TorahParsha

Equal Before the Law

i
Jacob loves his son, Joseph, more than all the others.

Joseph's brothers know this. So Joseph's brothers cast Joseph down, into a pit.

From this pit, Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt.

The Egyptians hold the Israelites slaves for hundreds of years.

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Israel is a people, then, who are cursed by the notion of favorites: of favorite classes—Egyptians over slaves; of favored sons.

ii
This is the Law: a Jew who is a slave to another Jew goes free after six years.

So no Jew truly, permanently, owns another Jew.

No one is lord over anyone else.

*
This Law is the opening Law of God's description of the society He demands that Israel become. Which is a society He crafts out of Laws.

It is the Law, then, that undoes the scourge of favorites.

iii
You are children to the Lord your God, Moses says. Every one of you, equal and beloved.

Because God has given the Law to every Jew, this is so.

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Coming to God

i
Moses is atop the Mountain with God as God is about to reveal the Law of the Covenant to Israel.

The people Israel are at the base of the mountain, below.

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God tells Moses to descend the mountain, to warn the people not to rush up.

And it is when Moses has descended to the base of the mountain that God begins to reveal the Law.

(And Moses is down below, with the people.)

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The people are terrified.

The people tell Moses: You speak with us…but let God not speak with us, lest we die.

So Moses ascends the mountain--ascending to God--to receive the Law.

ii
On the one hand this is a story of people who are frightened of God, who beg for an intercessor.

But God has made Moses stand with the people. He has made Moses become one of them. So when the people send Moses up, they are sending one of their own up.

So this is also a story of God teaching the people to reach up to Him, to come close.

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The idea expressed here may have been taken from the writings of Avivah Zornberg.
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