder that connects heaven to earth with God standing beside it, blessing Jacob on his journey. When Jacob awakens from his dream he says: “God was in this place and I, I did not know.”

What is the meaning of Jacob’s dream? Well, here is an interesting bit of gematria, mystical mathematics, based on the numerical value of the letters of each word of Torah. The Hebrew word for a ladder is sulam. The numerical value of the letters in that word (samech, lamed, mem) is 130. The value of the letters in the word Sinai (samech, yud, nun, yud) is also 130.

Jacob’s Ladder is a lesson on the presence of God in all of our lives. We expect to see God in the once upon a lifetime, Mount Sinai, miraculous moments of our lives. What Jacob discovers is that God is with us always and everywhere, in times of thanksgiving and in times of need. 

“Where is God? Wherever we let God in.”

Parsha Vayeitzei Torah Summary:

Jacob dreams of angels going up and down a ladder. God blesses him. Jacob names the place Bethel. (28:10-22) Jacob works seven years in order to marry Rachel, but Laban tricks Jacob into marrying Leah, Rachel’s older sister. (29:16-25) Jacob marries Rachel but only after having to commit himself to seven more years of working for Laban. (29:26-30) Leah, Rachel, and their maidservants, Bilhah and Zilpah, give birth to eleven sons and one daughter. (29:31-30:24) Jacob and his family leave Laban’s household with great wealth. (31:1-32:3)

Toldot (Genesis 23:1−25:18)

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This Week’s Torah Portion: Toldot – תּוֹלְדֹת (Genesis 25:19−28:9)

Jacob’s journey to adulthood is a long and arduous tale and it does not begin well. Jacob, whose name means “heel,” begins his life as the ultimate trickster. He is born grasping onto his brother’s heel and so he lives out his young life – grasping always to trip up his brother, grasping to gain what is not rightfully his own.

But, eventual he sheds the name “heel” and Jacob begins to “heal.” Jacob finds love and begins a family. He learns to use his wits to find his own way in the world. Jacob journeys home hoping to heal that rift he has created. He has been blessed with more than enough wealth in flocks and herds to have and to share with his brother. He has learned that family matters more than anything any of us might have or own. Jacob wrestles with an angel and receives a new name, Israel.  Israel is our people’s name. Israel represents us all.

Jacob’s journey to becoming Israel is a lesson for us all: a lesson on our ability to learn and to grow, a lesson on what really matters in life, a lesson on what to be thankful for. 

Parsha Toldot Torah Summary:

Rebekah has twins, Esau and Jacob. (25:19-26) Esau gives Jacob his birthright in exchange for some stew. (25:27-34) King Abimelech is led to think that Rebekah is Isaac’s sister and later finds out that she is really his wife. (26:1-16) Isaac plans to bless Esau, his firstborn. Rebekah and Jacob deceive Isaac so that Jacob receives the blessing. (27:1-29) Esau threatens to kill Jacob, who then flees to Haran. (27:30-45)