Parashat Shemot - Sneh and Sinai

We will talk about story story of the sneh (the Burning Bush)- the first encounter between God, Moshe, and Bnei Yisrael and the beginning of Moshe’s Divine mission. It is a story of theophany at the sneh, but also the story of the recruitment of Moshe. Why does God choose Moshe? What special aspect of his charater makes him the right person for this mission?

Moshe is the first one to ask this question. Many commentators look to the past (Chapter 2 of Exodus, for example). In this shiur, we will pursue something  a bit different. We will look at God’s response toanswer why Moshe is the one, and we will look for the significance of the parallels between the story of the sneh and the story of Bnei Yisrael at Sinai.

Sinai is an expansion- a macrocosm of the event at the sneh.