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LEVY TONKIN
Special to The Jewish News
T
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his week's Torah por-
tion begins not only a
new book but also a
new chapter of life for the
Jewish people. The second
book of the Torah, the book of
Shemot (Exodus), is where we
find nearly all of the following
concepts of Judaism: Moses
and the redemption, the giv-
ing of the Torah, the Ten
Commandments, historic fes-
tivals, the temple and the
leading principles of civil law.
The portion begins with an
accounting of Jacob's family
in Egypt and how they grew
into a nation. They were
dwelling in the land of
Goshen; the land that Joseph
received from Pharaoh for his
family. As long as Jacob's
sons were alive, the Jewish
people didn't need social con-
tact with the Egyptians. They
were a nation that performed
chesed, acts of kindness,
maintained flawless moral
standards and retained their
strong sense of Jewish
identity.
We see that soon after the
death of Jacob's sons, the
Jewish people spread
throughout the land. During
that time Egypt was a very
civilized country. It had many
advances in the arts and
sciences as well as in
agriculture and technology.
The Jewish people started to
mingle with the Egyptians.
The first Jewish assimilation
had begun.
"It was then that the
Almighty poured out His
wrath upon them, and He
caused the hand of the Egyp-
tians to become increasingly
heavier upon them." (S' forno,
Shemot 1:14). The Egyptians
then began to hate the Jews.
Pharaoh started his cruel
decrees against the Jewish
people. The first decree was
slave labor. His intention was
to separate the Jewish
husbands from their wives in
order to cease the expansion
of the Jewish people.
The Torah continues to
describe the next two decrees
from Pharaoh designed to
keep the Jews from growing
as a nation. Pharaoh in-
structed the Jewish midwives
to kill all the newborn Jewish
boys. That didn't work; the
third decree then was issued
to throw all the baby boys in-
to the Nile.
This is when Yocheved gave
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Levi Tonkin is the executive
director of Aish
HaTorah/Aleynu.
birth to Moses. She was able
to keep him hidden for three
months before the Egyptians
started looking for him.
Yocheved feared that her son's
life was in danger so she put
Moses in a basket and set it
in the Nile.
From here on the Torah
describes Moses' encounters.
Moses witnessed an Egyptian
killing a fellow Hebrew.
Moses looked around and
when he saw no one looking,
he killed the Egyptian. The
next day Moses saw two
fellow Hebrews fighting and
tried to stop them. They con-
fronted Moses and told him
that they knew about his kill-
ing of the Egyptian. Moses,
fearing that Pharoah was go-
ing to kill him, fled to Midian.
In Midian Moses en-
countered Yisro and his seven
Shabbat Shemot
Exodus 1:1-6:1
Isaiah 27:6-28:13
29:22-23.
daughters. He married one of
the daughters, Tzippora, and
soon thereafter had a son,
Gershom. Moses, as a sheep-
herder for his father-in-law,
came to Mt. Moriah where he
saw the burning thorn bush
and spoke with God.
God told Moses that it was
time to redeem His people
and that it was Moses who
was going to redeem them.
God told Moses specifically
what to say, but Moses replied
that they would not believe
him; they would need proof.
God gave Moses three signs to
show the people: his staff
would turn into a snake and
back again; his hand would
turn leprous and then back to
normal; he could take water
from the Nile and it would
turn into blood.
Moses returned to Midian
to get his family and headed
toward Egypt. Along the way
he met with his brother
Aaron and they went to
gather the elders. Aaron told
them what happened to
Moses at Mt. Moriah and
demonstrated the miraculous
proofs before them. The peo-
ple believed. They accepted
that they were going to be
redeemed. Moses and Aaron
went to Pharoah to let the
Jewish people go. Pharaoh
refused to believe them and,
in fact, increased the burdens
for the Jewish people.
The Torah portion ends
with Moses returning to God
and questioning, "0 Lord,
why do You mistreat Your