D'var Torah (Torah Thoughts), Parsha Shemot
When I sat down to work on this d’var, I was struck by how timely this week’s parsha, Shemot, felt. In it, we read the story famously associated with Passover in which Pharaoh ordains the death of all first-born Israelite boys. This leads to baby Moses being sent down the Nile in a basket. He is raised by an Egyptian princess, and only learns of his Israelite identity later in life after he strikes an Egyptian taskmaster who was hurting an Israelite slave. Moses runs away for