Commentary on Parashat Shemot, Exodus 1:1-6:1
Every week, Julie Seltzer, artist and Torah scribe, bakes a challah depicting an aspect of the week’s Torah portion.
She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch; and she put the child in, and laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. (Exodus 2:3)
וַתִּקַּח-לוֹ תֵּבַת גּמֶא, וַתַּחְמְרָה בַחֵמָר וּבַזָּפֶת; וַתָּשֶׂם בָּהּ
אֶת-הַיֶּלֶד, וַתָּשֶׂם בַּסּוּף עַל-שְׂפַת הַיְאר
Pharaoh decrees that all male Hebrew babies must be killed. In order to save him, Moses’ family places him in a basket and sends him down the Nile where he is later found by none other than Pharaoh’s daughter.
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ark
Pronounced: ark, Origin: English, the place in the synagogue where the Torah scrolls are stored, also known as the aron kodesh, or holy cabinet.
challah
Pronounced: KHAH-luh, Origin: Hebrew, ceremonial bread eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.
Torah
Pronunced: TORE-uh, Origin: Hebrew, the Five Books of Moses.
