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Podcast: Torah Means Teacher
Episode 3 of Torah Means Teacher.
In this class we discuss Exodus Chapter 6 verses 1-8.
Exodus Chapter 6:
1Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”
2God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,a but by my name the Lordb I did not make myself fully known to them. 4I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.
6“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am theLord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”
Links:
Buy Nahum Sarna’s “Exploring Exodus” here.
or the book I use, JPS Torah Commentary, here.
As well as Umberto Cassuto’s book here.
Also mentioned was “Why the Jews?” by Prager and Telushkin.
Thank you for listening and learning with us.
Any questions or comments?
Please feel free to mention below in the comments area.
What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary; (and now) go and learn” ~ Rabbi Hillel (Shabbat 31a)
My son the teacher! these segments are great, my Torah studies are not as detailed your. get a mic for the students I would like to hear what they say. Keep it up.
My dad, a teacher of a teacher. Thank you for listening. I figure the best father’s day gift is simply seeing your kids do good, and so I’m working toward goodness – Happy father’s day.
I’ll see if simply amplifying the students in post will do the trick. I agree they should be clearly heard. If any listeners have suggestions, I’d love to hear from you. Thanks
God bless. I love you.
I’m not sure what you are using to record the show with but you should be able to pick up a digital recorder with multi inputs or just use what you have right now and buy a Y cable and splice the audio from two different mics around the room so you can have one mic on the students and the other on yourself. You may even be able to use two Y cables so you can have one mic on you and two on the students.
I’m new to the show and the inability to hear the students is the only objection I have. Well…. that and also you’re in Texas so I can’t join in on the conversation but there isn’t much I can do about that. Have you considered doing a Google Hangout sessions so you can have up to ten people in the conversation?
Thank you for the suggestion Paul. I’ve since picked up a Zoom H4N digital recorder and will use the multi-track feature so I can mic the class as well. Unfortunately I’ve got a lot of recordings from previous classes to work through first, but rest assured the quality will improve as I learn more and acquire better equipment.
I’m sincerely grateful for your suggestions. Know that you are welcome to join our class if you are ever in Houston. We have a variety of people in the class and always enjoy welcoming new guests who can bring new insights and questions. Thanks again and God bless.
Good morning, Mr. Footnick!
If I understand correctly, you were saying that Moses is angry at God for what has happened to the Hebrews because of His message and is losing faith in God. You said that he’s losing faith that He is a God of any power.
I always thought that Moses was angry at God not because He has no power, but because He evidently chooses not to use that power. To me, that seems even more enraging. If someone has no power to do anything, then why be angry at him? You don’t get angry at your waiter for the price of the food or for how it tastes. But if someone indeed has the power and then does nothing, that is something to get upset about. I think Moses was angry because he had faith in the power of God. God has the ability to stop all kinds of atrocities from happening, so why doesn’t He? It’s because He has chosen to give free will to every human. What do you think about this?
Hi Jo Jo,
Thanks again for a great question.
Remember context is crucial. Moses had not yet learned of God’s power. Moses had witnessed some nice tricks from God’s personal show for him (ie. staff into snake, tzaraat hand, and water into blood), but God had not begun to reveal His power to Moses. Moses did not know the final outcome as you and I do. He did not know of the “Ten Plagues” or parting of the Sea of Reeds or Manna or clothes and shoes that never wore out, conquering of Canaan, etc. All these miracles come later.
Since the Exodus there is no doubt that your scenario is more likely for many people. They know God heard peoples suffering and saved them once before… “Why doesn’t He do it again?” “Why does He allow others to suffer?” They ask. And they get angry. They get angry perhaps for reason you point out. But the context is different than when Moses got angry. Moses did not have the references we have.
God had barely introduced Himself to Moses, and outside the Hebrews knowing God had acted in the personal lives of our Patriarchs (Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob) God had been silent for the Hebrews since Joseph had brought them to Egypt. Moses was unsure of God’s ability to act for all the people. Moses was unsure if God could defeat the gods of Egypt. Moses was unsure of himself and his relationship with God.
I try to think of what it must have been like for them 3300 years ago. Doing so helps keep it in context for me.
Hope that helps you. You make an excellent point for today’s minds.