Parashat Shemot 5782 / פָּרָשַׁת שְׁמוֹת
Read on 25 December 2021 / 21 Tevet 5782.
Parashat Shemot is the 13th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading.
Torah Portion: Exodus 1:1-6:1 https://tikkun.io/#/r/2-1-1
Parashat Shemot tells of the Israelites' affliction in Egypt, the hiding and rescuing of the infant Moses, Moses in Midian, the calling of Moses, circumcision on the way, meeting the elders, and Moses before Pharaoh
Triennial year 3
1: 4:18-20 · 3 p’sukim ·
2: 4:21-26 · 6 p’sukim ·
3: 4:27-31 · 5 p’sukim ·
4: 5:1-5 · 5 p’sukim ·
5: 5:6-9 · 4 p’sukim ·
6: 5:10-14 · 5 p’sukim ·
7: 5:15-6:1 · 10 p’sukim ·
maf: 5:22-6:1 · 3 p’sukim ·
Haftarah for Ashkenazim: Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23 · 23 p’sukim
Haftarah for Sephardim: Jeremiah 1:1-2:3 · 22 p’sukim
Seventy souls went down to Egypt, offspring of Israel. The sons/family of Israel/Jacob had now become the nation of Israel. Now, a new Pharoah arises who knew not Joseph. Sages say that a new dynasty of Pharaohs overthrew the previous dynasty of Bedouin conquerors who were native Egyptians. Xenophobic, they enslaved the Israelites who had grown in numbers, saying they would join any would be conquerors to defeat them. Our ancestors were forced to work unpaid to for public works projects. Much of the work was pointless, no purpose, so the Israelites couldn’t feel any pride in their accomplishment. The Israelites continue to grow in numbers so Pharaoh tells the midwives to kill every boy (which Pharaoh considered a threat) born. The midwives “feared G-d” and let them live, telling Pharaoh that the Hebrew women were so strong that they gave birth before they got there. Pharaoh then tells them to throw the baby boys into the Nile to drown.
A boy is born to a Levite couple after the decree to drown baby boys just born. His mother puts him in a wicker basket and floats him down the Nile to where the daughter of Pharaoh is bathing. The boy’s sister watches and when the daughter takes the boy and wants to adopt this Hebrew as her own son, the girl offers find her a Hebrew midwife to wean the baby (who is actually the boy’s real mother). Pharaoh’s daughter names him “Moses” because she drew him from the water. Moses is raised as Egyptian royalty. Moses grows up and goes out to see the plight of “his kinsfolk”. He sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating an Israelite and he kills him and hides the body. The next day he sees two Israelites fighting (thought to have been Dathan and Abiram) and he tries to break it up. They confront him on having killed the Egyptian and Moses flees Egypt fearing for his life. He ends up in Midian at a well where he intervenes when he sees the daughters of a Midianite chieftain, Jethro, being harassed by shepherd men. They bring him home to their father, telling him that an Egyptian saved them. Jethro welcomes him into his household and gives his eldest daughter, Tzipporah, to him as his wife. Together they have a son, Gershom. Meanwhile, a new Pharaoh takes the throne in Egypt who continues enslaving the Israelites and G-d took notice.
Moses is out shepherding the flock when he sees on the mountain a bush that is burning but not consumed by fire. He goes up to investigate and is met by an angel. The angel tells him that this is hallowed ground, and he should take off his shoes. A voice from the bush tells him that this is G-d, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and he has heard the groaning of the Israelites. Moses asks G-d who He is, because the elders will ask from where is he getting this mandate, G-d tells him “I am what I am”. G-d tells Moses he will send him back to Egypt to ask Pharaoh to release them from bondage. The Israelites will take from their neighbors spoils to pay for the 120 years of forced labor. Hashem tells Moses to tell the elders that He will take them out of the bondage of Egypt to the Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey. They should tell Pharoah that they want to go out in the wilderness for three days to worship Hashem. If Pharaoh refuses, Hashem will smite Egypt with various wonders.
Moses complains he is not worthy. G-d shows him miracles of his staff turning into a snake and back into a staff, his hand becoming leprous then healing, and he will take water from the Nile that will turn into blood. Finally, Moses complains that he is “slow of speech”. Hashem reassures him that it is G-d who empowers humans. Moses is to go meet up with his brother Aaron, who will say what Moses tells him to say. Moses tells Jethro his plans to return to Egypt with his family and Jethro tells him to go in peace. On the way, they stop at an inn and Tzippora circumcises their son. Moses gets to Egypt, meets up with Aaron and they tell the elders Hashem’s plans.
Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh to release the Israelites. Pharaoh retorts that he does not know Hashem and refuses to let them go for their three-day journey to the wilderness to honor Hashem, that he needs them to do the work. Pharaoh then demands that they make the same number of bricks, but they have to get their own straw. The Israelites were angry at Moses and Aaron for making their jobs worse. Hashem told them, “You will soon see what I will do to Pharaoh”.
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