OLD TESTAMENT & ART: Today, unwanted newborns still face life-or-death decisions made by others. Gustave Doré, “The Finding of Moses,” ca. 1860-1865, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York ...

The love between Moses and Jethro didn’t seem to have a happy ending. But G-d has the last word, and the two men will play out the final act when the Messiah arrives and the sad times are over ...

Approximately twenty-six figures originate primarily from the Pentateuch. The two most frequently mentioned characters are Jesus (ʿĪsā in the Qur’an) and Moses, each cited about 130 times.

Our Torah portion begins with the story of Jethro [a priest of Midian], father-in-law of Moses, who, after hearing about the splitting of the Red Sea and the war against Amalek, decided to join ...

“And Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt” (Exodus 18:1). This ...

Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.” [Exodus 18:17] Perhaps Jethro is dismayed that the lowest rung of society is forced to bake in the sun.

To be fair, Jethro does not tell Moses that his dispensation of justice is wrong. He just tells him that it is inefficient, enervating, and, while absolutely just, too undemocratic to succeed.