[First published as JTS Torah Commentary] From the air, Eretz Mitzrayim, “the narrow land” of Egypt, reveals itself as a vast expanse of sand and stone broken only by the twisting dark line of the Nile. I saw this first hand as a student in 1985, but you can look as well through satellite photos. On either side…
Month: January 2016
Shabbat Bo: Might Undermined by Right
Examine Egyptian iconography and you can’t miss the frightening creatures that populated their imagination. There are snakes and alligators, jackals and hippopotamuses which, though cute in contemporary consciousness, were terrifying to the ancient people who lived along the Nile. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibit, Ancient Egypt Transformed, I learned about the integration of animal images into…
