Shemot means “names” and Parashat Shemot is indeed full of names. We begin perhaps the most famous Bible story of them all, the story of the Exodus from Egypt. This is a full portion, with many different famous stories in it.
A few of these drashot also address the fact that this Shabbat falls on the evening after Inauguration Day in the United States. Having seen the Obama Era in U.S. History come to an end, and the Trump Era begin, it is good to take a moment to reflect.
Let’s see what our commenters make of this portion and/or this moment in history:
Shemot – Names by Rabbi Kari Hofmeister Tuling, PhD
Does the Presidency Have a Prayer? by Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin
Know Your Past by Rabbi Jordan Parr
Each Life is a Novel by Rabbi Marc Katz
The Revolutionary Road to Marriage by Rabbi Esther Hugenholtz
The Mother Who Bore 600,000 by Rabbi Stephen Fuchs
Names and Deeds by Rabbi Ruth Adar
The story of the Exodus, and the story of Esther, were my two favorite bible stories of all. You’re absolutely right that Exodus is very appropriate today.
Yes, indeedy – and Esther is also appropriate. I love the line (in chapter 4?) where Mordechai writes to Esther about what will happen if she fails to rise to the occasion. It still reads as a warning against complacency.
“we have the power and the obligation to stand up to such leaders and repair the tears in the moral universe that such damage causes” Rabbi Jordan Parr
A wonderful rabbi.