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November 22, 2024

Ishmael, Moses, and the Case for Free Will

What a comparison of passages reveals.

Near the end of this week’s Torah reading of Hayyei Sarah, Ishmael reappears—after being sent away in Genesis 21—to join his half-brother Isaac in burying their father Abraham. In a careful analysis, David Curwin shows a series of textual parallels between the story of Ishmael’s near-death and miraculous rescue and the rescue of the infant Moses in Exodus 2. He finds in the similarities and differences a lesson about free will:

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November 22, 2024

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  4. Ishmael, Moses, and the Case for Free Will

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