In Parshat Trumah (which means 'Donation', referring to the materials donated by the Israelites for the construction of the Tabernacle), we move from the legalistic concerns of last week's parsha, Mishpatim,  to the ritualistic details of the building and maintenance of the Tabernacle. We begin a very long discussion, which actually takes us through much of the rest of the Torah, of the Temple: the materials needed to construct it, its design, its vessels, the sacrifices to be offered and the rites to be practiced within it. 

In Parshat Yitro, the Israelites receive the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Many Rabbis and commentators begin their discussion of the parsha by noting that the name of the parsha, Yitro, is not, perhaps, what we would expect for what is, after all, the most important portion of the Torah. Yitro was Moshe's father-in-law, and was, as the Torah tells us at the beginning of the parsha, a priest of Midian - a priest of idolatry. Why is this crucial portion of the Torah named after a relatively minor figure?

This week, the Israelites actually leave Egypt, and we read the dramatic description of another climactic moment in the Exodus story - the splitting of the Red Sea. The action begins with the Egyptians regretting their decision to send the Jews out of Egypt after the deaths of the first born sons - "what have we done, for we have sent the Israelites out of our servitude?" And so, losing no time, Pharaoh and his men saddle up the chariots, and chase after the Israelites. The Jews, for their part, are camped near the sea, a few days walking distance from Egypt.

This week's parsha contains one of my all-time favorite conversations, one of the occasions where two opposing world views are really beautifully, succinctly and clearly articulated and displayed. As the parsha begins, the Egyptians have been through seven plagues. They are reeling, but will still not let the Israelites go. Moshe now warns them of the next plague, the locust. Pharaoh's people have had it, they are ready to give in. "And the servants of Pharaoh said to him: 'until when will this one be a stumbling block to us? Send out these people that they may worship the Lord their God.

This week the process of Moshe negotiating with Pharaoh for the right of the Jewish people to leave Egypt and worship God in the desert moves into full swing. The negotiations are accompanied by the ten plagues - a pretty effective bargaining tool. The first three plagues - the waters of the Nile turning into blood, the plague of frogs, and of lice, all have an interesting element in common. All three of these plagues are brought about not by Moshe but by his brother, and assistant, Aharon:

This week we begin the second book of the Bible, the book of Exodus - Shemot. The first portion, which goes by the same name, tells the story of the Egyptians' enslavement of the Jewish people, who have now grown in size and are viewed as a nation, rather than just a family or clan. The Egyptian oppression of the Israelites goes from bad to worse, culminating in a failed attempt by Pharaoh to order the Hebrew midwives to kill the male newborns, followed by the horrible decree instructing his own people to throw all male babies into the Nile.

The parsha of Vayechi is the last parsha in Genesis. In it, Jacob blesses his sons before dying, and Joseph, before his death, promises his brothers that eventually God will remember them and take them out of Egypt and back to Israel, and asks that at that time they take his bones with them, for final burial there. Thus, the book of Genesis ends with the stage set for the beginning of the enslavement of the next generation of Israelites.

This week, in Parshat Va'yigash, we come to the climax of the Joseph story. All through the drama, Joseph has not revealed his identity to his brothers; they think he is the vice-Pharaoh of Egypt. At the end of last week's parsha, Miketz, Joseph framed his younger brother Benjamin by placing his goblet in Benjamin's knapsack, making it look as if Benjamin had stolen it. As the brothers left Egypt on the way back to Canaan, Joseph sent his servants to catch up with them and accuse them of the theft.

In Parshat Miketz , we are well into the Joseph story, and the theme of dreams and their interpretation looms large. The first dreams are Joseph's: He tells his brothers that in his dream he saw their sheaves of grain bowing down to his, and, in a second dream, the sun, moon and eleven stars bow down to him. Understandably, his brothers, already sensitive to the fact that he is their father's obvious favorite, hate him for these delusions of grandeur. He is after all, the youngest but one of the 12 brothers, and yet he dreams of them, and his parents, humbling themselves before him.

This week, we begin the story of Joseph and his brothers. The story begins with what looks like an obvious error in parenting on the part of Jacob - now named Israel - the father of at least 13 children. "And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, for he was the child of his old age, and he made for him a striped coat." What happens next is to be expected - "And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him." We all know how it turns out.