Parshat Sh'mot/Shemot (whatever)

You can read the basics here.

Here are some oldies of mine, which I tried to line up in chronological order/order of posting. Some of them also include references to future parshiot (parashot?), but I'm posting them here, lest I forget. I'm going to be a bit busy for the next few days.

• Sh'mot notes

Highlight:

"Haftarat Sh’mot

. . . For Ashkenazim: I said this years ago in a d’var Torah ("word of Torah," Torah discussion) and I’ll say it again—“For with stammering lips and a strange tongue shall it be spoken to this people” describes the speech of a person with a speech impediment. This may be the sort of thing that’s more likely to catch the eye of the mother of a hard-of-hearing child who spent sixteen years in speech therapy."

• Sh'mot notes, 5769

Highlight:
"Call me a faithless coward, but if someone, or even The One, told me to grab a snake by the tail . . ."

• Sh'mot notes, 5769--my husband's thoughts

Highlight:
"Parshat B'reishit (the very beginning of the Bible) and Parshat Sh'mot (the beginning of the book of Exodus) are similar in that they squeeze quite a lot into one weekly reading. In Parshat B'reishit, we go from the creation of the world to . .. HaShem's decision to send a flood. In Parshat Sh'mot, we begin with a list of the names of the sons (yes, sons--whatever happened to Dinah, anyway?) of Jacob who went down to Egypt, . . . [and end with Moshe] enduring the complaints of the Hebrew slaves that he'd just made matters worse."

• Biblical near-death experiences G-d threatens to kill first Yitzchak/Isaac, then Moshe/Moses, and later, Bil'am.
  
• Moshe's first act of disobedience "HaShem specifically tells Moshe (Moses) to tell Par'oh (Pharaoh) that HaShem intends to slay Par'oh's firstborn."
  
• G-d lied He told Moshe that his brother Aharon/Aaron would be his spokeperson before Pharaoh, but that never happened.
  Parsha catch-up: Vayechi and Sh'mot