GEN1595 The reference to maiming oxen illustrates the extent to which enraged people commit acts of gratuitous violence.  Rage separates people’s minds and hearts from God, and inhibits moral constraints.   … Most of us have occasionally responded to bad behavior with disproportionate rage, which is why we all need to learn how to control ourselves when we are consumed with anger. … As the Talmud explains, “When one becomes rageful, God becomes of no consequence to him” [and] “It is certain that the sins of the angry man outweigh his merits” Nedarim 22b.   TELVOL 1:248-9

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GEN1613 Strive to let your forgiveness be wholehearted. One way to achieve this is to reflect on some unintended good that resulted from the wrong done to you.   As Joseph says to his brothers, [this verse].  When others harm us, it frequently forces us to grow in ways we would otherwise not have done. Joesph had been arrogant as a young man, but because of the suffering he endured, he became more humble.  As a result of what his brothers did to him, he was ultimately put into a position at the court of Pharaoh in which he achieved great power and saved many thousands of lives.  … If you find it very hard to forgive someone—particularly somebody who has asked for forgiveness—see whether you can find any personal growth or other good that came about because of what happened.   On the basis of that, find it in your heart to forgive the person who hurt you, or at least to stop bearing a grudge.   TELVOL1:207

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GEN1618 The principle of k’vod ha-meit [respect for the dead] dictates that a body not be tampered with, and nothing done to speed or slow down the body’s natural decomposition.  Thus, Jewish law opposes embalming.  Yet the Torah does speak of the embalming of Jacob Genesis 50:2-3 and Joseph [this verse].  Embalming was widely practiced in Egypt and was, in any case, necessary in the case of Jacob since the process of mourning for him in Egypt, followed by his burial in Canaan, occupied about four months [Genesis 50:3-10]. Leaving a body unburied for so long a period would lead to terrible decay and odors.   Nevertheless, the process of embalming, which involves puncturing organs, an incision in a major artery and vein, and the pumping of formaldehyde into the artery, is regarded as abhorrent to the Jewish notion of respect for the dead.  Thus, when a body is shipped to Israel, in lieu of embalming, the Israeli government sanctions using a lightweight wooden casket lined with aluminum and sometimes preserved with ice packs.  TELVOL1:99-100

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EXOD13 The Bible offers examples both of heroes who refused to follow immoral orders and others who carried them out: Pharaoh ordered the midwives Shifra and Puah to kill all Israelite male babies at birth, but "the midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them" [this verse]. Had other Egyptians acted with the same courage, no evil would have ensued. Unfortunately, the other Egyptians cooperated in Pharaoh's plan to wipe out the Israelites Exodus 1:22.

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EXOD14 Torah study provides, and inspires, us with models of righteous behavior. This applies, of course, to all students of the Bible, Jews and non-Jews alike. Thus, in 1941, a Dutch minister known as Fritz "de Zwerver," an anti-Nazi organizer, arrived in the city of Eibergen, Holland, and walked to the podium of the Protestant church. At that time the Germans had taken over Holland, and were deporting Jews to concentration camps. The Reverend opened his Bible to Exodus 1:15 – 22 and read aloud the story of the Egyptian midwives who disobeyed Pharaoh's order to murder the newborn male Israelite babies, and saved them instead. Afterward, he said to the congregation, "Who is the Pharaoh today? The Nazis! Who are the babies who have to be hidden? The Jews! Who are the midwives today? We are! It is our job to outsmart the Pharaoh's, to have the courage of the midwives, and to protect the Jews and all those who need to be hidden." He then left the church, got on his bicycle, and went to the next village. During the war, seven families from this little church hid Jews and other anti-Nazi resistors. Cited in Zion and Dishon, A Different Night: The Leader's Guide 49, and their Different Night haggadah, 89.

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EXOD18 That this is the only explanation the Bible offers for their behavior suggests that it was this fear that prompted them to act as they did. Pharaoh then commanded the Egyptian people, who presumably did not fear God but did fear him, to participate in his campaign: "Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, 'Every son born that is born you shall throw into the Nile'" Exodus 1:22. That fear of God can liberate people from fear of others explains why a disproportionate percentage of political dissenters in totalitarian societies such as Nazi Germany and the former Soviet Union were God-fearers. Such people presumably feared their country's rulers (they did not want to die), but they believed that obedience to God's will was more important than anything, including life. On the other hand, people who do not believe in or fear God are far less likely to risk their lives, the most valuable possession may have, to defy a country's ruler, no matter how immoral his edicts.

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EXOD22 Did God disapprove of the midwives' lies? Definitely not. The next verse informs us that "God dealt well with the midwives… And He established households for them" Exodus 1:20-21. Like Samuel I Samuel 16:1-3, Shifra and Puah had reason to fear that if they told Pharaoh the truth, he would execute them. These episodes yield important and still relevant lessons, among them being that we do not owe the truth to persecutors, and we do not have to accept martyrdom when it can be avoided.

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EXOD25 See [[EXOD18]] Exodus 1:17 fearing TELVOL1 488

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EXOD32 Don't condemn children because of their parents' misdeeds. Few people will acknowledge acting in so unfair a manner, yet it is very common in traditional Jewish circles to greatly emphasize yichus (lineage) when considering marital prospects for oneself or one's children. Thus, families in which a scandal has occurred often find it difficult to make a match. The Bible repeatedly warns against making a child suffer for a parent's sins. Jeremiah prophesies that a criterion of a better world is that children no longer suffer because of the misdeeds of their parents: "In those days, they shall no longer say, 'Parents have eaten sour grapes, and their children's teeth are set on edge'" Jeremiah 31:29 – 30 [The character of the parents is certainly not an infallible indicator of the child's character. There are few more evil figures in the Bible then the Pharaoh of the opening chapter of Exodus, who decreed the drowning of the male Israelite infants. Yet it was this Pharaoh's daughter who, out of compassion, defied her father's decree and saved the life of the infant Moses. Later the Bible describes King Josiah, who ruled over Judah from 640 to 609 B.C.E. in superlative terms: "There was no king like him before who turned back to the Lord with all his heart and soul and might, in full accord with the teaching of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him" II Kings 23:25. Yet Josiah's father was King Amon, a morally debased figure, and his grandfather was King Manasseh, whom the Bible regarded as singularly wicked, and a man who sacrificed one of his sons in fire II Kings 23:25. Conversely, the Bible relates that the priest Eli, a highly righteous man, raised two sons who were scoundrels I Samuel 2:12-17.] Continued at [[EXOD1040]] Exodus 34:7 TELVOL1 87

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EXOD65 Love of God is rooted in the belief that God is a personal God (not an impersonal force in the universe) and that, like a parent, He knows and cares for each of us. Thus the Book of Exodus records God's reaction to the Jewish sufferings in Egypt [this verse]. It is the sense that God knows us, the perception that we each have a personal and unique connection to God* that is an important source of human love for God. * Epitomized in the Jewish joke about the prayer of a struggling businessman: "O God, you help complete strangers, so why don't you help me!"

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