Author: Shlomo Bar-Ayal

  • Treat All With Respect

    The problem that the Egyptians had was that they did not treat their slaves with respect since they considered them not to be human. The Torah teaches us that even a slave has to be treated with respect and that they were also created in the image of God.

  • Freedom Means Responsibility

    The reason that the first commandment that the Jews receive is to teach them the responsibility of being free. A free person is also responsible for their actions. A slave is not.

  • Leave No One Behind

    When Pharaoh says that only the men can go to worship God Moses immediately refuses the offer. All the Jews, men, women and children, will go. This is a basic principle in the Torah. We leave no Jew behind.

  • Admit Your Mistakes

    The biggest problem that Pharaoh had was that he was not able to admit he was wrong. He chose to blame the Jews even though he was at fault for not heeding God.

  • Unity in Our National Mission

    The Torah uses the singular verb when Moses and Aaron we commanded to go to Pharaoh. This is to teach us that whatever our disagreements among ourselves we have to be united when facing our foes.

  • Pharaoh’s March of Folly

    When every shred of evidence should have convinced Pharaoh that his policies would lead to disaster, he stubbornly refused to change. This was his march of folly.

  • God Is Above Nature

    All the plagues in Egypt, except the 10th, were opposed to the gods of Egypt which were nature gods. God was making the point that He controlled nature, not the other way around.

  • Natural Redemption

    All the plagues in Egypt could be explained scientifically. This ties in with the concept of natural redemption. Nothing seems abnormal until you realize that there has been a change in the world.

  • Getting Egypt Out Of The Jews

    The hardest job that Moses had was getting Egypt out of the Jews. The problem was that many of the Jews loved Egyptian culture. God wanted the Jews to reject that culture for the Torah.

  • Miracles Are Not Unnatural

    All the miracles that happened in Egypt could be explained naturally. This is because a miracle is an event that happens when you need it to happen. Life is a miracle in of itself.