January 5th, 2019 — Shabbat Va'era
At the Pesah seder, the four cups of wine each correspond with a different expression of redemption. God expressed these to Moses and the people Israel in Parshat Va’era (Exodus 6:5-8), right when they were losing hope of ever being free. But what do these multiple promises of freedom mean, individually and in aggregate, for the ancient Israelites and for us today? Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno and the Ramban offer some compelling ideas for how we might think about personal and national redemption, then and now.