Photo Matt Artz on unsplash Because I love him. Watched him be set adrift in his little toy boat, raised in splendor and opulence, with that innate sense of justice and care for the underdog burning undiminished--even if his actions mixed compassion with anger, righteousness with a desire for self-preservation. Later, when I saw him gently shepherd his flock, and heard him sing hesitantly to the newborn lambs, that is when I came to love him, this human, simple and complex at the same time, always trying his best, and getting it right as much as he was getting it wrong, but trying nevertheless. Both he and I had to learn to overcome frustration with the other, and my anger, reflecting his, had to be curtailed a number of times. But like two people in a marriage we learned each other’s ways, and grew in intimacy even when we wavered in our trust. Because I love him, dear Angels, that’s why I chose Moses to lead the people, not because he was smarter or better or stronger. I hope
Just what it says: a little midrash, a filling in of some of the lacunae Torah leaves in the lives of its characters. The stories lay no claim to being right, but they do explore what is possible. Texts don't sit still long enough to have fixed meanings; too often we assume that Torah is done and finished. It is never finished.