With Parshas Terumah, we begin the third and final section of Sefer Shemos, also known as Sefer Ha’Geula - the Book of Redemption. In essence, Shemos is divided into three main chalakim (sections): Shibud v’Yetzias Mitzrayim - the enslavement and Exodus from Egypt. This section is...
In Parshas Mishpatim, the narrative of Matan Torah continues. However, unlike the “fire and lights” Revelation at Sinai of Parshas Yisro, Mishpatim presents us with many mitzvos which teach us how to build a society. In the parsha, we are presented with a wide-ranging body of...
In Parshas Yisro, the nation of Israel arrives at the Wilderness of Sinai on Rosh Chodesh Sivan and camps opposite Mt. Sinai. There they spend the next days preparing for Matan Torah (and there they will stay for the next almost-one-year learning many mitzvos, building...
In Parshas Beshalach, the events of the Exodus take a dramatic turn with the splitting of the Reed Sea, the safe crossing of the Bnei Yisrael through the damp sea bed, and the drowning of the Egyptians in the churning waters (Shemos 13:17-Shemos 14). After...
In Parshas Bo, after the final three plagues are brought upon the Egyptians - locust, darkness, and the Plague of the Firstborn - the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh transmitted, many mitzvos regarding the Korban Pesach and Chag Ha’Pesach delineated, and the question of three of...
In Parshas Va’era, the geulas Mitzaryim (Egyptian redemption), begins to unfold. Beginning with the arbah lashonos geula - and I will take you out, and I will rescue you, and I will redeem you, and I will take you to Me as a people (Shemos...
With the opening of Sefer Shemos the Torah shifts its focus to the experiences of the Children of Israel in Egypt. Parshas Shemos begins with a description of the servitude, anguish and punishing decrees that the Children of Israel faced under the “new king” who...
Parshas Vayechi begins with Yaakov Avinu, at the age of one hundred and forty seven years, on his deathbed. He calls for his son Yosef and makes him swear that he will not bury him in the land of Egypt. Yaakov then blesses his grandsons,...
In Parshas Vayigash, after a twenty-two year separation between Yosef and his family, the masquerade falls away as Yosef reveals himself to his astonished brothers. Facing the imprisonment of Binyamin, in whose saddle-pack the goblet of Yosef was “found,” Yehuda - on behalf of the tribes...
In Parshas Miketz, the sudden and stunning events that comprise the life of Yosef ha’tzaddik continue in full force. The parsha opens with Pharaoh’s two dreams, which none of the wise men in all of Egypt can interpret to his liking. With his mind unsettled...