The Birth of an Individual and a Nation - Parashat Mishpatim

Drawing on midrashic and hassidic sources, as well as on psychoanalytic thought, we will discuss the birth of a singular individual and a nation. Moses and Israel emerge in a profound exodus from the traumas of exile, especially from the exile that the midrash calls the Exile of the Word. Moses, child of two mothers and two cultures, weighed down by a speech impediment, mirrors the developmental struggles of his people. He is selected for greatness ‘for the sake of Israel.’ We will follow the arc of the symbiotic relationship between Moses and Israel through the book of Exodus.
Dr. Aviva Zornberg, Noted author and lecturer