Torah Commentary

This week's portion, Bo, confronts us with the same challenge. As the text describes the last of the 10 plagues, the one that will finally free the enslaved Hebrews, we encounter the most terrible: the death of the Egyptian firstborn.

Va-eira explores why God chose the Jews through the lens of faith and tikkun olam.

Is the bigot evil or merely misguided? Throughout history, Jews have wrestled with this fundamental question. Are antisemites driven by irrational ignorance, or cunning hatred?

At the end of Genesis, the narrative lens widens. After a book shaped by ruptures and reconciliations, Jacob's final act in Parashat Vayechi is not to bless each son in isolation, but to summon them together.

The turning point of Parashat Vayigash is not Joseph's revelation but the interpretation he offers of his own suffering.