The first few Torah portions of the Book of Exodus (Sh’mot) are filled with tension and trouble for us as a People and for Moses as a young man. The writer knew the power of words when s/he wrote early in the very first chapter, “There arose a pharaoh who knew not Joseph.” Surely the charmed life of the Israelites who received the royal welcome when they first came to Egypt would change. We know from the Passover narrative what that change entailed.

But those chapters also carry the seed of promise as we emerge as a People, far more united as we cross the Sea of Reeds. And Moses, the “Prince of Egypt,” evolves as a child of the court to become the greatest personage in our biblical history.

Remember our special program on January 23 at 10:00

with Temple House of Israel and Rabbi Randi Nagel

as we discuss Marra Gold’s book, The Color of Love.

This Torah study will be interactive. I’ll suggest questions earlier both weeks, give you the link to view the portion from its Jewish source (Google-ing anything biblical brings up Christian versions of the bible). If you have the Jewish Publication Society’s Hebrew Scriptures (the 1917 version or the newer one), you’ll not have to Google anything. We won’t read each of the portions in their entirety but cover the highlights of Sh’mot and Va-era on January 9, Bo and B’shalach the following Shabbat morning, to understand how we went from an enslaved immigrant population to a wandering, yet free, people on their journey to the Promised Land.

Our discussion with Temple House of Israel occurs on January 23, the Shabbat on which Bo is read. That happens to be the sixty-first anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah. While we’ll discuss Bo the week before, I will continue my tradition of chanting my Torah portion on the anniversary itself, sometime during the discussion. It’s an experience you won’t want to miss unless you’ve got something far more important to do!

Please let me know (interimbethelrabbi@gmail.com) that you’ll be joining us for this series. No one is holding a gun to your head, so if you change your mind, that’s ok.