This week's portion deals with the final three Plagues (Locusts, Darkness, and the Death of the Firstborn), as well as the Passover ceremony, and the Exodus.
One of my rabbis, whose family has been deeply affected by the Palisades Fire, wrote an extended contemplation of the plague of Darkness. He suggested that we try to uncover the light within the darkness in moments of difficulty.
I have just two thoughts to add about this week's portion. One is about the odd phenomenon of my house being spared from the fire. People have commented that it must have been because of my "mezuzot" -- the scrolls that Jews affix to almost every doorpost in the house in commemoration of the Passover blood. According to tradition, a mezuzah protects the house, just as the blood of the paschal lamb protected the Israelites from the Angel of Death in Egypt.
I don't know -- there are rabbis who lost their homes, and they certainly had mezuzot. Plus, I was missing one mezuzah that fell off a closet door. But who knows? It can't hurt to have the extra protection, for all kinds of reasons.
The other thought I have about this week's portion is about the experience of leaving Egypt in a rush. We, too, left our homes in a rush when we evacuated ahead of the raging, racing fire. Did the Israelites really know they were being liberated? Or were they racing to flee what they feared was a great danger, headed into something completely unknown?
I don't know, but it could explain their slow embrace of freedom in the desert. Something to think about.
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?aid=2492615&jewish=Bo-Torah-Reading.htm&p=complete
This week’s portion launches the great story of Abraham, who is told to leave everything of his life behind — except his immediate family — and to leave for “the Land that I shall show you.”
There’s something interesting in the fact that Abraham is told to leave his father’s house, as if breaking away from his father’s life — but his father, in fact, began the journey, moving from Ur to Haran (in last week’s portion). His father set a positive example — why should Abraham leave him?
Some obvious answers suggest themselves — adulthood, needing to make one’s own choices, his father not going far enough, etc.
But I think there is another answer. Abraham (known for the moment as Abram) needs to establish his own household. This is not just about making one’s own choice, but really about choosing one’s own starting point. It’s starting over.
Sometimes we start over in fundamental ways even if much that surrounds us remains the same. Sometimes the journey we have to ...
The story of Noah is familiar; the details, less so.
Noah is often seen as an ambivalent figure. He was righteous -- but only for his generation. What was his deficiency?
One answer suggests itself: knowing that the world was about to be flooded, he built an Ark for the animals and for his own family -- but did not try to save anyone else or to convince them to repent and change their ways (the prophet Jonah, later, would share that reluctance).
Abraham, later, would set himself apart by arguing with God -- with the Lord Himself! -- against the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that they should be saved if there were enough righteous people to be found (there were not).
Still, Noah was good enough -- and sometimes, that really is sufficient to save the world. We don't need heroes every time -- just ordinary decency.
Hi all -- as I noted last month, I'm going to be closing down my Locals page, at least for tips and subscriptions -- I may keep the page up and the posts as well, but I'm no longer going to be accepting any kind of payment.
Look for cancelation in the very near future. Thank you for your support!
