Yithro: the context of the Law

Yithro: the context of the Law

This is the core of the Torah.  The revelation at Sinai, the giving of the Law, the Ten Commandments

Look at the context: Moshe visits with Jethro. Previously, Jethro saw Moshe's true potential  He heard how he had protected his daughter at the well and, on that basis, Jethro invited Moshe to his home and made him family. Jethro became grandfather to Moshe and Tziporah's children.

Moshe's time with Jethro was formative.  It was during that period, presumably under the influence of Jethro, that Moshe met the burning bush, met his mission.  Moshe globalized his protection of the weak ( the taskmaster in Egypt, the daughters of Jethro at the well)  to the liberation of the Hebrews..  While living with Jethro  he learned the power of signs, the credibility that miracle brings.


Jethro understood the meaning of Hebrew liberation.  They were liberated from an autocrat,  from one whose word is law, and the law included drowning infants. When Jethro  heard all that happened to Israel, he saw  that the people were guided by justice.  The Egyptians had drown the Israelite boys in the river.  Gd drown the Egyptian soldiers in the sea. Now the people were led by his son-in-law, who had been  cast upon the water ( in a basket) and whose sense of justice meant protecting the weak.

But the autocracy, even if benevolent,  remained a problem. A system of justice, a hierarchy of courts, was the only solution that could survive over time.  Gd approved of  Jethro's idea.

The pyramid of justice would need to start with every person knowing what to do, the basic principles and laws, the Torah, the ten Commandments. Each person needed to understand the principles on her own level,

  The law that applied to all had to validated ... by signs The parsha even says as much. (20;17).  The purpose of the overwhelming display was so that the people fear Gd ( the source of the law) and not sin.

The law requires "we will do and we will listen"  That is the nature of law, it is assumed to be correct.  Questioning comes later.

So, it becomes quite confused, pushed into a unity.  The law, the interpreter, the hierarchy, the truth and faith. 

Beshalach: Struggles

Beshalach: Struggles

Beshalach is filled with struggles.  The Israelites struggle for their liberation,  they flee to the desert, where every need - water, food, water - is a challenge.  They strive with an eternal, matched enemy in a  war that goes on forever. 

The liberation is like the adolescent launch.  The protector and enslaver, the Pharaoh,  sends them off .  It has become too irksome to keep this people, too destructive.  They leave on their expedition, their road trip and they become obviously lost.  When the parent-like Pharaoh hears of their blunder, he sets out to rescue them, and thus recapture them. 

Confronted by the overwhelming forces of the old regime, the young rebels try  to do the impossible- and they succeed! They cross the sea, but the stodgy, heavy chariots cannot .  They are stuck in the mud and destroyed by time, the perpetrator of the inevitable. 

Now, the young nation must find water, potable water.  They fond biter water, but there is a technology to sweeten it, to heal the water.  Gd would be their healer

What about food? They are 5 meals from starvation.  Where are the Ramen noodles? The fast food they ate in Egypt? Where does one get food in the desert?  Wherever  and however Gd provides it.  Quail, Manna, food that is not under human control.  Getting food looks like a human struggle, it is really a gift from Gd.  Say a bracha. 

Water is again a problem.  Moshe looks like the master of water.  Gd tells Moshe to take the staff. the staff that turned the water of Egypt to blood, the staff that seemed to split the waters of the Red seas.  This time, Moshe is told to hit the rock. Water gushes  from a stone

Finally there is Amalek, the eternal enemy.  When the staff is raised, Israel prevails, when it is dropped, by the aging Moshe,  Israel falters, Amalek rises.  Is the magic of the staff the faith and confidence of the soldiers?  Or is there an element of  the power of the staff?

 Or should these ideas be confused?

Bo: negotiation

Bo: negotiation

How could it be? For the sake of the cattle, all of the firstborn of Egypt die.  Pharaoh allowed everyone to leave, he merely wanted to keep the cattle, presumably as hostage, so that the Israelites  would return, like when they buried Jacob .  But Moshe insisted.  The Israelites were going to give an offering.  They had never done this before, they did not know what they would need...so Moshe insisted they bring all the cattle...so Pharoah threw him out. Hence the plague of death of  the  firstborn... for the sake of  cattle

The firstborn cattle become consecrated as a result,  This became a problem in the shtetl.  When a cow or a goat or a ewe gave birth to a fistling,  it was necessary to involve a Gentile partner, to exempt the animal from its sanctity, so that the animal could be used.

And then, when the Jews left their thousand year lands of sojourn: in Europe and North Africa and  the Middle East, they left their animals and their chattel and all their wealth behind, to escape the plague of death wrought by men.

The Israelites ran from Pharaoh in  Egypt.  They did not have time to let the bread rise  But first, they "borrowed" gold and silver and valuables.  When the Jews were herded into Treblinka, the valuables were piled up and sometimes they would sew a cookie into their coat..

Vaera: demonstartion

Vaera: demonstartion

Demonstration is a major theme of Va'era.  The parsha is aptly named:" I appeared".  Abraham, Yitzchok  and Yaakov had Gd appear to them, but the revelation  to Moshe, the revelation  that is about to occur is something different.  We understand, and it stated in the subsequent text, that  Moshe's  relationship with Gd is deeper and different from those of the patriarchs.  But now we also see a more public  demonstration of Gd:: Gd's power, Gd's rules

The demonstration has several axes.  There is a demonstration to Pharoah , a demonstration  to the Hebrews and a demonstration to  the world and for all time.  Each one   needs  a demonstration. The pharoah is the great intimidator.  Slavery is an intimidation and the Pharaoh is the master of slavery.  Thus,  he needs o be intimidated, shown that there are powers far greater than his and that they can be mediated by slaves

 Pharaoh also has has loss aversion. He has these slaves, and what clever slaves they are. Visionaries, great administrators, doctors lawyers engineers  How can he just give them up, based upon a demand backed up by a few tricks.  !

Then come the plagues.  Some of the plagues remind Pharaoh of his actions.  The river turnes to blood.  It is the blood of the Hebrew infant boys. The frogs emerge:,  the ghosts of the boys , invading every space.   The lice are the feeling that you get when you see a downtrodden, probably infested slave The beast are unintelligible and varied invaders.

The Hebrews need a demonstration that Gd cares about  them.  They are not forgotten. Gd has heard their cry and Gd has the power to redeem them , Gd has the power to separate them from their tormentors.   We already know, from Abraham's plea fro Sodom, that the innocent will be saved...but who is now so innocent?   Yet,as we know, the Hebrews are exempted form  many of the plagues and ultimately redeemed

וְאוּלָ֗ם בַּעֲב֥וּר זֹאת֙ הֶעֱמַדְתִּ֔יךָ בַּעֲב֖וּר הַרְאֹתְךָ֣ אֶת־כֹּחִ֑י וּלְמַ֛עַןסַפֵּ֥ר שְׁמִ֖י בְּכָל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

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Gd reveals the purpose of keeping Pharoah alive, perhaps the purpose of his birth:  To demonstrate to Gd's might and so that  Gd is publicized in all the land.  These acts are needed to reveal and document the power of Gd.  Their report melts the hearts of Israel's enemies and inform  generations that Gd  is  the greatest force in the universe.

Even as it was happening, there were doubters, alternative explanations expressed in the science of the times.

  The same is true now