This Shabbos we begin the second book of the Torah: Shmos. The first parsha, also entitled Shmos, tells of the enslavement of the Children of Israel, and the selection of Moshe as their leader.
The parsha begins with a new king ascending the throne in Egypt who does not recognize the good things that Yosef did for the country. The king enslaves the descendents of Yaakov (Israel), fearing that they will become enemies of the Egyptians. He also decrees that all their newborn males are to be killed. In one family, a male son is born and, after a few months, can no longer be hidden. His parents place him in a small ark and float him at the river's edge. Miryam, his older sister, waits nearby to see what happens to him. The rabbis say that because Miryam waited for her brother, years later when she was smitten with skin disease, the Jews in the wilderness, being led to the Promised Land by that brother, Moshe, waited for seven days for her. (Bamidbar 12:15)
The king's daughter comes to bathe in the river, sees the ark, and takes the baby to the palace to raise him as her son. The scene is referred to in the song "It Ain't Necessarily So," in the Gershwin brothers' opera, "Porgy and Bess." The words: "Oh Moses was found in a stream / Moses was found in a stream / He floated on water, till old Pharaoh's daughter / She fished him -- she says -- from that stream."
Moshe is nursed by his mother and taught of his heritage before he is weaned. Years later, as a young man, he is walking outside the palace and sees an Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew slave. In anger, he kills the Egyptian. The most obvious explanation is that Moshe wanted to save the slave's life. The rabbis add to this that Moshe had no hesitation in carrying out the killing, because he saw that in the future, the Egyptian involved would have no worthy descendants.
After another incident, Moshe flees Egypt and eventually,God speaks to him from the Burning Bush, informing him that he, Moshe, is to return to Egypt and lead the slaves out. When Moshe asks God who he should say spoke to him that day, God responds that he should say, "Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh," ("I will be what I will be"), meaning, "I shall be with them in future difficulties just as I am with them in this difficulty." Moshe says, "It is enough to mention the present difficulty. Why talk about difficulties in the future?" God then says, tell them that "Ehyeh" sent me. In other words: Yes, do not talk about troubles that will occur in the future.
The Egyptian king reacts to Moshe's demand that the slaves be released by ordering that they work harder. The parsha ends with God telling Moshe that He will bring freedom to the slaves "b'yad chazaka," that is "with a mighty hand."
The haftorah is from Yeshiah, Isaiah. "In days to come, Yaakov will take root, Israel will sprout and blossom, and the face of the world will be covered with fruit." Significantly, the haftorah contains the phrase, "yoreh dei'ah," meaning "will teach and transmit knowledge." (28:9) This phrase is central in the certificate of ordination which is awarded to rabbis.
