Mindful Torah...and more

     Covid-time related confusion took hold of me yesterday.       I posted my commentary on Parshat Bo, which I forgot to post last week, and did not post my commentary on this week's Torah portion. So here it is....a day late. Shabbat Shalom! ----------------------------------------------- This week's parashah is Beshallakh ( Exodus/Shemot 13:17-17:16 )  week's parashah is Beshalach. Pharaoh has not just allowed the Israelites to leave, but he almost forced them out of the land after the tenth plague, the death of the first born. Now they are standing on at the shore of the sea of Reeds waiting to see what comes next. Once again, Pharaoh has had a change of heart. Suddenly they see that him and all of Egypt's chariots bearing down upon them at the shore of the Sea of Reeds. The people are crying out to Moses in fear. His basic response is to tell them to watch as God performs a miracle for them. God then replies to Moses “Why are you crying out...

This week’s parashah is Shemot (Shemot/Exodus 1:1 - 6:1). Shemot means names and it begins with a list of the names of the Israelites who came to Egypt with Jacob after reuniting with his beloved son Joseph. The Israelites then multiply greatly in numbers until we are told that a new king/Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. He was afraid that the Israelites were becoming too powerful and so he enslaved them. Not remembering that their ancestor Joseph was the one who saved Egypt from famine he had no problem exercising his royal prerogative to do this. Why did Pharaoh fear the Israelites so much that he enslaved them? Perhaps it was not that he didn’t remember Joseph, but that he chose to erase him from history. Perhaps he intentionally desired to forget the past. He wanted to be in complete control. He wanted to be the only person the people thought about. And knew that the Israelites, not only because of their numbers, but because the people remembered their ancestor Joseph, were a...