Introducton
Tracking the relationship of our patriarchs with G-d, we find that in the story of Joseph G-d hardly features, except as it says in the beginning of Joseph's narrative — "G-d was with him".
Early in the beginning of this narrative, G-d appears to Moses (at 80 years of age, though). And they remain close throughout Moshe Rabeinu's life. However, Moshe is a complex character. He is know as supremely humble, yet right from the start argues with G-d.
One of the commentaries mentions that Joseph tried to keep the Hebrews separate from Egypt, but after his death the Hebrews tried to assimilate, but were instead enslaved. Thus, it is necessary to keep the people separated. However, modern Israel has tried to assimilate, and this has just enabled the rise of anti-semitism, and anti-Israeli sentiments, as predicted.
Chapter 1
v1-5] Names of the sons of Israel (again). This is a repeat of Genesis 46:8.
v6] Joseph dies
v7] The people were fruitful and swarmed
v8] New Pharaoh: Did not know Joseph
v9-10] Too many of us.
v11] Tax collectors
v12] Continue to multiply - despite
v13-14] Enslaved
v15] Midwives: Shifrah & Puah
v16] "Kill the boys"
v17] Midwives feared G-d
v18] Pharaoh summons midwives
v19] Hebrew women are too capable
v20] G-d benefitted the midwives; people multiplied
v21] Midwives received houses built by G-d for them
v22] Pharaoh: Kill ALL baby boys... everyone, including the Egyptians
Chapter 2
v1] Levi marries a Levite
v2] She has a son. Hides him for 3 months
v3] Basket of reeds
v4] Sister follows him
v5] Pharaoh's daughter takes him from the water
v6] Realises he is a Hebrew child
v7] Sister approaches the Pharaoh's daughter.
v8] "Go"
v9] Brings Jochebed (Moses' mother) to take him and nurse him.
*v10] Grew up, the pharaoh's daughter named him Moses.
v11] Burdens of brothers
v12] Struck and killed an Egyptian taskmaster
v13] Two Hebrew men fighting
v14] Call him "killer"
v15] Flees to Midian. Waits at well.
*v16] Seven daughters approach the well.
v17] Water the sheep. Moses helps.
v18] Reuel
v19] The Egyptian man
v20] Where is he?
v21] Married Zipporah
v22] Son Gershon "stranger in a strange land"
v23] King dies. Israelites cry out.
v24] G-d hears
v25] Saw - good
Chapter 3
v1] Approaches Mt of G-d, Horeb, with flocks of Jethro, chief of Middan.
v2] Angel in bush
*v3] Moses turns to look
v4] G-d notices he turned, calls out to Moshe...
v5] Hallowed ground, remove shoes
v6] G-d of your fathers. Moses is afraid.
v7] I have seen your affliction
v8] Promise of land
v9] Your cries have come to me
v10] You will go to Pharoah
v11] Who am I to do such a thing?
v12] I will be with you
v13] Name?
v14] אהיה אשׁר אהִה
v15] G-d of your fathers sent you
v16] Assemble elders
v17] Bring you out of affliction
v18] 3 days
v19] King will refuse
*v20] Stretch and smile
v21] Empty-handed
*v22] Neighbour, dweller; empty Egypt
Chapter 4
v1] Won't believe me
v2] Staff
v3] Serpent
v4] Tail
v5] Believe you
v6] Bosom -> hand white
v7] Bosom -> hand flesh again
v8] Believe last sign
v9] Blood of the Nile
*v10] Heavy of mouth
v11] Who gave man a mouth?
v12] I will instruct you
v13] What is the message?
v14] Aaron - G-d angry at him
v15] You instruct him
v16] Will speak for you
v17] Staff
v18] Jeter, father-in-law, let me return
v19] "return"
v20] Return with wife and sons
*v21] Perform signs. Pharaoh will not send the people
v22] Say this to Pharaoh
v23] "Send out my son"
== Strange piece
v24] Inn
v25] Zipporah cuts foreskin of son {Which one?}. "You are a bridegroom of blood to me",
v26] connected to the Brit.
v27] Aaron
v28] Moses told Aaron
v29] Elders
v20] Aaron speak words
v31] And the people believed
Notes
Chapter 1
n1-7] Righteous generation passed
{Jacob's son's are deemed meritorious, even after selling Joseph and lying. They rose to become spiritually pure! No punishment, no repercussions or redemption necessary. They become pure enough to prevent the enslavement of our people while they were still alive. The grandchildren were not.
This speaks of an incredibly swift ascent of moral integrity of the brothers. Yet it occurs one step at a time, over time. Remember over 40 years have passed.}
— Likened to starts
"He counts them when they come out and when they are gathered in".
{What a lovely concept of stars. Firstly as emissaries of G-d. Secondly, that He knows each by name. In this age, we distance ourselves from the stars, although we might explore them scientific in exhaustive detail, they do not play a significant part in most of our lives — even those scientists who study them day in and day out. Most of us have excluded them from any but the most superficial influence. Even astrology is dismissed in our time.
— Twelve constellations
The number 12 has appeared as an important number in a many ancient cultures. Today we are left with some of them. As in in a circle; or 24 hours to the day, 60 seconds to the minute, 60 minutes to the hour; 12 inches in a foot.
The twelve constellations are the same twelve that form the basis of astrology. This is an example of Judaism perhaps absorbing teaching from foreign source and using them to influence and elucidate the text.
— from Gur Aryeh
{ Evolution
The theory of evolution is not incorrect. However, it is rather a progression from the simple to the more complex.
- In order for a body to manifest, cells needed to exist. Cells needed nutrients — which are molecular, and molecules are made up of atoms, which themselves are made up of sub-atomic "particles".
- In other words, it had to built up from the bottom up, stage by stage — a carefully orchestrated sequence of events. The 1st stage had to be completed before the next stage.
- That is why it states in Genesis "Day one, the second day ... it was good, the third day ... it was good, etc." That the ordinal was used, speaks of a sequence of days. That it was good speaks to the need for each stage to be complete before the next took place. What the evolutionary scientists call a "successful" evolution, is those that survived. However, they do not really know why the one succeeded and the other failed. The answers they have found are most times clutching at straws, and ignoring the obvious exceptions to the general idea of the "survival of the fittest" — as evidenced by the peacock, or the giraffe... how did the giraffe know to grow two hearts?
Simple
Perhaps the whole realm of the quantum, which we perceive as so complex is actually something much more simple, that, because we can only see a slice thereof, would seem far more complex and erratic than it actually is. One could also express this as that the mathematics necessary to solve this equation we do not yet have. Like the deceptively simple could be ascertained. After a complex mathematical road, we arrive at a decidedly simple statement. Energy and mass (with light) are equivalent. One could derive from this that mass is actually light — whereas energy includes both that which we call mass (a measurable and light). In essence it consists of a real part and an "imaginary" (non-physical) part. Thus light and mass are two different forms of energy. Just as Kabbalah speaks of the right pillar being the pillar of force (directed energy) and the left pillar that of form (static energy, or energy "at rest").
The analogy here is a sphere moving through a plane. The 2d inhabitant of the plane would see a dot appear on the horizon that would increase in size until it reached its maximum extent and then shrink to a point and dissapear. How did that happen, the 2d being might ask? And is very unlikely to come up with the idea that a 3d object was moving through 2d — because he would have no idea of the existence of 3d (being a 2d being), nor, if he did stumble across the idea, would anyone take him seriously, having had no experience of a 3d object (to the best of their knowledge) and thus would be loathe to accept an explanation that included objects from a higher dimension. It would require for them to believe that such a thing as a dimension existed. As well as that of a higher one.
}
R' K: As long as...
הבאים We are coming
n6] Generation maintained spiritual level: Patriarchs
n8-14] Steps to enslavement
- Labour tax
- "Abort" male babies
- Throw male babies into the river (children?)
- Search & seizure
n9] Outsiders Take advantage of the newcomers
*n12] Levites NOT enslaved? Why?
n13] ויקצוּ The newcomers now disgusted them.
n15-22] Infanticide
- Shifrah & Puah, which some claim are Jochebed & Miriam, Moses' mother and sister (Sotah 11b).
- Why different names?
The justification for this infanticide seems to have been based on a prophecy that the saviour of the people was going to be born in this generation (Sotah 12b).
n21] "G-d rewarded them with houses". Some say they were not literally houses, but dynasties that their bloodline would produce. {However, it is far more likely, under such autocratic rule, that they would have been arrested and possibly executed for not carrying out the pharaoh's wishes. The polar "you are either with us, or you are against us". }
n22] לכּל־עמי: The pharaoh's edict included all the people! How could that be?
Chapter 2
n1-10] Moses
n1] Jochebed was 130 years old when she gave birth to Moses?
*n4] Know: Example of G-d's drawing the "outline" and we "enact"/live the details!
*n5] Nothing is impossible
n10] Name - Monios
- The princes gave him the name Monios, which was translated to Moshe in Hebrew.
- There is an interesting comparison here between Moses and Buddha. They both were raised as princes. They left when they were still young. They both were absent before the emerged onto the scene, and changed their worlds. Buddha spent 40 years under the Bodhi tree, but before that he might have spent 20 years exploring the various paths available to him. Moses fled to Midian (some think he might actually have spent most of that time in Africa), and was gone for 60 years before returning to save his people.
n12] She used his name - As he was three months old when Jochebed placed him in the river, he would already have had a name. This is a name we never learn. But, here, we learn from Jochebed, that he had a name, for she used it...
n15] Fled He was 20 (or was he 12)? He return at 80.
n16] Minister Reuel – who is either Jethro, or else is the son of Jethro)
n18] Jethro has 7 names (4:18)
n22] גרשֹׁם Gershon - גר שׁם, lives there, stranger in a strange land.
n23-25] 210 years: That is the time of our people were in Egypt. We lived there for 116 years before the oppression, and then another 86 prior to our exodus.
Chapter 3
n1-10] Integrity
n2-5] Moses' first prophecy
First he notices the fire in the thorn bush that is not being consumed, then the angel calls to him. Only then does G-d talk to him. The reasoning here is that G-d did not want to overwhelm him, as this was their first interaction, so He introduced Himself by stages.
n4] הננִ—I am here. As in "I am present."
{It is said that if one could be fully present for one moment in one's life, it would be a life-changing event.}
n5] אַל־תִקְרַב הֵלֹם—Do not come closer. This is hallowed ground, for the mountain is holy. It is the mountain on which the revelation will take place.
שׁל־נעליך מעל רגליך—Remove your shoes. {To connect unobstructed with the Divine Presence.} * Unimpeded: ground (R' Hirsch).
*n7] כי ידעתי
n8] ואֵרד
טובה ורחבה Should be 7 nations, but the Gilgashites fled.
n9] ועתה : Now is the time
הלחץ : ghetto. Separated from the Egyptians. Little fraternization.
n10] Hero Story One man prevails alone against a formidable empire.
n11-17] Doubts Moses expresses his doubts about his capability to carry out the task that G-d has set before him.
n11] Not quite true (according to narrative).
Surge forward to Torah.
n12] Rewarded. We are reward according to our potential.
*n13] שׁמ המפורשׁ—The Ineffable Name
*n14] אהֵיה אשׁר אהיה—I will be what I will be. Timeless & eternal.
*n15] HaShem
זה־שׁמי לעלם - that is the name with which I am concealed
n16] Message
n18] פקֹד פקדתי
n18-22] Mislead Pharaoh
n19] ולא ביד חזקה : Relent
Chapter 4
*n1-17] Moses doubts the people
n10] In me
לא אישׁ דברים
n14] ושׁמח בלבו : Aaron was truly happy regarding Moses.
n17] ואת הנטֵה הזה : His magic staff
n20] Donkey
n23] בִנךָ בכרךָThe firstborn.
n24-26] Zipporah and the circumcision
n26] circumcision
*n31] Bow
Chapter 5
n3] G-d's will
n4-5]
n6-17] Regent's thinking
n13-21] Road to leadership
n22] The wicked flourish
Chapter 6
n1] Was this Moses' punishment?
Portent for the future -> Reached climax - a redemption that will inspire countless souls.