February 02, 2017 • Page Image 27
… inconsequential demonstrations in the book of Exodus, a revolution- of God’s power. Any of these plagues ary concept emerges on the world could have dealt a knockout punch stage: The prevailing rule of the to the…
…. Isaac’s two sons, Esau must give way This revolutionary and fundamen- to Jacob because the former scorned tally democratic message is one of the birthright, first by selling it for a Judaism’s great…
… in by January 31, 2017 and take an additional $500 off of two months’ rent! These are incredible savings on the exceptional care, inspiring lifestyle, beautiful surroundings and lovely neighborhood…
… most cold-hearted of dictators. firstborn rapidly comes to an end. If What, then, is it about the killing of you’re born an Egyptian, you had the the firstborn that proved most effec- right to enslave…
…; and if you’re born a tive? Hebrew, you became a slave. I suggest that it is because it From the moment it began its destroyed a certain institu- ascent in the world, tion of ancient culture that Judaism…
…spirit torah portion The Shackles Of Birth Order W hy is the killing of the firstborn the final, and most significant, plague? True, it brought death into every household, rattling Egypt at its…
… foun- dations; but certainly the plagues of hail or fire in blocks of ice falling from the sky or total, crippling dark- ness for three days and nights were With the birth of the Jewish people not…
…’s message has been God found objectionable: that an individual’s merits primogeniture, the primacy are more important than and veneration of the first- an individual’s genealogy. born. Turning to the earliest…
… Therefore, the killing of the pages of Genesis, we find the firstborn of the Egyptians theme of the firstborn early not only strikes terror in in the Torah, when sibling the heart of every house- rivalry…
… between Cain and Abel Rabbi hold member, it also tolls Shlomo Riskin is translated into the rejec- the death knell for the tion and acceptance of their revered institution of the respective sacrifices to…

















































