Charles R. Lightner

What did the Israelites take with them when they left Egypt? In Genesis 15:14 God tells Abraham that after the four hundred years of enslavement and oppression in a strange land, “they shall go free with great wealth.” Prior to their departure from Egypt, Exodus 12:35 tells us that the people “borrowed objects of silver and gold, and clothing,” from the willing (according to the midr...

A Thought on Communication We begin our annual study of the book of Exodus this week. The first portion of the book, Parashat Shemot, opens with a brief account of Jacob’s family entering Egypt. We read that the family numbered seventy persons, excluding Joseph, who was already in Egypt. The central crisis of the early part of the book is the accession to the Egyptian throne of a Pharoa...

Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoah’s dreams is the first critical point on which the story of the Hebrews in Egypt pivots. The account of the dreams in Genesis 41:17–24 is straightforward and uncomplicated, but Pharoah’s magicians have no explanation to offer. How likely is that? Why might that be? There is ample textual evidence of the importance and sophistication of dream interpret...

Jacob, having come to terms with his father-in-law Laban, continues his journey of return to the land and home of his parents. Upon reaching the Jordan he finds that his brother Esau is aware of his approach and is coming to meet him with a force of four hundred men. He takes action to minimize the risk of a violent confrontation and then separates himself from his household for the nigh...

Parashat Lech Lecha 5784 In last week’s Torah portion, Parashat Noach, God created a covenant with Noah and with his descendants. In Genesis 6, God gives directions to Noah, which he dutifully obeys. Before Noah enters the ark, in Gen 6:18, God says to Noah, “I will establish my covenant (brit) with you…” but the word brit, or covenant, is not found again in the text until after Noah ha...

Sukkot 5784 Temple Emanu El of Westfield, NJ   We opened our service this morning singing The Byrd’s interpretation of the words of Kohelet – “Turn, Turn, Turn.” There are several reasons given for selecting Kohelet as the special reading on Sukkot. One of them is from a 14th century Spanish commentator called Avudraham. He suggested that the generally downbeat message of Solom...

The Audience is the Issue The portion of the Torah called Ki Tavo (Deuteronomy 26:1–29:8) is dominated by Moses’s restatement of the blessings and curses found in a different form in Leviticus 26. There, God described the blessings that would accrue to those whose behavior met the required standards and the curses, or rebukes, that would result from a failure to meet those standards. Th...