The plagues continue, with locusts, darkness and the final plague, the death of the firstborn of Egypt. Moses is instructed by God what the Israelites must do to be protected from the angel of death, for even though Goshen had
And so it begins: Moses and Aaron go before Pharaoh and tell him (it seems Moses is not requesting anymore, but demanding) to let the people go. Pharaoh refuses, and God pummels Egypt with miraculous events to convince Pharaoh to obey
We all know this story- the Pharaoh that was hundreds of years after Joseph was of a totally different people and enslaves the Israelites from fear of their size. All the male babies are to be killed, Moses is hidden
Joseph has kept his true identity a secret from his brothers, and after setting up Benjamin to take the fall for robbing from him, Joseph now has them where they believe that Benjamin will be kept as a life-long slave
Joseph is still in jail, unjustly accused by Potipher’s wife, and now forgotten by the cup bearer to Pharaoh, but God has given him grace and Joseph is in charge, the position we would call “Trustee.” Pharaoh has a dream,
The stories of Joseph and Judah are contained in this parashah: Joseph from the time of his childhood to his imprisonment after asking the Cup Bearer of the Pharaoh to remember him, and Judah from the death of his first two
There’s so much in here: Jacob becomes Israel; Jacob and Esau are reunited; Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies; Dinah (Jacob’s daughter) is raped and after forcing the entire town to have every man circumcised, Simeon and Levi slaughter
Jacob has left his home in fear of his brother, whose blessings were given to Jacob. He goes to Haran where Rebekah’s brother, Laban, lives and Jacob stays with him. On the way he has a dream in which God
One of the best known stories of the Bible is in this parashah- the selling of the birthright. Or, as some describe it, Jacob steals Esau’s birthright and blessing. We all know the story: Esau, Mr. Right-This-Minute-Who-Cares-About-Tomorrow , comes in
The end of the beginning, and the beginning of the promise happen in this Parashah. Abraham and Sarah, the beginning of the Jewish faith, both die in this parashah, and between the passing of Sarah and Abraham, Isaac is married
There are two famous stories of the bible in here- the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the binding of Isaac, called the Akedah (also the traditional reading for Rosh Hashanah services.) How often I hear myself saying (or, more
This parashah is known as the History of the Patriarchs. We read how Abram (later called Abraham) was called by God. How he went to Egypt where he gained wealth, how he took care of his deceased brother’s son, Lot.
