Yitro Verses 18:1- 20:23

People do not truly respect religion or anything anymore. Yitro made me feel bad because I don't follow the Ten Commandments so here they are just to let you know.


1
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6
“You shall not murder.
7
“You shall not commit adultery.
8
“You shall not steal.
9
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”



If we really did take these literally this is what they'd say and my interpretation

1) You shall have no other gods but the Lord- I think this doesn't even mean acting as person who is polytheistic.
2) You can't make any statues- I think this is good an bad because without statues Michelangelo would be almost nowhere. It says God is a jealous God although God teaches us not to be jealous.
3) Never swear in God's name-In my opinion you should never swear and say Oh My Goodly Goodness( You know what I mean) too much.
4) Keep Shabbat- I think this means you do not truely have to celebrate Shabbat, but know what it is know that it is holy and if you can observe it moderately.
5) Respect Ma and Pa- I try to respect my mom and dad as much as possible and if you are older than me and make fun of your parents you should feel a little guilty.
6)Don't Kill- Soldiers? This one confuses me. Does war count? In my opinion, yes because I HATE WAR!
7)Don't Cheat- Don't Cheat EVER! If you are going to cheat don't get married.
8)Don't Steal- Even if its a joke just don't steal. There are kids in my school who steal from teachers! That's messed up.
9) Don't Betray People?- Let me know if that is accurate.
10)Do not feel envy- Here is a saying I made up- "Envy is green as stepped on grass and later rotting trees (both are not great positions), be as bright as the sun.

P.S. I was tired so gramar may be off.

Beshalach Verses 13:17-17:16

Some people do not believe in God. I don't exactly get that. In this portion alone, God reveals himself time and time again. First of all, God frees the Israelites from the land of Egypt. Second, God splits the Red Sea so the Jews can go across the sea on dry land. Next, God closes the sea on Pharaoh's chariots, army, and horsemen. Then, God tells Moses to place a block of wood in the bitterest of bitter waters and it is as sweet as hard candy. After that, God makes bread rain from the sky. Finally, in a dire thirst God tells Moses to hit a rock and water springs out! If that's not proof I don't know what is.

Oh wait, I do! God shows himself all throughout history. I'll give you the easiest example. Ancient Civilizations! We can learn a lot from them. Mesopotamia was polytheistic and it doesn't exist. Israel- monotheistic, Jews exist. Egypt was polytheistic and its religion doesn't exist today. Israel-monotheistic, Jews exist. Greece was polytheistic and its religion is gone. Israel monotheistic, Jews exist. Rome originally was polytheistic and that religion has faded away. Israel-monotheistic, Jews exist. Notice a pattern. If that is still NOT enough, I have one more trick up my sleeve. In Ancient Egypt, a pharaoh of the name Akhnaten tried to change Egypt's religion to monotheism. To me, that is God trying to reach out to that civilization. To me when something good happens to me I thank God and if something bad happens I know God had that happen for a reason. Some people don't believe in God and I just don't get that.

Va'era Verses 6:2-9:35

Jewish pride. That is what this portion is all about. Now you may be surprised when I tell you this portion is about the first seven plagues. We start off with Moses and his brother/spokesman, Aaron politely asking pharaoh for the Israelites to pray just outside the Ancient Egyptian kingdom and sacrifice at an altar. As God warned Moses, pharaoh denied his request. Showing His wonders, God turned Moses’ staff into a serpent. Pharaoh was amazed, but IGNORANT (see last week’s interpretation) by saying his magicians can do the same. The Egyptians laughed and chuckled of Moses and his “God”. They asked politely. No plagues, no nothing. Just politely. Pharaoh would regret his ignorant words. We start our plagues at the Nile River as Moses puts out his staff and the entire Nile was turned to blood. Plague one! Ignorant pharaoh turns to his magicians once more. The Israelite mockery continued as pharaoh laughed at the thought of letting them go. Nobody knew it, but this was the beginning of a Jewish rise in morale. Frogs rose out of the bloody Nile and spread through the Egyptian empire. A few Egyptians did not laugh as much when pharaoh denied the thought of letting them go. Less and less people sided with pharaoh as he denied Israelite freedom through lice, through swarms of insects, through livestock disease, and through boils. By the time plague seven rolls around, Moses tells everybody (even the Egyptians) to take cover for a hail storm although pharaoh ignores it. On the other hand, the Egyptians go indoors quite franticly. This is a very miniature detail, but to me it shows Jewish pride, the power of God, and the ignorance of anti-Semitism. I am proud to be Jewish, are you?

Exodus Shemot Verses 1:1-6:1

Hello Bloggers,

Welcome and thank you for your continuing participaion. I would like to note for anybody that owns a Tanak or Bible you can intepret the parsha too! I am excited to dive in to Exodus and without further instruction here is my interpetation of just a small chunk of the parsha that really popped out at me.



People say ignorance is bliss. That makes my eyebrow curl up. According to dictionary.com ignorance is the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc. My question to you is how is that bliss? Because of ignorance the Holocaust, because of ignorance the World Trade Center towers went down, because of ignorance the Spanish Inquisition, and because of ignorance Gaza. How is that bliss? Every terror, every genocide, every war, every murder, every shooting…..ignorance. How is that bliss? This relates back into the parsha this week because of ignorance the Egyptian pharaoh Raamses II thought the Israelites would over power the Egyptians and so he threw every Hebrew boy born after his order in the Nile River. (The Hebrew midwives did not follow his original orders of just killing them…go figure?) Because of ignorance. How is this bliss?

My Interpretation of Genesis Va-yechi

Weekly Parsha Interpretation
January 10, 2009: Va’yechi 47:28-50:26
This week’s parsha to me says a very special message. This message tells me something about Judaism. To me Judaism means everything. In this part of the Torah to conclude Genesis Jacob unfortunately passes on. His sons aid him on his way out and it is obviously pointed out how important it was for Jacob to be buried in the land of Canaan in the Ephron of the Hittite with Judaism’s fathers Abraham and Isaac. Joseph however is buried in Egypt. I think this is a sign of the times ahead. The first era of Judaism has come to an end and no longer has Joseph passed on a passion like Jacob, Isaac, or Abraham. Due to this lack of passion Judaism and its people do not return to Canaan and are enforced into slavery in the land of Egypt.  If I was the fourteenth son of Jacob, I would live in his shoes long after his death, reminding my followers of how great it is to be a Jew.”   The thing I ask you about this Torah parsha, are you a fourteenth son of Jacob or a Joseph?