Torah Stories By Hannah Shemot

Our Parasha for this week is Shemot, which means names.

These are the names of the sons of Yisrael who came to Egypt with Ya’akov, each coming with his household. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. The total number of persons that came from Ya’akov came to seventy, Joseph being already in Egypt. Joseph died, and his brothers, and all that generation. But the Yisraelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied, and increased exceeding very greatly; so that the land was filled with them.

A new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the Yisraelite people are far too many for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they do not increase, otherwise in the event of war, they may join our enemies, in fighting against us, and gain the upper hand.” So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour, and they built store-cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Yisraelites.

The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed on the Yisraelites the various labours they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with hard labour at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field.

The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the other Puah, saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, you shall look at the birthstool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.”

The midwives, fearing G-d, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them, they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives, and said to them: “Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh: “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.”

And G-d dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied, and increased greatly. And because the midwives feared G-d, He established households for them. Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying: “Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

A certain man of the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived, and gave birth to a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. When she could not longer hide him, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him.

The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her slave girl to fetch it. When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on him, and said: “This must be a Hebrew child.” Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter: “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh's daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her: “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” so the woman took the child, and nursed it. When the child grew up she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moshe, explaining, “I drew him out of the water.”

Some time after that when Moshe had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and witnessed their labours. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers. He looked this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.” When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting; so he said to the offender, “Why do you strike your fellow?” He said: “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me, as your killed the Egyptian?” Moshe was frightened and thought, then the matter is known! When Pharaoh heard of the matter, he sought to kill Moshe. But Moshe fled from Pharaoh. He arrived in the land of Midian; and sat down beside a well.

Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock: But shepherds came and drove them off. Moshe stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they returned to their father, Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come back so soon today?” They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds, even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why did you leave the man? Ask him in to break bread.” Moshe agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moshe his daughter Zipporah as wife. She gave birth to a son whom he called Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”

A long time after that the king of Egypt died. The Yisraelites were groaning under their bondage and cried out, and their cry for help from the bondage rose up to G-d. G-d heard their mourning, and G-d remembered His covenant with Abraham and Yitzchak and Ya’akov. G-d looked upon the Yisraelites, and G-d took notice of them.

Now Moshe, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of G-d. An angel of HaShem appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He looked, and there was a bush burning yet the bush was not consumed. Moshe said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvellous sight, why doesn’t the bush burn up?” When HaShem saw that he had turned aside to look, G-d called to him out of the bush: “Moshe! Moshe!” And he said: “Here I am.” And He said: “Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am,” he said, “the G-d of your father, the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Yitzchak, and the G-d of Ya’akov.” And Moshe hid his face, for he was afraid to look at G-d.

And HaShem continued, “I have surely seen the plight of My people in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; yes, I am mindful of their sufferings. I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians, and to bring them out of the land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now the cry of the Yisraelites has reached Me; moreover, I have seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Come therefore, I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Yisraelites from Egypt.”

But Moshe said to G-d, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and free the Yisraelites from Egypt?” And He said: “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship G-d at this mountain.”

Moshe said to G-d, “When I come to the Yisraelites and say to them, ‘The G-d of your fathers hath sent me to you’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And G-d said to Moshe, “Eyeh-Asher-Eyeh.” He continued: “Thus shall you say to the Yisraelites, ‘Eyeh sent me to you.’” And G-d said to Moshe, “Thus shall you speak to the Yisraelites: HaShem, the G-d of your fathers, the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Yitzchak, and the G-d of Ya’akov, has sent me to you:

This shall be My name forever.

This is My designation for all eternity.

Go, and gather the elders of Yisrael and say to them: HaShem, the G-d of your fathers, the G-d of Abraham, of Yitzchak, and of Ya’akov, has appeared to me, and said, ‘I have taken note of you and of what is being done to you in Egypt, and I have declared: I will take you out of the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’ They will listen to you, then you shall go with the elders of Yisrael to the king of Egypt, and you shall say to him: ‘HaShem, the G-d of the Hebrews, met with us. Now, therefore, let us go a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to HaShem our G-d.’ Yet, I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, only because of a greater might. So I will stretch out My hand, and smite Egypt with various My wonders which I will work upon them. After that he shall let you go. And I will dispose the Egyptians favourably toward this people. So that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. Each woman shall borrow from her neighbour, and the lodger in her house, objects of silver and gold, and clothing; and you shall put these on your sons and daughters, thus stripping the Egyptians.”

But Moshe spoke up and said: “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me but say: ‘HaShem hath not appeared to you?’” HaShem said to him: “What is that in your hand?” And he replied: “A rod.” He said: “Cast it on the ground.” He cast it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moshe fled from it. Then HaShem said to Moshe: “Put out your hand, and take it by the tail - and he put out his hand, and took hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand - that they may believe that HaShem, the G-d of their fathers, the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Yitzchak, and the G-d of Ya’akov, did appear to you.”

And HaShem said to him further: “Put your hand into your bosom.” He put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, his hand was encrusted with snowy scales! And He said: '”Put your hand back into your bosom. He put his hand back into his bosom, and when he took it out of his bosom, there it was again like the rest of his body. And if they will not believe you, or listen to the first sign, they will believe the second. And if they are not convinced by both these signs, and still do not listen to you, take some of the water from the Nile, and pour it on the dry ground - the water that you take from the Nile - will turn to blood on the dry ground.”

But Moshe said to HaShem: “Please Oh Lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past, or now that You have spoken to Your servant, I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” And HaShem said to him: “Who gives man Speech? Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing, or blind? Is it not I HaShem? Now go, and I will be with you as you speak, and will instruct you what to say.” But he said: “Please, Oh Lord, make someone else Your agent.” HaShem became angry with Moshe, and He said: “There is your brother Aharon your brother the Levite. He, I know speaks well. Even now he is setting out to meet you, and will be happy to see you. You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with you and him as you speak and tell both of you what to do. And he shall speak for you to the people. Thus he shall serve as your spokesman, with you playing the role of G-d to him, and take with you this rod with which you shall perform the signs.

Moshe went back to his father-in-law Yitro and said to him, “Let me go back to my brothers in Egypt and see how they are faring. And Yitro said to Moshe, “Go in peace.”

HaShem said to Moshe in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead. So Moshe took his wife and sons, mounted them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moshe took the rod of G-d with him. And HaShem said to Moshe, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the marvels that I have put within your power. I, however, will stiffen his heart so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says HaShem: ‘Yisrael is My firstborn son. I have said to you: Let My son go that he may worship Me, yet you refuse to let him go. Now I will slay your firstborn son.’”

At a night encampment on the way HaShem encountered him and sought to kill him. So Zipporah took a flint and cut off cut off her son’s foreskin and touched his legs with it saying, “You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me!” And when He let him alone she added, “A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.” HaShem said to Aharon, “Go to meet Moshe in the wilderness. He went and met him at the mountain of G-d, and he kissed him. Moshe told Aharon about all the things that HaShem had committed to him and about all the signs that he had instructed him. Then Moshe and Aharon went and assembled all the elders of the Yisraelites, Aharon repeated all the words that HaShem had spoken to Moshe, and he performed the signs in the sight of the people, and the people were convinced. When they heard that HaShem had taken note of the Yisraelites, and that He has seen their plight, they bowed low in homage.

Afterward Moshe and Aharon went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says HaShem, the G-d of Yisrael: Let My people go that they may celebrate a festival for Me in the wilderness.” But Pharaoh said, “Who is HaShem that I should listen to Him and let Yisrael go. I do not know HaShem nor will I let Yisrael go.” They answered, “The G-d of the Hebrews has manifested Himself to us. Let us go, we pray, a distance of three days into the wilderness, to sacrifice to HaShem our G-d, lest He strike us with pestilence or sword.” But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moshe and Aharon, why do you distract the people from their tasks? Get to your labours!” And Pharaoh continued, “The people of the land are already so numerous, and you would have them cease their labours!”

That same day Pharaoh charged the taskmasters and foremen of the people saying, “You shall no longer provide the people with straw for making bricks, as up to now; Let them go and gather straw for themselves. But impose upon them the same quota of bricks as they have been making up to now. Do not reduce it, for they are shirkers; that is why they cry. ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our G-d!’ Let heavier work be laden upon the men, let them keep at it, and not pay attention to deceitful promises.”

So the taskmasters and foremen of the people went out and said to the people: “Thus says Pharaoh, “I will not give you any straw. You must go and get the straw yourselves, wherever you can find it. But there shall be no decrease whatever in your work.” Then the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw, and the taskmasters pressed them saying, “You must complete the same work assignment each day as when you had straw.” And the foremen of the Yisraelites whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them were beaten. “Why,” they were asked, did you not complete the prescribed amount of bricks, either yesterday or today, as you did before?”

Then the foremen of the Yisraelites came to Pharaoh and cried, “Why do you deal thus with your servants? No straw is issued to your servants, but they demand of us, ‘Make bricks!’ Thus your servants are being beaten, when the fault is with your own people.” He replied, “You are shirkers, shirkers! That is why you say, ‘let us go and sacrifice to HaShem.’ Be off now, to your work! No straw shall be issued to you, but you must produce your quota of bricks!”

Now the foremen of the Yisraelites found themselves in trouble because of the order, “You must not reduce your daily quantity of bricks.” As they left Pharaoh’s presence, they came upon Moshe and Aharon standing in their path. And they said to them, “May HaShem look upon you and punish you for making us loathsome to Pharaoh and his courtiers – putting a sword in their hands to slay us.” Then Moshe returned to HaShem and said, “Oh Lord, why did you bring harm upon this people? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name he has dealt worse with this people; and still You have not delivered Your people.”

Then HaShem said to Moshe, “You shall soon see what I will do to Pharaoh: He shall let them go, because of a greater might; indeed, because of a greater might he shall drive them from his land.”