Are You An Angel? by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine One of the greatest moments in Jewish history is when the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt. Yet, in this week’s parsha, just as the Torah is about to describe the dramatic redemption process, the Torah digresses to genealogy. When the suspense is greatest, the story about more »
Our Teacher Moshe by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine The dramatic moments leading up to the Exodus had arrived. Finally, the mighty Egyptian empire would be judged for its crimes. Suddenly, the Torah’s momentum in describing the events slows, and the Torah pauses to describe Moshe’s lineage. An entire section of verses is devoted to describing his more »
The Frog: Greater than Dovid, and The Birth of Perek Shirah by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine The plagues had finally begun. First it was blood, then it was frogs. G-d was finally bringing retribution on the Egyptians. Interestingly, the Midrash tells us regarding the frogs that they went literally everywhere. They even went into the ovens more »
The Candy Man by Rabbi Mordechai Rhine More than 80 years of oppression had passed. Finally the Egyptians were being punished for enslaving the Jews. First the Nile was turned into blood; then a plague of frogs infested the land. Interestingly, when the frogs observed the directive to infest Egypt, the frogs went everywhere. They more »
Moshe is frustrated. Hashem told him to go to Pharoh and demand the release of the Jewish People. Moshe did so, and expected that the terrible slavery would abate as a result. Instead, Paroh increased the workload of the Jews. At the conclusion of last week’s portion Moshe turns to Hashem in frustration. “Why have You more »