Parsha:

Shemot,  Vayechi,  Vayeishev 

Description

The opening chapter of Shemot details the oppression, mandated infanticide and overall enslavement of Bnei Yisrael under the thumb of Egyptian rule. After a brief introduction in which we discuss the nature and causality and its inherent multi-layered reality, we observe several linguistic nuances in this opening chapter which seem to point to a connection between these horrors and the narratives of Yoseph as a brother as well as Yoseph as an Egyptian viceroy. The literary structure of the passage (1:15-22) is then presented, as an argument towards seeing an overt as well as covert cause behind the servitude and related decrees.