All in Weekly Ramban Series

The Weekly Ramban Series (Parshas Yisro): “The Lord Your God”

Dovid Schwartz
Parsha, Weekly Ramban Series

“God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.’” (Shemos 20:1-2). These pesukim constitute the first of the aseres ha-dibros. However, the phrase “I am Hashem your God,” does not seem to be much of a command at all. It is just a statement of fact. What, exactly, is being commanded here?…

The Weekly Ramban Series (Parshas Shemos): Pharaoh Rises

Dovid Schwartz
Parsha, Weekly Ramban Series

How did Egypt — the center of commerce and culture — become a tyranny? Pharaoh recognized a threat: a local ethnic group which outperformed, and therefore threatened, his people. Pharaoh knew that his people felt the same way. Indeed, Egyptians had long hated the Jews before they moved to Egypt. (See Bereishis 43:26 and 46:34.) Pharaoh’s solution was to kill all of the Jewish boys…

The Weekly Ramban Series (Parshas Shemini): Their Lonely Betters — The Prohibition of Eating Treife Birds

Dovid Schwartz
Weekly Ramban Series, Parsha

Why does the Torah prohibit eating certain birds? The Ramban (Vayikra 11:13) observes that there exist two classes of triefe birds: (i) predatory birds and (ii) birds which live only in uncivilized habitats, such as deserts for example. To explain why these birds should be excluded from the Jewish diet, the Ramban meditates — tersely and profoundly, as only he is capable — on the notion and experience of eating…