Va’era (And I Appeared) Sh’mot 6-9
Torah Portion: Va’era (And I Appeared)(Sh’mot) Exodus 6:2-9:35
Haftorah Reading: Ezekiel 28:25-29:21
Tonight we read seven of the ten plagues that G-d brought upon the Egyptians and Pharaoh. We also read, at the beginning of the portion, the introduction of His name to Moshe and the Jewish people. I want us to spend some time on this but first I would like to look at a few other points that I think speak to us in our world today.
Emor (Speak) Vayikra (Lev) 21-24
Emor or Speak, found in Va’Ikrah(Lev.) 21-24.
In this Torah portion we read in chapter 23 the listing and explanation of G-d’s calendar for each year. In it we read of all the appointed times when G-d expects to meet His people. We read about the three appointed times when all males are required to appear before the L-rd in Jerusalem. These three appointed times are Passover, Shavuot(Pentecost) and Sukkoth(Tabernacles). In both Passover and Shavuot we can relate great miracles performed by G-d for the people. In Passover we see the redemption of the people by the splitting of the Reed Sea. In Shavuot we read of an entire nation seeing and hearing the words of G-d as He comes down on the mountain. Yet for Sukkoth we are hard pressed to identify a miracle that relates specifically to this appointed time.
Ki Tetze (When You Go Out)
Torah Portion: Ki Tetze (When You Go Out) Deut. 21:10-25:19
HafTorah: Isaiah 54:1-10
Tonight we begin first looking at the Torah section of Ki Tetze – in English this is “When You Go Out.” I asked you to think about some principles that run through this section of scripture and I want to get to that in a minute. First, I would like to look at Deut. 23:3-5. Here we see that the Torah cautions us against letting an Amonite or a Moabite come into the assembly of the L-rd. The phrase “come into the assembly of the L-rd” could mean conversion. They were inhospitable to you and they hired Ba’alm to curse you. This is a strange pairing of reasons. What connection could there have possibly been. One is not being hospitable while the other is attempted genocide. So what do you think the connection is here?