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The very first conversion to Judaism takes place in this week’s parshah. The Torah relates that Yitro (Jethro), the father-in-law of Moses, traveled from Midyan to join the Jewish people. The Talmud explains that there were two events that prompted him to convert. The first catalyst was hearing of the miraculous splitting of the Yam Suf, the Red Sea. The second was hearing about the war with the nation of Amalek that took place at the end of last week’s parshah.
It is understandable that the account of the escape of the Jews from the pursuing Egyptians through the splitting of the Red Sea would aid in one’s decision to join the Jewish people. Why, however, would hearing about the war with Amalek convince Yitro that he should convert to Judaism? If the Talmud would identify the miraculous Jewish victory over Amalek that occurred at that time as the impetus, it would be understandable; however, the Talmud states clearly that it was the war itself, not the victory, which was the second catalyst. Continue reading Parshat Yitro – Catalyst for Conversion
Only five days after the Jewish people were dramatically emancipated from the cruel Egyptian slavery, Pharaoh had a sudden change of heart and regretted sending the Jews away. Intending to force them to return and to subjugate them to slavery once more, he gathered his men and chased after the nascent nation. Having tasted a mere five days of freedom, the Jewish people found an Egyptian army bearing down upon them and almost overtaking them.
The highpoint of the redemption is about to begin. But wait! The Torah interrupts the story just as the narrative is reaching its climax with seemingly mundane, unrelated details: the genealogy of Moses and Aaron. Why interrupt the storyline at its most suspenseful moment with this unnecessary information? 
Pharaoh’s astrologers informed him that a boy would be born who would redeem the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. He therefore enacted a new decree that all male newborns would be drowned in the Nile River. At this point in the story, the Torah tells us that ‘A man went from the house of Levi and married a daughter of Levi.’ This man was Amram. The ‘daughter of Levi’ was Jochebed.
Pharaoh’s henchmen would find and kill the baby. He therefore divorced his wife. As Amram was the leader of the Jewish people at the time, all the rest of the Jews followed suit and divorced their wives. Miriam, who at the time was a mere six years old, understood the situation and recognized the obvious outcome of her father’s decision: no more Jewish children. Disagreeing with her father, she presented him with the following three arguments as to why he should stay married:
This week’s Torah portion tells us of the last days of Jacob, the third of our forefathers. When it was clear that Jacob did not have much longer to live, Jacob’s son Joseph brought his own adult sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to visit their grandfather for the last time. Jacob took this visit as an opportunity to bless his grandchildren. Though the custom when giving a blessing to two people at once was to place the right hand on the head of the older person and the left hand on the head of the younger person, Jacob did the opposite. He placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the younger of the two brothers, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, the older brother. Joseph, thinking his father had made a mistake, tried correcting him, but Jacob told him that it was no mistake. He had seen prophetically that though great people would descend from both of these grandsons, the descendants of Ephraim would be greater. He therefore accorded Ephraim the honor generally given to the older sibling.
In another few months, we will reach the holiday of Passover, celebrating our redemption from Egyptian slavery. We will spend two long seder nights amid eight complete days thanking God for liberating us from the terrible oppression that we faced in Egypt. But wait a second – who sent us down there in the first place? Jacob and his children emigrate from Canaan (Israel) to Egypt in this week’s parshah, and the Torah is very clear that God wanted them to go. As a matter of fact, two generations earlier God had already informed Abraham that his children would be exiled to Egypt and that it would be there that they would develop from just a family into an entire nation. Why did we ever have to leave Canaan? Why couldn’t we transition into nationhood in our own land? 
It is not uncommon for us to find ourselves in situations where if we would simply fudge the truth, things would work out more conveniently. It is extremely tempting to give in to that little voice claiming that it would not be such a big deal. It is especially hard to resist this impulse when we are trying to be good citizens and help someone else out. After all, giving in to that temptation to not be totally honest can help us accomplish more good in the world. Is it really so bad to fudge the truth just a little bit? Is a little white lie really so terrible?
He responded to her advances, “Potiphar gave me his full trust. He appointed me as the head steward of the entire household and has never turned down a request of mine. How, then, can I perpetuate this great evil and sin against God?”
Dealing with problems is an inevitable part of life. Difficulties come up on a regular basis in one’s marriage, with one’s children, at work, and basically in every situation and relationship in which one may find himself. At times it seems that as soon as we finish dealing with one crisis, another one has arisen. We may become depressed and overwhelmed, feeling that we are more often than not simply ‘putting out fires’ as opposed to making any real progress. How can we survive? More than that, how can we make sure that we are steadily moving along the path of success?
In this week’s Torah portion, we read about an interesting conflict between Jacob and the guardian angel of Esau. The Torah tells us that one evening, when Jacob ventured out alone to recover some lost jars, Esau’s guardian angel took the opportunity to start a fight with him. They fought throughout the night. By the time morning came, Jacob had the angel in a hold. When the sun rose, the angel requested that Jacob let him go, explaining that every angel has an appointed time to sing shirah, praise, to God, and his time had arrived. 
The Oxford Dictionary provides two definitions for the word ‘Jew’, one the verb form and one the noun form. Even in this age of political correctness, ‘Jew’ in the verb form is defined as “Bargain with someone in a miserly or petty way”. Parenthetically, one would expect that this usage of the word would have ended with the Middle Ages, or at the very least with the end of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, its presence in the Oxford Dictionary shows us that anti-Semitism is still alive and well.
A turning point in our history was when Esau sold the rights of the firstborn to our forefather Jacob, his younger brother, in this week’s parshah. The Torah describes how Jacob was in middle of cooking lentil stew when Esau entered the home, famished. He asked Jacob for some of the lentil stew and Jacob responded that he would sell it to Esau in exchange for the rights of the firstborn. Esau immediately agreed, and the Torah tells us, “He ate and drank, got up and went. Thus did Esau spurn the birthright.”
This birthright of the firstborn was not any material benefit. Jacob gained no physical preference or advantage; on the contrary, Esau became a prominent prince, while Jacob was still suffering as a shepherd for Laban. This special birthright was, rather, strictly about the spiritual leadership of the family. Bartering such a prodigious spiritual privilege for some mere soup showed a repudiation of the birthright.