11th Week Curriculum
Shemot (Names)
Introduction: With this week’s parashah, we begin the study of the Exodus.
There are strong connections between this parashah and the Book of Beresheet
(Genesis) that we completed last week. For example, God tells Abraham that the
Children of Israel would be enslaved for 420 years. At the conclusion, God would
redeem them. Another example of this foreshadowing is the Joseph story where
he acquires, on behalf of Pharaoh, all of the property that the Egyptians owned in
exchange for the distribution of food. It is true that people did not starve.
However, the Egyptian people became serfs to Pharaoh. The first Chapter of
Exodus, when Pharaoh states, “Come let us deal wisely with it (a reference to the
Children of Israel) could have been in a factor in Pharaoh’s ability to convince the
Egyptian to enslave the Children of Israel.
Set Induction: Three themes will be explored this week. One is the relationship
between history and current events. “Why is it important to study history? Do you
believe in the statement, “A people who either forget or fail to learn the lessons of
their history are condemned to repeat it?” A second theme that you could address
is the feelings that one people have for another, particularly negative. For
example, one group of people may hate another. Why do you think that happens?
Have you ever intensely disliked someone? How have you expressed it or dealt
with it? The last theme is that of civil disobedience. Is it ever appropriate to
disobey a law? Suppose you think a situation is unfair (here you could even
include the rules of the house). What might you do to change it?
Tanach - Exodus Chapter 1
(1) And these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came to Egypt, with Jacob,
every man with his household. (2) Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, (3) Issachar,
Zebulun, and Benjamin, (4) Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher (5) And all the
souls who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy souls; for Joseph was in
Egypt already. (6) And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. (7)
And the people of Israel were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied, and
became exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. (8) And there arose
up a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. (9) And he said to his people,
“Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than us. (10)
Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it may come to pass,
that, when there would be any war, they should join our enemies, and fight against
us; and so get them out of the land.” (11) Therefore they did set over them
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taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. They built for Pharaoh storage cities
called Pithom and Ramses. (12) But the more they afflicted them, the more they
multiplied and grew. Moreover, they were mortified because of the people of
Israel. (13) And the Egyptians made the people of Israel serve with rigor; (14). In
addition, they made their lives bitter with hard slavery, in mortar, and in brick, and
in all kinds of service in the field; all their service, which they made them serve,
was with rigor. (15) Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, and
the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah. (16) And he said,
“When you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon
the stools; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall
live.” (17). However, the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt
commanded them, but saved the male children alive. (18) The king of Egypt then
called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and have
saved the male children alive?” (19) The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the
Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and deliver
before the midwives come to them.” (20). Therefore, God dealt well with the
midwives; and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. 21. It then
happened, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses. 22.
Thereafter, Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you
shall throw into the river, and every daughter you shall let live.”
I. The Importance of History: Shemot begins with a description of the 70
seventy souls that went down to Egypt and specifically includes Joseph. This is
already known by us already, so one of the questions is “Why is this being
repeated?”
Rashi (the 10th and 11th century commentator par excellence) writes, “In order
show how endearing the Children of Israel are unto its Author (God) and to remind
us of Joseph’s righteousness.”
1. What was Joseph’s righteousness? (There are many instances, but the primary
one is his saving people from starvation. Another was that he forgave his brothers
for selling him into slavery and provided for them after they came down to Egypt).
2. Do you agree with Rashi? One possible objection is that the Children of Israel
are about to be enslaved and go through centuries of oppression and therefore God
has abandoned the Children of Israel. What would you say in response to this
objection? (God remains the one constant in faith that gave the Children of Israel
hope for a better tomorrow. Another is that on the human level, it was not God
who enslaved them. It was Pharaoh. However, by recording it here, it served as a
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reminder to all subsequent generations that where they came from, know who their
ancestors were, would be important for all subsequent generations.
3. The Bible continues, “And a new King arose who did not know Joseph.”
The Talmud (a 4th to 7th century work that is an anthology of Jewish teachers and
culture) comments on this verse by recording a debate between two Rabbis, one is
Rav and the other Shmuel. Rav commented that this verse is to be understood
literally; that the Pharaoh had died and a new King arose and took his place. This
new King did not know Pharaoh. Shmuel states, “That this was not a new King.
The Pharaoh who enslaved the Children of Israel was the same Pharaoh who
benefitted from placing Joseph in charge of his kingdom and thus acquired all the
wealth of the people.
1. Which Rabbi do you find more persuasive, the one who reads it literally or the
one who reads “into” the verse? Why do you think one is more convincing?
(There is no right or wrong answers here)?
2. Which interpretation is more interesting? Why would someone ignore their own
history and pretend as if something either did not happen or was inconsequential?
(Pharaoh is about to launch a plan to convince his people that enslaving the
Children of Israel, who are our ancestors) is a good thing. Why would it be
“convenient” to ignore the Joseph story.
II. “Anti-Semitism”, rationality, and Hate:
1. The Children of Israel are successful in Goshen. They are becoming numerous
and they are wealthy. Life is good. Pharaoh says, “Come let “us” (a reference to
the Egyptian people) deal wisely with them because of there is a war, they will join
our enemies and they (according to the traditional understanding of the Biblical
text) will drive us out of our land they (the Children of Israel) will possess it
(Egypt). Do you think Pharaoh hates the Israelites? Before answering this
question, can you describe or define hate?
2. Do you think Pharaoh fears the Israelites? Is it possible that he has both?
3. Assume that when Pharaoh states, “Come let us act intelligently with it (the
pronoun reference is to the phrase ahm rav (a numerous people or nation),” that he
is speaking to the Egyptian people through Pharaoh’s Court. What is the response
of the Egyptian people or the people who Pharaoh is speaking to?” Is there any
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opposition to Pharaoh’s policy? (The answer of course is none). Do you think that
if a people do not oppose a policy of a ruler that by silence, they agree with it? If
they are silent and do not do anything to oppose the policy, should they be held
accountable, i.e. should they be punished if the policy or law is unjust?
III. Genocide and Civil Disobedience
1. In this story, we have the first description of a policy of genocide. In the late
1930s a man by the Rafael Lumpkin, a Polish Jew, who was a professor of
international law escaped the Holocaust. He lost his entire family, but dedicated
the remainder of his life to create both a new word (genocide) that described what
happened to the Jewish people during World War II throughout Europe and a new
international law that now makes it a crime for any person, people, or Government
to engage in genocide. It is called the Geneva Convention of 1948 on Genocide
sponsored by the United Nations. This is what it says:
"Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts
committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial
or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to
members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d)
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly
transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III: The following acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy
to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d)
Attempt to commit genocide;(e) Complicity in genocide. "
1. Where in this definition, could Pharaoh be held accountable for committing
genocide? (See the bold and link both the crushing labor inflicted upon the people
and of course killing all the male children)
2. Shifrah and Puah decide to disobey Pharaoh. It says that they “feared God.”
What do you think the Bible means when it says this? (Possible Answer: It is
wrong to take an innocent life because all of us are made in the image and likeness
of God. Another possible answer is that human life is sacred.)
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3. We are all taught at a very early age to follow rules and to obey the law. Do
you think that Shifrah and Puah did the right thing? Why do you think they did
this? If you were ordered by the Government to do something that you thought
was wrong, would you do it anyway? Would you follow your conscious and
disobey the law, or would you follow the law, even though you disagreed with it?
(These are difficult questions).
4. This Monday, we are observing the birthday of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Do you know who he was? What did he do? In the course of his
doctoral studies at Boston University, he learned of an Indian Mahatma Ghandi
who was an attorney in India and then later a very holy and religious person.
Ghandi had written, practiced, and preached on the power of civil disobedience
through non-violence, which he then used to influence the Indian people overthrow
the British who ruled India as a colony. He argued that if a law was “unjust,” it
was appropriate and right to disobey the law and to work towards changing it, but
through non-violent ways, such as protests and to disobey the law and take the
punishment in order to call attention to it.
The Rev. Dr. King was deeply influenced by this idea. In 1959, King visited India
where he made this philosophy the core of the civil rights movement that he led.
He organized the civil rights movement for African Americans in our country so
that they would have the same rights and freedoms of all other Americans. He
dedicated his life to this movement. Many people were arrested and thrown into
jail for disobeying the segregationist laws of various states.
Some people at the time thought Dr. King’s cause was a just one (righteous and
good), but that this method was wrong; you should never disobey the law, even if
you are willing to accept the punishment as a result of breaking it, but rather you
should work to change the law. What do you think of this idea?
5. How do you determine if a law is just or unjust? (There is no right answer here
and it is complicated, but it would be interesting to see what students think or if
they even ever think along this way). Have you ever felt that something that
happened to you or another person was unjust or unfair? Can you describe the
situation? How did you respond? (Here: You can acknowledge just how difficult
it is to disobey the law and that it takes extraordinary courage to do what Shifrah
and Puah did.)
6. The reward for Shifrah and Puah’s experience was that God built Houses for
them. The Jewish tradition understands this to mean that they became the
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respective mothers of the Kohaniim (Priests) and the Levites; those who were later
to take care of the Tabernacle and then the Temple itself. Why might this be their
reward? (Possible answers could include that to be holy is to have a moral
conscious that struggles with what is right in the heart and the sometimes harsh
realities of life; another is that the correctness of any law must always be measured
against the principles of righteousness, loving-kindness, and other religious ideals
that are associated in our tradition with God).
Copyright 2012 Edward S. Boraz
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