Shlomo's Thoughts on the Torah

The problem that the Egyptians had was that they did not treat their slaves with respect since they considered them not to be human. The Torah teaches us that even a slave has to be treated with respect and that they were also created in the image of God.

The reason that the first commandment that the Jews receive is to teach them the responsibility of being free. A free person is also responsible for their actions. A slave is not.

When Pharaoh says that only the men can go to worship God Moses immediately refuses the offer. All the Jews, men, women and children, will go. This is a basic principle in the Torah. We leave no Jew behind.

The biggest problem that Pharaoh had was that he was not able to admit he was wrong. He chose to blame the Jews even though he was at fault for not heeding God.

The Torah uses the singular verb when Moses and Aaron we commanded to go to Pharaoh. This is to teach us that whatever our disagreements among ourselves we have to be united when facing our foes.

When every shred of evidence should have convinced Pharaoh that his policies would lead to disaster, he stubbornly refused to change. This was his march of folly.

All the plagues in Egypt, except the 10th, were opposed to the gods of Egypt which were nature gods. God was making the point that He controlled nature, not the other way around.

All the plagues in Egypt could be explained scientifically. This ties in with the concept of natural redemption. Nothing seems abnormal until you realize that there has been a change in the world.

The hardest job that Moses had was getting Egypt out of the Jews. The problem was that many of the Jews loved Egyptian culture. God wanted the Jews to reject that culture for the Torah.

All the miracles that happened in Egypt could be explained naturally. This is because a miracle is an event that happens when you need it to happen. Life is a miracle in of itself.

When Moses goes to announce the plague of blood he encounters Pharaoh in the early hours of the morning. This was to teach that even though Pharaoh was thought to be a god in Egypt he was not.

The name Hebrew is a derogatory name for the Jews. The reason is that the goal of enslaving the Jews was to destroy them. Thus it is the same throughout our history. First they will denigrate the Jews and then murder the Jews.

Moses was admonished at the burning bush to know before whom he was standing. This was also an admonishment to remember that he would be speaking to slaves would not really be interested in long speeches. They wanted their freedom.

When Moses saw the Egyptian taskmaster beating the Jew, he looked around and did not see another man. This is to teach us to do the right thing even if it isn't the nice thing.

When the midwives in Egypt get the order to murder all male Jewish babies they resist. The Torah states that they fear God more than Pharaoh. Fearing God will get you to do the right thing.

The Torah states that a new Pharaoh came into power that did not know Joseph. This teaches that it did not matter what the Jews did for Egypt they simply were against the Jews.

The reason that the tribe of Levi was not enslaved was that Levi was still alive when Pharaoh succeeded in fooling the Jews. Levi, though saw through Pharaoh's plot and told his descendants not to be fooled.

Gad and Asher were given their blessings one after the other. Gad helped with the liberation of the land. Asher would be the economic powerhouse of the nation. You need a good economy to have a good military.

The blessing that Jacob gave Zevulun was that he should be successful in business so that he could support Issachar who would learn. If the economy is weak so too the Torah learning will be weak.

Jacob insists on being buries in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. The reason for this is that he wanted that the Jews not get too comfortable in Egypt. That they should remember that Egypt is not their country.

Joseph has to convince Pharaoh that he be allowed to bury Jacob in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. He finds a diplomatic way of doing this by appealing to Pharaoh's conscience.

Jacob chooses Judah to be the leader of the future generations, not only due to his natural leadership skills but also due to his character traits.

Reuben loses the double portion allotted to the first born because of his mistakes. He was not a bad person but just failed in understanding what was the correct thing to do. He meant well but did not do well.

Both the 1st & 2nd Temples were destroyed due to baseless hatred of Jews for their fellow Jews. The 3rd will be built due to baseless love of Jew fo their fellow Jew.

We learn that the reason that the 1st Temple was destroyed that the Jews did the ritual correctly but did not understand that the reason for the ritual was to teach us how to behave.