OU TORAH Introduction to Sefer Shemot Rabbi Menachem Leibtag

Is Sefer Shmot simply a continuation of Sefer Breishit – or is there something that makes it unique? For example, are the Ten Commandments and the laws of Parshat Mishpatim included in this book, simply because they were given ‘first’ – or should we look for a thematic connection between those laws and the story of the Exodus? As our series of shiurim rests on the assumption that each “sefer” [book] of CHUMASH [= the five ‘books’] carries a unique theme, we will begin our study of Sefer Shmot in an attempt to identify its primary theme. Afterward, we will consider that theme in our study of each individual chapter or unit. In our study of Sefer Breishit, we employed this approach to uncover its primary theme of “bechira” – i.e. how & why God chose Avraham Avinu to become the forefather of a nation that will bring the Name of God to mankind. In those shiurim, we demonstrated how that theme helped us understand the deeper meaning of each story and the progression of its events. Now, in our study of Sefer Shmot, we will employ a similar approach. Therefore, we begin our study with quick overview of Sefer Shmot, in an attempt to find not only its underlying theme, but also its thematic connection to – and distinction from – Sefer Breishit. A Table of Contents To identify a common theme of any book, it is helpful to first make a list of its major topics and then to contemplate what connects these topics together. Let’s see what happens when we apply this approach to Sefer Shmot.