פָּרָשַׁת שְׁמוֹת

Parshat Shemot tells how the children of Yisrael became slaves in Mitzrayim (Egypt) and how Hashem chose Moshe to bring them out. The seventy souls who came down with Yaakov multiply into a nation; a new Pharaoh who does not know Yosef enslaves them with hard labor and orders every newborn boy thrown into the Nile. Moshe is born to a Levite family, hidden three months, set in a basket on the river, and drawn out by Pharaoh's daughter, who raises him as her son while his own mother nurses him.

Grown, Moshe goes out to his brothers, kills an Egyptian who is beating a Hebrew, and must flee to Midyan, where he marries Tzipporah, the daughter of Yitro, and shepherds his flock. At the burning bush at Chorev, Hashem reveals Himself as the G-d of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, tells Moshe that He has heard His people's cry, and sends him to Pharaoh. Moshe objects again and again — who am I, they will not believe me, I am not a man of words — until Hashem gives him signs and his brother Aharon as his spokesman. Moshe returns to Mitzrayim; the people believe and bow. But Pharaoh answers, "Who is Hashem?" and makes the labor harder, withholding straw while demanding the same bricks. The foremen blame Moshe, and Moshe asks Hashem why He sent him. The parsha ends with Hashem's answer: now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. The redemption has begun, though it does not yet look like one.