A blood-red Nile. A flaming bush on a desert mountaintop. A sea that splits in a moment of triumph. Since childhood, the highlights of the Exodus saga have been emblazoned in our mind's-eye. Yet the story of the Jews' enslavement in Egypt and their subsequent exodus is vastly richer and deeper than the story we learned as children.

In this series of lectures, Rabbi Fohrman addresses several intriguing questions, among them: Did God really need to engage Pharaoh in protracted bargaining sessions over who could leave Egypt? Why, both morally and tactically, would God work to "harden" Pharaoh's heart once the Egyptian king finally consented to allow the Jews to go? And how do we understand God's sudden insistence on the use of particular names for Himself - YHVH and "I Will Be That Which I Will Be" - within the context of the Exodus?

In pursuing answers to these questions, Rabbi Fohrman embarks upon a textual journey, seeking out subtle thematic patterns that lie hidden in the narrative and animate its deeper meaning. Then, with the help of Midrashic commentary, he pieces the story back together, revealing a hidden side to the Exodus - a "story behind the story" of surpassing beauty, power, and spiritual import.

List of Tape Titles

Tape 1 - Family Secrets: First Born Children and Chosen Nations
Tape 2 - The Problem of Pharaoh's Will
Tape 3 - Fire, Ice and the Genesis of Morality
Tape 4 - Time and Space: The View From Outside the Fishbowl
Tape 5 - Pharaoh and the Desecration of Remorse
Tape 6 - Premonitions of Slavery: Abraham's Fateful Question