Category: Culture

  • Preparing To Be A Free Nation

    The Torah refers to Passover as the holiday of Matzot. The reason is to teach us that leaving Egypt was the first step to becoming a nation. We had to learn what it means to be free.

  • You Have to Earn It

    The big mistake that Aaron’s sons made was that they assumed that they would inherit the status of their father without having earned it. This is to teach us that just because your parents are great does not mean that you will be. You have to earn it.

  • Why The Jews?

    The question is why the Jews are the only people who have faced genocide throughout history. The answer is simple. The Jews represent a morality from God. And many people do not want to be moral.

  • We Are God’s Vessels

    The reason that the Jews built the Golden Calf was that they thought that without Moses that they would not have been redeemed. The lesson is that our leaders are vessels for God. They succeed when they do what God expects.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • What’s In A Name?

    The name Hebrew is a derogatory name for the Jews. The reason is that the goal of enslaving the Jews was to destroy them. Thus it is the same throughout our history. First they will denigrate the Jews and then murder the Jews.

  • Being Nice is Not Enough

    When Moses saw the Egyptian taskmaster beating the Jew, he looked around and did not see another man. This is to teach us to do the right thing even if it isn’t the nice thing.