Torah Portion of the Week
Building Character through the Themes of the Weekly Torah Portion
וַיֹּאמֶר ה׳ אֶל־מֹשֶׁה בֹּא אֶל־פַּרְעֹה כִּי־אֲנִי הִכְבַּדְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ וְאֶת־לֵב עֲבָדָיו לְמַעַן שִׁתִי אֹתֹתַי אֵלֶּה בְּקִרְבּוֹ׃
Va-yo-mer A-do-nai el–Mo-sheh bo el–Par-oh ki–a-ni hikh-bad-ti et–li-bo v’et–lev
a-va-dav l’ma-an shi-ti o-to-tai e-leh b’kir-bo;
And the Lord said to Moses: Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these My signs in the midst of them;
Exodus 10:1
Bo means “come.” In this portion, we read of the final three plagues that came upon the Egyptians, which led to the Children of Israel’s departure from Egypt. Before the final plague, the Death of the Firstborn, Moses gave the Children of Israel instructions regarding the first Passover offering: They were to bring a sheep into their dwellings, keep it there for four days, slaughter it, and eat its flesh. They were also instructed to mark their doorposts with its blood so that the Angel of Death would not kill their firstborn during the tenth plague.
This took a lot more courage than one might imagine. Why? Because sheep were worshipped by the Egyptians. It was one of their gods. Killing an Egyptian deity could have gotten the Children of Israel killed. However, it was a vital step in their path to freedom.
The Freedom Path
We all deal with things in life that we need to “kill” or “conquer”—things that confine us. Maybe it is an addiction, fear, worry, anxiety, stress, anger, depression, or insecurity. Maybe it is something else.
Whatever it may be, once you recognize the need for change, you can make the decision to actually make the change. Change is a choice. Confront that which you want to correct. It might be frightening, but sometimes you have to walk through that fear to find your freedom.
Any journey to freedom takes strength, courage, and determination. It means leaving or departing from the place where you have been—whether mentally, physically, or both—and going to a new place. Think something new and do something new. Allowing your thoughts to continually go negatively into the past will never allow you to move forward and fully grasp the future. You must learn to recognize the barricades and bridges in your life.
Take a small step towards order every day, and in your season of change, allow God to teach you something new. Step into a new season with a new season mentality. In your path to freedom, don’t be afraid of the unknown, and don’t be afraid of what others can do to you. You might feel little when you first step out, but you are a whole lot more than you know.
Pronunciation Guide for Transliterated Hebrew Words
| a | [a] as in arm |
| ai | [ai] as in Thailand |
| e | [e] as in red |
| ei | [ei] as in eight |
| i | [i] as in ski |
| o | [o] as in score |
| oi | [oi] as in oil |
| u | [u] as in rule |
| ui | [ui] as in gluing |
| ch/kh | [ch] as in the Scottish loch |
| g | [g] as in good (not as in giant) |
| tz | [ts] as in hats |
| ‘ | short “eh” or “uh” sound |
The Hebrew Scriptures in this text have been derived from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC), and the English translation is based off of the JPS 1917 Tanakh.
Simchat Torah Beit Midrash®
