Post From Exodus to Today: The Enduring Struggle Against Antisemitism Antisemitism has been around since biblical times, and it continues to rear its ugly head today. The earliest recorded instance of such hatred can be found in the first chapter… Read More
Post Counting Jacob’s Blessings Before he leaves the world, Jacob blesses his sons. Similarly, Moses also blesses the tribes before he dies. But the two sets of blessings are very different. Not all of… Read More
Post Did Joseph sin by having his father’s body embalmed? After Jacob died, Joseph ordered his physicians to embalm his father. This is shocking to many as embalming is forbidden by Jewish law, and the only other mention of embalming… Read More
Post Does God Have a Finger? When Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh, his court magicians tried to refute their demand to release the Hebrews by mimicking their miraculous acts. This proved to be within the magicians’… Read More
Post Chanukah Food: Doughnuts, dreidels and potato pancakes Everyone knows that Hanukkah is the Festival of Lights celebrated by the lighting of candles. But there is so much more to the holiday that makes it an eight-day family… Read More
Post Four Languages of Redemption When Moses first encounters the God of Israel, God assures him that he will redeem Israel from their Egyptian bondage. In Egypt, He repeats this promise using language that seems… Read More
Post Free Will and Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart God sent Moses to demand that Pharaoh release the Hebrews from bondage, threatening that should the Egyptian king refuse, the country would suffer. So it seems incredibly unjust that God… Read More
Post God’s Outstretched Hand Moses’ first encounter with God is fraught with unexpected challenges. God addresses the anticipated incredulity of the Hebrews, emphasizing the longstanding covenant with the patriarchs. He then addresses the probability… Read More
Post How Many People Really Descended to Egypt with Jacob? The Torah states three times that seventy people from the house of Jacob went down into Egypt; Genesis specifies that Jacob’s household when he descended into Egypt numbered 70. This… Read More
Post How Many Plagues Were There? Every schoolchild knows that Egypt was struck by ten plagues before the Hebrews were set free. But a different count is given in Psalms and several options for enumerating the… Read More
