Shabbat Shalom GRJC

Weekly Emails to the Congregation

Sefer Shemot 2007

Shabbat Shalom to the GRJC family,

We light candles on Friday at 4:17 pm.  Our Friday evening service will begin at 8 pm, and Saturday morning services will begin at 9 am.

We read this week from the beginning of Sefer Shemot, the Book of Exodus.  We see here an interesting feature of Jewish tradition that the traditional names of the Torah books differ from the English given names in meaning.

With the second book of the Torah, the traditional Hebrew name “Shemot” means “the names” from the first sentence of the reading that
 
begins, “These are the names of the children of Israel who went down to Egypt…”  The English given name “Exodus”, comes from the Greek roots ‘ex’, ‘going out’, and ‘hodos’ meaning ‘road’.

The Hebrew traditional name connects us to the beginning of the book that precedes the Israelites leaving Egypt.  The English given name relates to the Israelite mass emigration that occurs later in the book.  The Hebrew name relates to the nationhood of Israel, the ‘names’ of Jacob’s sons that will become the names of the tribes.  This is a relevant title considering that the book relates the development of the one family into the nation of Israel.  The Hebrew name relates to only one event among the many that occur within the book.

Considering the many other themes and events in the book, it is conceivable that another title could be appropriate.  The critical factor is what we want to emphasize about the book’s contents.  Here are some possible titles that perhaps are lying around on the heavenly cutting-room floor:

The Book of Slavery and Freedom
The Book of Moses
The Triumph of the God of Israel
Traveling Toward the Holy Land

If you were given the task of creating a title for the second book of the Torah, what title would you choose and why? Please email me with your ideas:  rabbi@grjc.org

Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom and a happy and healthy start to 2008,

Rabbi Tow

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