Your Name Is Not Your Essence
“And these are the names of the Children of Israel who came to Egypt…” (Shemos 1:1) Why begin a new book—Shemos, the Book of Exile and Redemption—by repeating something we already know? We met these names back in Parshas Vayigash. We know who came to Egypt. So what’s going on? Chazal answer: In a place […]
Don’t Forget Your Name
“And these are the names of the Children of Israel who came to Egypt…” (Shemos 1:1) It was just a list.A dry list of names. Or so it seemed. “These are the names of the Children of Israel who came to Egypt…” — the Torah opens its new book with this roll call of Yaakov’s […]