Beshalach
Beshalach: Great Expectations
Throughout the Exodus story, the Jewish people are silent. We do not know what they were thinking or doing during the plagues. We hear them rejoicing when Moshe first arrives with the message of redemption (Shemot 4:31), and complaining when his initial meeting with Pharaoh ends with an even more onerous slavery. But that is all we hear of them until just before the 10th plague when, to be worthy of redemption, the people were...
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Beshalach: The Best of Intentions
Whether we are preparing for an exam, a simcha, a job interview, or retirement, our success is directly proportional to our preparatory efforts. Immigrants who arrive in a new country without adequate preparation for what lies ahead face enormous difficulties and challenges beyond those that are a standard part of any migration. The numbers of olim who moved to Israel in the euphoria surrounding the return of...
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Beshalach: Let's Go Back
Whether we are preparing for an exam, a simcha, a job interview, or retirement, our success is directly proportional to our preparatory efforts. Immigrants who arrive in a new country without adequate preparation for what lies ahead face enormous difficulties and challenges beyond those that are a standard part of any migration. The numbers of olim who moved to Israel in the euphoria surrounding the return of Jerusalem to...
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Beshalach: Saving Our Enemies
When Moshe and Aharon first approached the Jewish people in Egypt, “the people believed; they accepted that G-d remembered the Jewish people” (Shemot 4:31). Yet soon thereafter, Pharaoh increased their workload, and instead of being seen as the messengers of redemption, Moshe and Aharon were seen as the cause of their problems. “You have placed a sword to kill us in their hands” (Shemot 5:21) they are told....
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Beshalach: Up in Arms
This week's devar Torah is dedicated in honour of the upcoming wedding of Miriam Libman and Ephraim Leiderman. May they merit to build a beautiful Jewish home. Mazal-Tov!
"And G-d took the nation by the way of desert, by the Red Sea; and the children of Israel went armed out of the land of Egypt" (13:18). After 210 long years, the Jewish people were on their way back home. They were to stop at Sinai to encounter G...
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