Friday, 16 Jan 2009

Written by Alasdair Nisbet, Chairman of the Development Board

The parashat Shemot, meaning Names, represents a change of gear in the Torah story.  Joseph got us, the Hebrew people to Egypt, it is now time for Moses, with God's help, to get us out.  Like many modern biographies, the story of Moses begins, in Shemot, by describing some key events in his early years up to his first meeting with Pharaoh that helped to shape the great leader.  These include: being  left floating in the Nile, found by Pharaoh's daughter and given a royal education, demonstration of his compassion for his people but overstepping the mark by killing an Egyptian, running away, meeting his wife and ultimately having a vision that was to define the rest of his life. In it God told him:

The views expressed in this D’var Torah do not necessarily reflect the position of Leo Baeck College.