Shemot
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch on Parashat Shemot, read on Shabbat Shemot · Sefer Shemot opens — with one of this week's three questions for the two of you.
The new sefer is called Shemot — Names. The Sages noticed: through 210 years of slavery in Egypt, in the harshest possible conditions, Israel did not change their names. They did not change their language. They did not change their dress. Hirsch reads this with characteristic seriousness. What kept the people Israel a people, through everything, was not their physical condition — which was as low as it could go. What kept them a people was their refusal to forget who they were. Identity is what survives exile. To live a Jewish life today — to keep the small things, the names, the words, the ways of dressing — is to participate in the same long act of refusal that began in Egypt. Marriage is a similar act. We refuse to forget who we are to each other.
What is one specific name, word, or family practice that has come down to you through generations — that you would want to make sure does not get lost on our watch?
The full week — the passage itself with its source, the other two questions, and the closing verse of hope — lives in the app. Together Tomorrow on the App Store.