camel, too. By this sign, he knows
that she is Isaac's beshert, intended, as
chosen by God.
seder, a new Pharaoh rules Egypt and
launches the first recorded anti-
Semitic campaign, spreading slanders
about the Israelites, enslaving them,
and finally escalating to genocide by
drowning all newborn males in the
Nile.
Moses, adopted by Pharaoh's
daughter as a baby, grows up to
demonstrate his abhorrence of injus-
tice by killing a cruel Egyptian
taskmaster; he is forced to leave Egypt
under a death threat, and meets his
future wife, Tzipporah.
Appearing to Moses through a
burning bush, God calls on him to
lead his people out of Egypt — a call-
ing that Moses tries to reject (perhaps
understandably) five different times.
Finally, Moses and his brother, Aaron,
demand of Pharaoh, "Let my people
go!" God hardens Pharaoh's heart,
and he responds by turning the
screws on the Hebrew slaves.
Toledot, Genesis 25:19 28:9
Dysfunctional family episode No. 3:
Only one of Isaac's sons may carry on
Abraham's covenant. So when the
boorish hunter Esau sells his
birthright to the studious Jacob for a
bowl of stew, it seems clear who is the
rightful heir. Still, years later, with
mother Rebecca's help, Jacob imper-
sonates his slightly older brother and
deceives his dying father to receive his
blessing.
Esau vows to kill his brother; Isaac
sends Jacob to live with his uncle,
Laban.
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Vayetse, Genesis 28:10 32:3
Jacob dreams a stairway to heaven
(a.k.a. Jacob's Ladder), and God
promises to look out for him and his
descendants.
What goes around comes around:
Just as Jacob deceived Isaac, Laban
deceives Jacob by slipping the older
(uglier) sister, Leah, into his wedding
tent. In exchange for another seven
years of service, Laban allows Jacob to
marry the fair Rachel.
Jacob's four (count 'ern!) wives
(including two maids) bear him 12
sons — the 12 tribes of Israel. The
11th is Joseph; the 12th is Benjamin,
for whom Rachel gives her life in
childbirth.
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L
Vayishlach, Genesis 32:4 36:43
Terrified of encountering his long-
lost brother, Esau, and Esau's army,
Jacob dreams of wrestling all night
with an angel. By dawn, the angel
ends the standoff, repeats God's
promise to his people, and renames
him Israel.
Despite his brother's deception
almost 20 years earlier, Esau breaks
down in tears when they meet. The
twins, rivals almost since birth, are
friends at last.
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Vayeshev, Genesis 37•1 40:23
Jacob favors one of his children (so
what else is new?) — Joseph — and
gives him a technicolor dreamcoat.
Joseph exacerbates the problem by
relating dreams that clearly show him
superior to his brothers. In yet anoth-
er bleak comment on sibling rela-
tions, the brothers throw Joseph in a
pit, allow him to be sold to passing
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C
Va'era, Exodus 6.• 9:35
Moses works the first seven plagues
(blood through hail). A nifty bit of
poetic justice in the first one: Just as
Pharaoh had been murdering the
Hebrew babies in the Nile, the first
plague revealed the crime to everyone
by turning the water to blood.
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Bedouins, and tell Jacob his favorite
son is dead.
Winding up in Egypt, Joseph
rejects the continued sexual advances
of the wife of his master, Potiphar;
she accuses him of attempted rape
and he is thrown in jail, where he
develops a reputation for interpreting
dreams.
Mikets, Genesis 41:1 44:17
Joseph the prisoner is taken to a wor-
ried Pharaoh to interpret his dreams.
Joseph predicts seven years of feast
followed by seven of famine, and rec-
ommends prudent resource manage-
ment. "In the twinkling of an eye," as
the sages say, Joseph is raised from an
imprisoned slave to second in com-
mand of Egypt.
When the famine arrives, Jacob
sends his sons to Egypt to buy food.
Joseph tests his brothers by falsely
accusing young Benjamin, Jacob's
new favorite son, of stealing a goblet,
and threatens to imprison him.
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Vayigash, Genesis 44:18 4727
Finally, a true sibling reconcilia-
-
tion! Joseph recognizes real repen-
tance in his brothers, especially Judah,
from whom Judaism will take its
name. Joseph tearfully reveals himself
and the brothers reunite in a powerful
emotional scene (Siskel and Ebert
declare it "powerfully emotional").
Jacob brings his family from Canaan
to Egypt. They are given the "land o'
Goshen" nearby, where the Israelites
become fruitful and multiply.
Bo, Exodus 10:1 13:16
Plagues eight through 10 (locusts,
darkness, infanticide). On a night dif-
ferent from all other nights, the
Israelites survive by painting their
doors with the blood of a paschal
lamb. They leave Egypt in a hurry —
Promised Land Ho! — and God reit-
erates the covenant.
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Vayechi, Genesis 47:28 50:26
On his deathbed, Jacob bestows his
blessings on all his sons — denying
Reuben, the oldest, a share of the
land, and giving a double portion to
Joseph and his two sons, Menasseh
and Ephraim. He is buried in
Canaan alongside Abraham and
Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca and Leah
(Rachel was buried in Bethlehem).
Joseph dies, is mummified and
buried in a sarcophagus.
Beshalach, Exodus 13:17 17:16
Pursued by Pharaoh's army, but pro-
tected by pillars of cloud and fire, the
Israelites proceed through the tem-
porarily parted Red (really "Reed")
Sea. Showing their slave mentality,
they complain incessantly to Moses,
who prevails upon God for various
miracles: manna from heaven; water
from a rock.
Joshua leads the charge against
Amalek, a tribal descendant of Esau,
and symbolically the force of evil on
Earth.
Shemot/Exodus
Shemot, Exodus 1:1-6:1
In the first of the three parshot, we
recount each year during the Passover
Yitro, Exodus 18:1 20:23
Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, helps the
prophet, exhausted from hearing
everyone's disputes, set up the first
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