Bo: The Snake in the River

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Bo: The Snake in the River

Welcome to Shabbat Moment, a text study series with Yael Shy, from our friends at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Every week we share Yael’s Torah text study, mindfulness practice tips, and discussion questions for you to reflect + share with others at your Shabbat table. Subscribe here to get the Shabbat Moment delivered straight to your inbox!

This week’s Torah portion is Bo: The Snake in the River.

“Come to Pharaoh…”

The parsha begins with God’s curious phraseology to Moshe. 

Why “come to Pharaoh?” Why not “go?” Come means the person who is speaking is already there. They are waiting for you there. It’s intimate.

So if the Divine is beckoning us to come closer, to come in to Pharaoh, what are we being drawn to? Especially at this highly dramatic point in the story, why say “come to Pharaoh” when all but the last few plagues are about to hit the land and the Israelites are finally preparing to leave?

About the Author

Yael ShySpecial thanks to Yael Shy and our friends at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality for joining us in creating weekly Shabbat moments for your Friday nights.

Yael Shy is the CEO of Mindfulness Consulting, LLC, where she teaches and consults on mindfulness for universities, corporations, and private clients around the world. She is the author of the award-winning book, What Now? Meditation for Your Twenties and Beyond (Parallax, 2017), and the founder of Mindful NYU, the largest campus-based mindfulness initiative in the US. Yael is a graduate of the IJS Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training Certification.

OneTable empowers people who don’t yet have a consistent Shabbat dinner practice to build one that feels authentic, sustainable, and valuable. The OneTable community is funded to support people (21-39ish), not in undergraduate studies, and without an existing weekly Shabbat practice, looking to find and share this powerful experience.

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