Miriam
- 5784, Aaron, Battle, Beshalach, Egypt, Exodus, Fear, Midbar, Miriam, Moses, Music, Parsha, Pharaoh, Philistines, Red Sea, Shemot, Songs, War, Wilderness
Fear of Battle, Praise of Miracles
At a time when we again feel the emotions of watching war, fighting, death, fear, loss of home and land, the first two verses of Parashat Beshalach resounded with me. וַיְהִ֗י בְּשַׁלַּ֣ח פַּרְעֹה֮ אֶת־הָעָם֒…
- 5784, Aaron, Burning Bush, Egypt, Exodus, Freedom, I Am Who I Am, Jacob, Levites, Midian, Miriam, Moses, Names, Parsha, Pharaoh, Shemot, Slavery, Tzipporah, Voice
Placing Names, Naming Places
And so Shemot/Exodus, in the parsha (Shemot) of the same name, begins as our last parsha of Genesis/Bereshit ended: walking us through the generations (by names, literally שמות) of Jacob’s descendants. The missing…
- Aaron, Bamidbar, Brooklyn, Egypt, Exodus, Forgiveness, Lamentations, Masei, Matot, Miriam, Moses, Numbers, Parsha, Priests, Slavery, Tisha B'Av, Voice
What’s in a Voice?
Last week, I gave the D’var Torah on the double parsha Matot-Masei for Shir HaMa’alot, an independent minyan/chavurah in Brooklyn. The main text follows. ********* Some of you may remember that in last…
- 5782, Aaron, Chukat, Community, Death, Eleazar, Journey, Midbar, Miracles, Miriam, Moses, Parsha, Poetry, Priests, Punishment, Purity, Red Heifer, Sacrifice, Seraphim, Songs
Fierce: Consequences, Journeying, Whining, Song
Three chapters pack in a lot of action this week in Parashat Chukat. When I first read the text and was pondering what stuck out to me this year, I realized that the…
- Aaron, Amalek, Beshalach, Israelites, Journey, Komps Kaos, Manna, Miriam, Moses, Parsha, Pharaoh, Quail, Red Sea, Shabbat Shira, Songs
Navigation
Pharaoh finally lets the Hebrews go – their G!d has wreaked enough havoc, and Egypt realizes their insufficiency before the deity protecting this nation – or so the story goes. This is just…
- Aaron, Deities, Egypt, Exodus, Freedom, Israelites, Komps Kaos, Miriam, Moses, Oppression, Parsha, Pharaoh, Plagues, Redemption, Slavery, Vaeira
Promises, Promises
I know this is repetitive, but G!d’s promise in Exodus 6:6-7 still connects me to this parsha undeniably. Through years of Seders, the four (five?) promises are engraved in my heart and mind.…
- Aaron, Burning Bush, Egypt, Exodus, Goshen, Israelites, Joseph, Komps Kaos, Miriam, Moses, Names, Nile River, Parsha, Pesach, Pharaoh, Redemption, Shabbat, Shemot, Shul, Stories
Naming a Nation
Just before the new civil year, we begin reading our second book in the Torah: Shemot (names), or Exodus. By this point in the cycle, we get it – the Torah’s big on…
