Photo: Anastasiya Romanova Leah, Beloved Daughter: I do not know where in the wilderness this letter will reach you—if at all. Emet, son of Jehdeiah, returned for his wife who was too ill to travel when you all rushed off. She waited for him hiding in our chicken coop in the back. I hope they make it safely across the Sea and can rejoin your group. He did say that conditions were not good, that food and water and blowing sand were making progress difficult, and that people often doubted that they were indeed going to the promised land. I know you believe this man Moses and trust that the arduous journey will bring you to a place where you, Yoezer and the children will live and prosper. May it be so. I am well, and so far I have no regrets about not having joined the trek. I am old and might have slowed the group down too much; and everything I know is here in this house and this village. Of course I realize that Pharaoh came down hard on Yoezer and the other draftsmen, but still,
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.