Portion of the week: Yitro 
Topic: Mt. Sinai and the Ten Sayings 

Some questions to think about as you read this week's parsha

Exodus ch. 19-20 

1. The stand at Mt. Sinai (ma'amad har sinai): In what way is the text written in epoch style? (notice the extra phrases in v. 1-3. notice the flowery language in v. 4-6. We have noticed in the past that the Torah doesn't always describe each of the following steps:1) G-d said to Moshe. 2) Moshe said to the people. 3) The people said to Moshe. 4) Moshe reports back to G-d concerning what the people said. In this chapter, which stages are reported? 

2.v. 9:(see quest. 1) Which stages are missing? explain. 

3.v. 5-6 . Sinai is often referred to as a covenant. What's the covenant? 

4. What's the purpose of Sinai?v. 9. 

5. Is there a change of plan from v. 9 to v. 10-13? 6. v. 1

6. Who do you think blew the shofar? 

7. What does v. 17 mean? 

8. Think of the event as a wedding. What does v. 17 represent? v. 18-19? 

9. v. 21-24. What are they arguing about? How can there be such a misunderstanding? What does say about the ability of Moshe to convey and understand G-d's word? 

10. ch. 20, v.2-14: How many different do's and don'ts are there? How many paragraphs are there? How many verses? see ch. 34, v. 28. How do we know there are ten things? 

11.ch. 32, v. 15: how do we know how many tablets there were? Explain how the tablets could be broken at v. 8, 12, or 13. explain why shabbat and honoring father and mother are in the middle. 

12. Structure. Some see v. 14 as parallel to v. 2. explain. hint: what's the relationship of v. 2 to v.3-14, v. 14 to v. 13? 10.v. 9: Is working a commandment? 

13. If the commandments include all of the Torah, what categories of Jewish law are included in each commandment (eg. don't steal is torts). 

14. v. 15-16: Did the plan of ch. 19, v. 9 work? 

15. What's the purpose of Sinai? 

16. Why is v. 19-23 the appropriate postscript to the decalogue?