1. Prince of Egypt
Moses

2. Similarities Some similarities:
• The Hebrews are enslaved in Egypt; Pharaoh decrees that the Hebrews' firstborn males must
be drowned.
• Moses' mother hides him in a basket, and puts him in the river.

3. • Miriam witnesses that Moses is rescued.
• Moses is raised in Pharaoh's palace.
• Moses kills an Egyptian guard and flees from Egypt.
• Moses goes to Midian, meets and marries Tzipporah.

4. • Moses encounters God at the burning bush; God tells Moses to return to Egypt to free his people.
• Moses uses the rod/snake trick to persuade his own people and Pharaoh.
• Pharaoh's magicians copy the rod/snake trick.
• The ten plagues occur and Pharaoh lets the Hebrews go. .

5. • Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues the Hebrews
• Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues the Hebrews. • The Exodus from Egypt occurs: the sea splits, the Hebrews pass through, the Egyptians follow and drown, and, after a moment of respect and awe, the Hebrews rejoice in their freedom with song. • The Ten Commandments are presented to the people

6. Differences
• The two midwives (Shifra and Pu'ah) do not appear in the film.
• Pharaoh's wife (rather than his daughter) finds Moses.
• Rameses and Moses grow up as close brothers in the film; in the Bible their relationship is unclear.
• Moses has no speech impediment in the film, and therefore Aaron does not speak on Moses' behalf, as he does in the Bible.

7. • The Bible never describes when and how Moses discovers that he is a Hebrew; the movie dramatizes that revelation as an encounter between Moses, Miriam, and Aaron. • In the Torah, Moses kills an Egyptian guard, confronts two Hebrews who are fighting, and helps strangers at the well in Midian; the movie leaves out this middle story. • Aaron is more active in the biblical story, while Miriam and Tzipporah are more prominent in the movie's version.

8. • In the Torah, Moses kills a guard and hides the body to try to keep the deed a secret; in the movie, he kills the guard in front of everyone.
• The movie never shows that Moses has sons.
• Tzipporah goes with Moses to meet with Pharaoh in the movie, but not in the Torah.

9. • There is no mention in the movie of eating unleavened bread (matzah) or of a future commemoration of the Exodus (the Festival of Passover), as is prominently mentioned in the Torah.

10. Characters Moses- Hero Rameses- Pharaoh Tzipporah- Moses’ wife
Miriam- Moses’ Sister
Aaron- Moses’ brother
Jethro- Tzipporah’s dad
Seti- Rameses Dad
Tuya- Rameses’ Mom
Hotep and Huy- Egyptian priests (Steve Martin, Martin Short)
Yocheved- Mom of Moses, Miriam and Aaron

11. Reflection questions
1. Notice the parallelism in the Egyptians' sin and punishment: they drowned the Hebrews' male
children in the water, and their soldiers drown in the water too. This is an instance of the later Rabbinic principle of "measure for measure" (middah ke-neged middah).
How does that confirm God's justice? Should human beings act in this retributive way? If not, how should God act?
Consider the need for God—and for us human beings—to preserve a balance of justice with
mercy. Why do we need both? How can we integrate those two goals?

12. 2. In the film, Tzipporah says that she will go with him, and she is present when Moses first confronts Pharaoh. What does that add to the story?
3. According to both the Torah and the movie, Pharaoh's magicians can change rods into snakes and water into blood, just as Moses can. What is the difference between magic and miracles?
(Think of any magic show you have attended.)

13. 4. Moses does not have a speech defect in the movie, as he does in the Torah (Exodus 4:10-12; 6:30).
Can you imagine why the filmmakers changed that detail? What lesson of the Torah does it thereby
leave out?
(How should we treat the disabled if the primary hero of our people had a disability? Consider Exodus 4:11-12:
“ And the Lord said to him: ‘Who gives man speech? Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not
I, the Lord? Now go, and I will be with you as you speak.’”)