Rabbi Shraga Simmons: Parashat Beshelach

Rabbi Simmons references the Stockholm Syndrome, as it applies to the Israelites under Pharaoh.

Rabbi Sharon Brous: Imagine a Bible with No Moses, No Story of Exodus

Rabbi Brous writes about the Slave Bible, originally published in 1807, wherein every reference to the Exodus from Egypt was redacted.  The purpose of this text was to introduce slaves to Christianity while simultaneously preserving the system of slavery. 

Rabbi Adam Ruditsky: Parish Bo – Getting to the Heart of the Matter

In the Torah, both good and bad deeds come from the heart.  In contrast, Pharaoh considered himself a god in his heart, with the right to decide life and death.  Yet Pharaoh made the very human choice to be led by his yetzer harah.

Titan Cooper: Parashat Bo. Justice or Mercy?

An inherent tension exists between justice and good in the patriarchs. For instance, Abraham argued with God against the killing of everyone, both good and wicked, in Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses, in contrast, used both force and collective punishment to succeed in his mission of creating a holy nation. A similar ethical tension exists in modern Israel, in their relations with the Palestinians.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, z”l: The Necessity of Asking Questions

Rabbi Sacks, z”l, observes that while you need an army to defend a country, you need education to defend a civilization.  Furthermore, freedom is lost when it is taken for granted.  The Torah emphasizes that children must ask questions.  This is further incorporated into the Passover Hagaddah, which is tailored to not only answer questions from different mindsets, but also to education when the child does not know how to ask.  In Judaism, we do not believe in blind obedience, but rather in questioning. 

Rachel Scheinerman: The Eight Genders in the Talmud

Gender in the Talmud is beyond binary, and incorporates 8 gender designations, including male, female, androgynous, lacking sexual characteristics, identifying as a different identity from one’s birth identity.  The rabbis recognized that 6 genders were neither male nor female, and that the first human was both.