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Sh'mot

Exodus 1:1-6:1

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  • In this Torah portion, the new Pharaoh does not remember Joseph. Fearing their rise in population, Pharaoh makes the Israelites his slaves. Pharaoh then demands that all Israelites baby boys be killed upon birth. Moses' mother puts her son in a basket in the river and he is saved by Pharaoh's daughter. When he is an adult, Moses kills an Egyptian who was beating his Israelite slave. Moses flees to Midian and marries Tzipporah. God appears before Moses in a burning bush and tells him to free the Israelites from slavery. An apprehensive Moses returns to Egypt, where he and his brother Aaron demand that Pharaoh free the Israelite slaves. Pharaoh refuses and God promises to punish him.

    Click here for a summary of Sh'mot.
    Click here for a summary of the Haftarah
      for Sh'mot. 

    moses in a basket
    Moses' mother put him in a basket in the river

     

    Text Studies

    Social Action and Environmentalism

    Birthings and Beginnings
    Hannah Graham, Hillel

    A Burning Within
    Sam Berrin Shonkoff, AJWS

    Evolving Name of God
    Rabbi Jordan Cohen, KOLEL

    Our Burmese Sisters
    Carol Towarnicky, AJWS

    Pharaoh Didn't Know Joseph
    Rabbi Daniel Moskovitz, Union for Reform Judaism

    Life of the Oppressed
    Rabbi Joshua Gutoff, socialaction.com

     

    The Book of Names
    Udi Hammerman, Canfei Nesharim

     


    From the Denominations

    Pluralism and Outreach

    These are the Names
    Rabbi Bradley Artson, American Jewish Unversity

    Becoming a Leader
    Rabbi Shimon Felix, Bronfman Youth Fellowship

    Symbolic Names
    Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, JTS

    The Torah's Accessibility
    Rabbi Kerry Olitzky, Jewish Outreach Institute

    Bumpy Road to Redemption
    Rabbi Avraham Fischer, Orthodox Union

    Political & Religious Power
    Rabbi Irwin Kula, CLAL

     

    Seeing the Broader Picture
    Yossi Ziffer, UJA-Federation of New York

    Multimedia

    Leadership & Trust
    Erica Brown, Partnership for Jewish Life & Learning

    Parashat Sh'mot Quiz
    Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies

    Believing the Exodus Story
    Rabbi Carol Balin, Women of Reform Judaism

    Parashat Sh'mot Challah
    Julie Seltzer

     

    Parashat Sh'mot for Families
    Torah for Families

     

     

    Return to the index of weekly Torah portions.

     
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