In this week’s Torah portion, Beshalach, we read the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1-18), a poem which was sung by the Israelites after they had crossed the Sea of Reed. Immediately afterwards, we read the following verse: [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]‘Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a […]

Thoughts on Parashat Beshalach Then I will stiffen Pharaoh’s heart and he will pursue them, that I may gain glory through Pharaoh and all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD. And they did so. (Ex 14: 4.) Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, saying, […]

Then the LORD said to Moses, [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them and that you may recount in the hearing of your sons and of your sons’ sons […]

In this week’s Torah portion, parashat Bo, we read about the death of the Egyptian first-borns, which results from Pharaoh’s unwillingness to let the Israelites go. When I read these verses, I can not even fathom the horror that every Egyptian family must have felt after they had woken up in the morning only to […]