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Ki Tissa: Those Shining Horns

At the very end of this week's portion, Moses descends from Mount Sinai with the replacement set of the two tablets of the Law. As the Torah puts it, "Moses knew not that the skin of his face karan while He talked with him" (Exodus 34:29).T’tzaveh: Clothes Make the Man

This week's portion opens with the manufacture of the priestly vestments. When their manufacture is complete, God instructs Moses to dress Aaron and his sons in the vestments, anoint them, "fill their hands" and sanctify them to serve (28:41). Rashi (1040–1105) explains: "Every instance of 'filling the hands' signifies initiation."T’rumah: Furnishing God’s House

Suppose you had super powers. Suppose you could appear anywhere on earth instantaneously. Suppose you could paralyze the leader of the world's most powerful nation so that he was helpless to act while you launched disaster after disaster against his country and its people. Suppose you could take 600,000 enslaved men—not to mention women and children—out of that leader's nation, and rescue them from slavery in a single day.Mishpatim: Love, Freedom, and the Law

And now, a little bit of law. Nestled between the two mega-memes of the Revelation at Sinai and the construction of the Tabernacle, we find a weekly reading that starts with "these are the statutes (mishpatim) that you will place before them." It goes on to provide us with the basics of the Torah's civil and criminal laws.Yitro: Three Acts of Leadership

This week's portion describes the giving of the Ten Commandments, and the Torah spares no expense to bring us special effects worthy of the event: smoke and fire, thunder and lightning, and an earthquake, all accompanied by the blare of a shofar growing louder and louder. The Israelites are about to experience God's self-revelation, in a most dramatic fashion. But this week also has something for those who like their dramatic moments more subtle.B’shallah: Hands Up!

The stories in this week's reading may seem disjointed, but in fact they form a single unit. A modern editor, looking for a groovy chapter title, might have called the collection, "Ancient Israel's Bipolar Moment." Or, even more flippantly, "Hands Up!"Bo: Pharaoh and Macbeth

Our parashah begins: "God said to Moses: 'Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants in order to place these signs of mine in his midst.'" Indeed, this motif of the hardened heart already appeared in last week's portion and recurs nearly a dozen times in the context of the ten plagues. The problem, however, is this: If Pharaoh and the Egyptians were denied free will in their dealings with Moses, how can their subsequent punishment be justified?Va’era: What’s in a Name? (Part Two)

In last week's column, Moshe Sokolow pointed out that the name of the portion was Sh'mot, a word that itself means "names." He took that as an opportunity to mention some of the more interesting Jewish surnames and their meanings. I cannot resist adding my own favorite: Remba, an acronym taken from Proverbs 19:21, "Many are the schemes of the human mind."Sh’mot: What’s in a Name?

"These are the names of the children of Israel": Despite having designated them by name during their lifetimes, [Scripture] enumerates them again, posthumously, to indicate how beloved they were. (Rashi 1:1) While the traditional English title of Sh'mot is "Exodus," the word translates literally as "names." This presents us with the opportunity to explore the significance the Bible attaches to names, in general, and the meaning of one individual name, in particular.Vay’hi: Zealotry and Tolerance

The time of patriarchs was reaching its end. Jacob was dying, and alongside his dictation of burial arrangements, he also gave final words to his twelve sons, words in which he would tell them "what will befall you in the end of days." We usually read them as his final "blessings." But in the case of two sons, Simeon and Levi, they are assuredly curses.