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Jan 04

Open and Closed!

Just recently, in the Daf Yomi, the daily study of Talmud, the following question is posed: Why when the Torah describes what was engraved in the first tablets of the Ten Commandments, the word Tov – good – does not appear, while when the Torah describes what was engraved in the second set of tablets …

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Jan 12

Usher!

The Parsha introduces us to the servitude of the Jews in Egypt. It is no surprise that the Jews were enslaved, because years before, when G-d appeared to our forefather Avraham at the Treaty of the Halves, G-d informed Avraham that his descendants will be enslaved, because of a slight infraction of Avraham who asked …

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Dec 23

Fuzzy!

The Egyptians were steeped in black magic and sorcery, and they relied on astrological predictions. During the enslavement and mistreatment of the Jews, the Pharoh’s astrologers informed him that the savior of the Jewish people would soon be born and that it would be a male. Pharoh ordered the midwives, Shifrah and Puah, to kill …

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Jan 07

Amain!

The second book of the Torah is referred to as the book of redemption. It begins with the Pharoh implementing a policy of slavery on the Jewish people and progressively instilling immense pain and torture upon them. When the Jews cried out to G-d to save them, G-d dispatched Moshe at the Burning Bush to …

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Jan 16

We Are One!

The Pharoh of Egypt decreed that all male newborn babies be thrown in the Nile to drown. The Torah then relates that Amram and Yocheved, a couple from the Tribe of Levi, had a son, who would eventually become known as Moshe. They recognized immediately that their baby was special because the whole house was …

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Dec 27

A Day Off!

Our leader Moshe was adopted by Basya the daughter of the Pharoh and was raised from infancy until adulthood in the Pharoh’s palace. Basya, who had herself clandestinely converted to Judaism, raised Moshe with the assistance of his mother Yocheved in the palace. All this was kept hidden from the Pharoh. The Medrash relates that …

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Feb 22

Try!

The last five portions of the Book of Shemos – Exodus – deal primarily with the Temple that accompanied the Jews while they were traveling in the desert. This includes G-d’s instruction, the people’s donations and the construction of the vessels and components of the Temple. The Menorah – the seven branched golden ornate candelabra …

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Sep 26

Names

Torah Portion Shemos) Names This week’s portion is called Shemos – names. In it many names of people are recorded, such as, Avraham, Yitzchok, Yaacov and his 12 sons – the tribes of Israel, Moshe, his wife Tzipora, Gershom one of their sons, Aaron, the special Jewish midwives Shifra and Puah, Moshe’s father-in-law Yisro and …

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Sep 26

Leadership!

(Torah Portion Shemos) Leadership! Our leader Moshe was raised in a most unusual circumstance. Pharoh’s daughter Basya who had clandestinely dissented from her father’s idolatrous and evil ways, brought up Moshe from infancy until adulthood within the palace of the Pharoh. Moshe’s own mother, Yocheved, was hired by Basya to nurse him, and she used …

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Sep 26

Women First

(Torah Portion Shemos) Women First The first verses in the Book of Exodus list the names of the children of Yaacov who had settled in Egypt. The verse states, “With Yaacov, each man and his household came.” The Hebrew word used here for household, is Baiso. Generally speaking, the Hebrew word used to describe one’s …

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