Passover Seder: A Night of Questions

Editor’s note: See Shirly Ben-Dor Evian, “The Title ‘Pharaoh’,” TheTorah (2016).

Editor’s note: See Mark Janzen, “Ancient Egypt Population Estimates: Slaves and Citizens,” TheTorah (2016); and, “What We Know About Slavery in Egypt,” TheTorah (2016).

Editor’s note: See Ronald Hendel, “Freedom from the Egyptian Empire,” TheTorah (2015).

Editor’s note: See David Ben-Gad HaCohen, “The Israelites Are Not the Hyksos!” TheTorah (2016)

Editor’s note: See Israel Knohl, “Exodus: The History Behind the Story,” TheTorah (2019); Joseph Weinstein, “We Were Slaves to the Hyksos in Egypt,” TheTorah (2021).

Editor’s note: See Jonathan Magonet, “Raised as an Egyptian, How Does Moses Come to Identify as a Hebrew?” TheTorah (2021).

See Mark Leuchter and Zev Farber, “Pre-Biblical Aaron, Miriam, and Moses” TheTorah (2020).

Editor’s note: See Ziony Zevit, “The Ten Plagues and Egyptian Ecology” TheTorah (2015).

ויאמר משה כה אמר ה' – בְּעָמְדוֹ לִפְנֵי פַרְעֹה נֶאֶמְרָה לוֹ נְבוּאָה זוֹ, שֶׁהֲרֵי מִשֶּׁיָּצָא מִלְּפָנָיו לֹא הוֹסִיף רְאוֹת פָּנָיו.

Moses said, Thus says YHWH – While he was still standing before Pharaoh this prophecy was spoken to him, because after he left him, he did not see his face again.

Editor’s note: See Leonard Greenspoon, “Despoiling the Egyptians: A Concerning Jewish Legacy?” TheTorah (2017). See also TheTorah.com topic: Exodus, Wealth.

Editor’s note: See Kristine Henriksen Garroway, “The Origins of the Biblical Pesach” TheTorah (2015).

Editor’s note: See Michael L. Satlow, “Passover and the Festival of Matzot: Synthesizing Two Holidays,” TheTorah (2014); Malka Z. Simkovich, “Passover Becomes about Matzah when the Paschal Lamb Becomes Associated with Jesus,” TheTorah (2014).

Editor’s note: See Yael Avrahami, “Why Do We Eat Matzah in the Spring?” TheTorah (2018); David Frankel, “Integrating the Exodus Story into the Festivals” TheTorah (2015).

Editor’s note: See David Frankel, “The Book of Chronicles and the Ephraimites that Never Went to Egypt,” TheTorah (2015).

Editor’s note: See Isaac S. D. Sassoon, “Did Israel Celebrate Their Freedom While Owning Slaves?” TheTorah (2015).

Editor’s note: See David Frankel, “Exodus: Not the Only Tradition About Israel’s Past,” TheTorah (2015).

See Gen 19:3 (Lot), Judg 6:19–21 (Gideon), and 1 Sam 28:24 (Saul).

From the Wertheimer edition of the Hekhalot Rabbati, Batei Midrashot, section 29; cf. the Schaefer edition of Synopse zur Hekhalot-Literatur, section 283.

See discussion in Cynthia Edenburg, “A King Who Reads Torah,” TheTorah (2017); Zev Farber, “Does the Torah Really Want Us to Appoint a King?” TheTorah (2016).

Trying to go beyond the insights of Pines, Walzer, Levenson, and others.