The parsha (weekly Torah portion) is called B’shalach and it means, “And it was when he sent.” It beings with Pharaoh finally sending us on our way, out of the womb of Egypt and through the sea of Reeds to a new life. After Pharaoh did this, god did not lead the children of Yisrael the short way through the Philistines because he she wanted to avoid having them see war. Instead they go into the wilderness of the Yam … Continue reading
The parsha (weekly Torah portion) that we read this week is called, “Bo,” which means, “Come” in Hebrew. The parsha begins with god telling Moshe (Moses) to come to Pharaoh, along with an explanation of why Pharaoh’s heart has been made heavy. Moshe and his brother, Aharon, then come to Pharaoh and tell him to send out the children of Yisrael. If he doesn’t, locusts will come onto the land and eat up all the remaining vegetation (what remained from … Continue reading
Last week was the beginning of our fearless heroes try to break the iron clasp of Pharaoh, king of Egypt! The Torah left us with our fearless leader, Moshe (Moses) asking haShem (god) what good he was doing, and haShem replying to just wait and see; the fun is about to begin. Well, the fun begins in this week’s parsha (Torah portion) which is called Va-ayra which means, “And I appeared.” It starts with god telling Moshe that he appeared … Continue reading
This week we begin the second of the 5 books Moshe (Moses) transcribed from haShem (god). The book is called Shmot (Exodus), which is also the name of this week’s parsha. It begins with a very quick history of how the family of Yisrael came to be in Egypt and how they came to be enslaved. It then tells us of Moshe’s birth and how he came to flee Egypt and meet god in a burning bush. HaShem tells Moshe … Continue reading
This shabbat we close the book on creation. Ok, it is really the book of Breisheit (Genesis), but it includes the creation of not just the world, but also the family tradition of the children of Yisrael. Before we say goodbye to this book, let’s review its final parsha (weekly Torah portion). The parsha is called Vayichi which means, “And he lived.” This is referring to Yaakov (Jacob) who, the Torah tells us at the beginning of this parsha, lived … Continue reading