The Golden Rule
"Love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD." - Leviticus 19:18
"The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I the L-RD am your God. - Leviticus 19:34
"That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn it." - Talmud, Shabbat 31a
Sarah Laughs (Birth of Issac)
21:1: The LORD took note of Sarah as He had promised, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. 21:2. Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken. 21:3: Abraham gave his new-born son, whom Sarah had borne him, the name of Isaac. 21:4: And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 21:5: Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 21:6: Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter; everyone who hears will laugh with [literally “for”] me.” 21:7: And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would suckle children!Yet I have borne a son in his old age.”
Akedah (Binding of Issac)
The Akedah, or ”Binding of Isaac” the account in the book of Genesis (22: 1-19) of Abraham, at the command of God, taking his son, Isaac, to be offered as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. Abraham binds his son (hence “the Binding of Isaac”) to the altar and is ready to perform the dreadful deed when an angel appears to tell him to stay his hand and to promise him that his seed will increase.
Song of the Sea
The Song of the Sea (Hebrew: שירת הים, Shirat HaYam), is a poem that appears in the Book of Exodus15:1–18. The Song of the Sea was sung by the Israelites after crossing the Sea of Reeds in safety, and being redeemed from slavery in Egypt. The Song of the Sea celebrates the destruction of the Egyptian army during the crossing, and looks forward to the future conquest of Canaan. The poem forms part of parashah Beshalach. It is one of only two sections of the Torah scroll that is written with a different layout from the normal simple columns. The other section written differently is the Song of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy in parashah Ha'azinu.
Miriam and the Women Dancing
"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." (Exodus 15:20). Miriam danced and sang a victory song recorded as the 'Song of the Sea' after Pharaoh's army was drowned in the Sea of Reeds.
"Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."
Building of the Tabernacle
The Book of Exodus narrates how Moses led the Israelites in building the Tabernacle (Exodus 35-40) based on God's instructions (Exodus 25-31). Then in Leviticus, God tells the Israelites and their priests how to make offerings in the Tabernacle and how to conduct themselves while camped around the holy tent sanctuary. Leviticus takes place during the month or month-and-a-half between the completion of the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:17) and the Israelites' departure from Sinai (Numbers 1:1, 10:11).
God Speaks to Moses from Burning Bush
The angel of the Lord is described as appearing in the bush, and God is subsequently described as calling out from it to Moses, who had been grazing Jethro's flocks there. When Moses starts to approach, God tells Moses to take off his sandals first, due to the place being holy ground, and Moses hides his face.
When challenged on his identity, Adonai replies that he is the God of the Patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and that he is Adonai.
The text portrays Adonai as telling Moses that he is sending him to the Pharaoh in order to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. G-d tells Moses to tell the elders of the Israelites that Adonai would lead them into the land of Canaan; this is described as being a land of milk and honey.
Lech L'Cha - Call of Abraham
The name of this section (Lech Lecha) is taken from God’s first words to Abraham: “Go . . . , ” in which He told him to leave his native Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and settle in the Promised Land. Throughout his journeys, Abraham challenged paganism, spreading awareness of all reality’s source and continuous dependence on the one God.
Purchasing Burial Place for Sarah - Chayei Sarah
Sarah is buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs. The compound, located in the ancient city of Hebron, is the second holiest site for Jews (after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem)... is also venerated by Christians and Muslims, both of whom have traditions which maintain that the site is the burial place of three biblical couples: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah. According to the Book of Genesis, Abraham purchased the plot of land for her tomb from a man named Ephron the Hittite.
Passing Leadership from Moses to Joshua
God told Moses to go up to the mountain of Abarim and see the Promised Land, for like his brother Aaron, he was not to enter the Promised Land, because they had disobeyed God's order in the Desert of Zin.
Moses then asked for a successor to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land, and God pointed to his disciple Joshua. God ordered Moses to put his hands on Joshua's head to invest him with full authority of leadership, and to present him to Elazar and the entire community. Moses could now die in peace, satisfied that his beloved flock would have a worthy shepherd.
Song of Moses
According to Deuteronomy 31:16-18, YHWH met with Moses and his nominated successor Joshua (Yehoshua) at the "tabernacle of meeting" and told them that after Moses' death, the people of Israel would renege on the covenant that YHWH had made with them, and worship the gods of the lands they were occupying. YHWH told Moses to write down the words of a song and teach it to the community, so that it would be a "witness for Me against the children of Israel" (Deuteronomy 31:19). Deuteronomy 31:22 states that Moses did as he had been instructed, and in Deuteronomy 31:30 he then "spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were ended".
Death of Moses
Moses died on the seventh of Adar. In Deuteronomy 34:8 we read that the Jews mourned for thirty days following Moses' death in the Plains of Moab. This area borders Israel, just east of the Jordan River.
The book of Joshua begins with God's command to bring the Jewish people across the Jordan River. God specifies that they are to cross in three days time. This instruction was given immediately after Moses died, meaning at the earliest possible opportunity after his death. This would have been following the thirty days of mourning.
In Joshua 4:19 the Jews crossed the river on the tenth of Nissan. If we subtract the three days between the command and actual crossing, plus the thirty days of mourning, we find the date of Moses' passing is the seventh of Adar.
