Hal Miller

Shabbat Parashat Beshallach - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   He removed the wheel of their chariots and He led them with heaviness. Egypt   said, "I shall flee before Israel for God is waging war on their behalf against Egypt."   [Shemot 14:25] The word for wheel here, ofen, is in the singular. Onkelos pluralizes it and virtually all commentators follow him. The verse leads from that right into "He led them with heaviness", which is rather unclear. What does this mean? How does it t

Shabbat Parashat Bo - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   Then all these slaves of yours will come down to me and bow to me saying, leave,   you and the entire people who are at your feet. And after that, I will go forth." And he   went forth from Pharaoh's presence in burning anger. [Shemot 11:8] What is Moshe telling Pharaoh here? Why would Pharaoh's slaves come bow to Moshe and tell the Jews to leave Egypt? And if they did, why would that make a difference to anything, such that after

Shabbat Parashat Va'eira - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon and commanded them to the children of Israel and to   Pharaoh king of Egypt to take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. [Shemot 6:13] Breaking this verse down leaves us with some questions. "God spoke to Moshe and to Aharon" is pretty straightforward but the next word, va'yitzaveim, is not. There is also a question of what God wanted the two brothers to do "to the children of Isra

Shabbat Parashat Shemot - 5786 Rabbi Hal Miller   And He said, "for I shall be with you, and this is the sign for you that I have sent you: when you take the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." [Shemot 3:12] There is an obvious question here, "what sign?" It is not clear and obvious from the verses what this refers to. A simple reading would indicate that the sign that God sent Moshe to save the people is that they will worship on Mount Sinai, but how