One Torah for All

Shavuah Tov!  

Due to the pandemic All activities are cancelled until further notice except phone consultations and discussions possible as needed/ desired [928-227-0582]. Newsletter will continue.  If we have pleasant Shabbat weather, we can do an outdoors Shabbat Morning service.  It has been too cold of late.

========================================================

We at Beit Torah are grateful for our hard won freedom now and then:

Bo 5781; Freedom at Last; Shemot [Exodus] 10:1-13:16; Jeremiah 46: 13-28

Now there wasn’t much left to drink or eat

After the bugs and the boils and the beasts,

So when hungry locusts then swarmed the land

Almost naught for people remained but sand.

Even when locusts to marshes were blown,

Pharaoh continued refusing to yield.

“So blind you are,” Aaron then told Pharaoh,

“A darkness plague will make your blindness real.”

Volcanic debris in Thera’s umbra

Made particle filled air quite touchable.

Nine Ipuwer days or three from Torah,

Either caused asthma, fear so palpable,

That the people were more than ready to go

If only okayed by the cruel Pharaoh…

Alas, he said ‘no’, no flocks could go…

Hence from the neighbors riches to “borrow”-

Post-firstborn deaths. Folk fled on the morrow.

So momentous a moment, Sages say,

That we must remember each year this day

With signs on our hands, also between our eyes,

To recall Egyptian servitude cries

Which led to freedom for all who did heed:

Blood on Lintels, roast lamb on which to feed,

Burn all the leftovers, flee at dawn’s break

With unleavened bread of no time to bake.

Further, to HaShem our firstborn belong

Recalling that last plague of dark horror.

That we were set free becomes now our song

Recalled each year in matzah and maror.

The Death of the Firstborn can also be tied to the toxic deposits of the volcanic debris and ash. Since all food sources were destroyed save the tar covered warehouse pits, all Egypt would have used them. However first portions always went to the firstborn - and they would have been the most toxic if not deadly from absorbed volcanic output. This would have been most toxic in the heaviest umbra deposits. Goshen to the East was in the penumbra and had lighter effects from plagues. How they avoided tainted grain is not clear. What would you do to save your firstborn? -or would you try to save all the people?

Shabbat shalom!

================================================================

As we are living through a pandemic plague, can we relate to the people in Egypt inundated with plagues? We at Beit Torah feel the palpable pandemic fear overlaid on our usual medical concerns and complicating them. How then did the Egyptians feel when bombarded with plague troubles? As we now read details of the first group of plagues, think about how those afflicted felt during those days:

VaEra 5781; Plagues and Pandemics, Pandemic Plagues;

Shemot [Exodus] 6:2-9:35; Ezekiel 28:25-29:21; Isaiah 66:1-24

No details were given last week in our preview.

So now we embark on this version two, brand new…

HaShem promised Moshe soon there would be release

Even though the Hebrews firmly refused to believe.

Then Moshe, in fear, said he truly could not speak,

So HaShem spoke to Aaron, his spokesman to be.

Hence to prove his credentials: lineage revealed

[Though Miriam’s not mentioned as to Yocheved born].

Thus now with this info was his leadership sealed,

Moshe and Aaron returned to their task forlorn.

When going back to Pharaoh with his hardened heart,

Aaron’s snake rod swallowed the magicians’ - all parts.

Pharaoh still said ‘no’, your folk to pray can not go’ -

Despite other nations being allowed even though!

So blood was the first plague in water, wood, and stone

Since volcanic iron oxide paints all red roan;

Poisons the water so that fish die, rot and smell;

Lets uneaten tadpoles escape to land as well..

Now light volcanic ash is like lice on skin cooking;

Will kill food sources, so hungry insects come looking;

Will sicken the air so that all will feel ill until

The skin bubbles open as blisters or boils in pain

Only to be struck by fiery hail and again

Another plague since Pharaoh refused still…

Historical documentations by the Ipuwer papyri [circa 1600 BCE] support the occurrence of the biblical plagues and coincided with the first of the expulsion of Semites from Egypt and with the massive volcanic explosions of Thera that destroyed about half the island about 400 miles away from Egypt. This is consistent with the teachings of the Rambam, Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, and others that HaShem does not violate natural laws but uses them to cause what appears to us to be ‘miracles’. Shabbat Shalom!

========================================================

Shemot

We at Beit Torah pray for all manner of blessings as we embark on a new Gregorian year and on a new Book of Torah and prepare for plagues yet to come:

Shemot 5781 ; Introducing Moshe ; Shemot [Exodus] 1:1-6:1;

Sephard: Jeremiah 1:1-2:3; Ashkenaz: Isaiah 27:6 - 28:13; 29:22 - 29:23

Moshe Grows Up

“It is not yet Pesach,” dear Ellie would say,

“So why do we read this portion on this day?”

She was one of our folk, passed on a couple years back.

Yet every year at this time, this question she’d ask!

It is the Pesach story that starts the Book of Names,

Shemot, a saga with intrigue, harsh plagues, and games.

We start with the cruelty of a conquering Pharaoh

Decreeing death to newborn boys without a care – Oh

But for Shifra and Puah who refused to do so

By saying strong Hebrew women did not need their help

When a baby boy or girl by themselves they could whelp.

Then Yochevet’s baby in a closed cradle was placed

As Sis Miriam to the Princess swiftly did race.

“From water did I pull you,” the Princess exclaimed.

“As a result, henceforth, Moshe will be your name.”

When grown he saw an overseer vilely act.

He killed him. ‘Twas known to Hebrew Slaves as a fact.

So he fled to Midian, to a Priest’s daughters was kind.

This led to friendship as Zipporah to wife he did find.

This story began here when HaShem now did appear

In a burning bush that neither ashed nor disappeared!

HaShem did proclaim, “To Egypt you must go:

From Horeb to Pharaoh for desert prayers to plead

For all Hebrews with elders, wives, and children in tow -

Just as was given to other folk when such was their need.

A snake rod, a hand with white scales, and blood as water

Are grand signs for in Pharaoh’s court to be seen and heard.”

Moshe’s protest: ‘I’m not worthy! ‘Twill be a slaughter!”

“So let Aaron convince them with his eloquent words,”

Said HaSHem as he promised with their neighbors’ wealth

There later would be an exit at night in stealth…

So Moshe asked from Yitro, top Midian Priest, permission to go

While HaShem said: ”Egyptian firstborn die if plea’s refused by Pharaoh.”

Some of this prediction Zipporah did hear

Hence for her Egyptian firstborn she clearly did fear.

So he would be a Hebrew, his small foreskin she took

To save his life when the Angel of Death came to look.

Yet when Moshe asked Pharaoh for wilderness prayers,

He and Aaron were laughed out of court, kicked down the stairs!

As life became harder with withdrawn straw for the bricks,

Hebrews could not meet quotas, could not use sticks…

Those Hebrews did curse them, causing them both such despair…

Then HaShem cautioned patience: “Moshe, we will get there!”

Wow was this a long parashah! So much to ponder and discuss! Here we have a prediction of all that will come without the details of the plagues. What parts caught your fancy? What would you wish to discuss? Can any of this be applied to our lives today? If so, what?

Shabbat Shalom!

===========================================================