“:לֹ֖א תִּרְצָֽח”
— Exodus 20:13 - You shall not murder.

Parshas Shemos begins redemption with a refusal to kill. From the midwives to Moshe himself, the Torah shows that Mitzvah #482 — Not to Murder — is the moral axis of the parsha, teaching that geulah begins the moment human life becomes non-negotiable.

Explore the full mitzvah →
https://www.mitzvah-minute.com/613-mitzvahs/not-to-murder

The Anti-Murder Axis (mini-series)

How Redemption Begins with the Refusal to Kill

Part I — Mitzvah #482: Not to Murder
Why Shemos is built on a layered refusal to kill — from the midwives to Bat-Paroh to Moshe himself.

Part II — “וַתְּחַיֶּיןָ” — The Midwives Who Gave Life
How quiet moral courage sustains life before open resistance is possible.

Part III — Moshe and the Egyptian
Why stopping violence raises new moral questions — and how Torah refuses simple hero narratives.

Parshas Shemos does not begin with miracles — it begins with pressure, silence, and moral testing. Before Moshe speaks, others act. Before redemption advances, suffering intensifies. And before freedom arrives, the Torah asks a deeper question: what kind of people are we becoming inside constriction?

Read the Parsha insights and commentaries →
https://www.mitzvah-minute.com/parshiyot/shemos

Shemos teaches that faith is not forged in clarity, but in narrow places — when answers are absent, pressure increases, and moral choices still matter.

Read Lessons from Parshas Shemos (4 - min read) →
https://www.mitzvah-minute.com/divrei-torah/living-with-emunah-inside-constriction---parshas-shemos----lessons-for-today

Read the full essays →

Speech, Leadership, and Responsibility

Part I — Speech vs. Power
Why Pharaoh’s fluent cruelty contrasts with Moshe’s heavy mouth.

Part II — Rav Kook on Indestructible Emunah
How faith survives even when people cannot hear words of hope.

Read the full essays →

Giants of Interpretation

Ramban — Redemption Requires the Return of the Shechinah
Why political freedom alone is not geulah.

Abarbanel — Authority Without Ego
Why Moshe’s reluctance is the foundation of his leadership.

Rav Avigdor Miller — Training the Eye to See Hashem
Redemption as the re-education of awareness itself.

Read the full essays →

Chassidus on Da’as, Avodah, and Desire

Part I — Galus of Da’as
How exile begins when awareness itself becomes constricted.

Part II — The Baal Shem Tov’s Warning
When religious avodah quietly turns inward and sustains ego instead of redemption.

Part III — Kedushas Levi on Names
How desire itself can be sanctified — and why naming is a redemptive act.

Read the full essays →

The Burning Bush

Presence, Attention, and the Shape of Redemption

Part I — The Bush That Burns but Doesn’t Disappear
Why Hashem reveals Himself inside pain, not above it.

Part II — “אָסֻרָה־נָּא וְאֶרְאֶה”
Why leadership begins when someone stops, turns aside, and truly sees.

Part III — “אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה”
A Divine Name of presence, not prediction — faith without timetables.

Read the full essays →

Geulah as Process, Not Event

The Stages of Redemption from Egypt

Part I — Geulah Ripens: The Slow Birth of Redemption
Why redemption must mature — cruelty exposed, conscience awakened, and character refined — before salvation can arrive.

Part II — Abarbanel’s Anatomy of Delay
Why Moshe’s arrival initially makes suffering worse — and why delay is not failure, but the mechanism of geulah itself.

Part III — Oppression by Paperwork
How Pharaoh’s “wisdom” creates a bureaucratic evil that normalizes cruelty — and why rational systems can be more dangerous than rage.