Listening and Reading Assignment

At this stage we will learn about the first phase of God's revelation to Moshe at the Burning Bush.

We will present to the students the verses that describe the Israelites’ cry to God because of their hard work and the encounter at the Burning Bush in a slide/photo reel-like structure, aimed at making it clear that these are parts of a story that are inter-connected, and together they create meaning.

You can choose whether to read the verses in class, tell the story that is depicted in them or let the students listen to the verses.

We will use the Storytelling method to read the verses, in order to emphasize certain points in the story. 

While telling the story, we will focus on the characters. To be noted that we are referring to the concept of “character” in a broad manner – the Israelites are considered a “character.” We will also refer to God as a character, so that we can characterize His place in the story. We will observe the characters, as one observes any character – we will examine features, emotional actions and the development of the character.

*Obviously, God does not have a body, but from a literary point of view we will refer to Him in this assignment as a character in the story.

The story in the verses is attached here Telling the Story of the Burning Bush.

The students will fill in the details in the table, while reading or listening to the story.

Attached is a table with the answers. Telling the story of the Burning Bush. With answers.

Plenary Discussion 

In the class discussion, after studying the table and performing the above assignment, we will raise the following question – why did the Israelites not cry out until now?

We can also ask the students to answer the question in writing: if you found letters from the people of that time on the antiquities site, describing the outcry of the Israelites, and explaining why they cried only now, what do you think would have been written in them? 

Letters of the Contemporaries. 

In a joint discussion, we will sharpen the concept that in such a dire situation such as the one of the Israelites under Egyptian slavery, divine intervention was required, but divine intervention only came after the Israelites themselves had taken certain action. 

As we will see later in the unit, this theme continues – even the revelation at the Burning Bush comes only after Moshe notices the bush and approaches it. Moshe shows sensitivity and concern for the Israelites (behavior we observe also in Chapter 2), and immediately afterwards the divine involvement occurs.

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 Assignment of Marking Verses

We will read verses 4-10 and ask the students to mark verbs referring to God’s actions in this section.

The verses are attached in God speaks to Moshe at the Burning Bush. 

The marking of the verbs shows that God is the main speaker in the text, and the purpose of the text is, in fact, to instruct Moshe about his mission.

Before giving Moshe the mission, God says that He saw the suffering and pain of the children of Israel in Egypt, that He will save them and bring them to the land of Canaan, which is known as “a good and spacious land” and “a land flowing with milk and honey.” God also mentions our forefathers – alluding to his promise to them. (We discussed the Covenant between the Pieces in the previous lessons). 

Plenary Discussion

We will ask –

1. What is God's message to Moshe?

2. Why does God mention the ancestors?

3. God tells Moshe that he will not only rescue the Israelites from Egypt – but will also bring them to the land of Canaan.

4. How is the land of Canaan described in verse 8?

“I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the region of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites” – why do you think that the Land is described this way?

To sum up our study on God’s speech to Moshe at the Burning Bush.

Hevruta – The Meaning of the Burning Bush

Midrashim on the Burning Bush, also includes a link to a clip from the movie “The Prince of Egypt.”

About the film, from Wikipedia: The Prince of Egypt is an American animated movie produced  in 1998 by DreamWorks.

The movie tells the life story of the biblical character Moshe. The plot unfolds from Moshe's birth and throwing him into the Nile River, through his life in Pharaoh's palace, his meeting with Jethro and his daughter Zipporah, God’s revelation to him at the Burning Bush, the smiting of Egypt with the Ten Plagues and the Exodus of the Israelites and the Splitting of the Red Sea. The film focuses on the relationship between Moshe and his stepbrother, Raamses, the son of King Pharaoh. Many humanistic messages were introduced into the movie, illuminating the biblical story in a new light. The movie's production consultants for biblical stories are Professor Avigdor Shanan from the Hebrew University and Rabbi Adin Even Israel of the Steinzaltz Center. 

You can use an article that deals with the interpretation of the story through the movie 'Prince of Egypt'. The article is in Hebrew.

On this worksheet the students will learn two Midrashim about the meaning of the Burning Bush, and answer questions. 

The midrashim present the idea that the purpose of the Burning Bush is to give Moshe the message that there is hope for this mission; that the Israelites will be saved, and also to teach us that Moshe thinks about the people of Israel and cares for them, even while he is outside of Egypt.

 Discussion in the Plenary:

 • In light of what you have learned, why is Moshe a worthy leader for the Israelites?

• In what other situations in life can you adopt the idea of “​taking the first step” or even turning your face to see, while understanding that something will happen as a result of your action?

Here we can refer to one’s faith in God or to faith in general.

• Where has an "outcry of difficulty" met me in life? What do I do when I'm having a hard time?