A biseleh midrash

  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,

  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

             Image: Mohamad Babayan (unsplash) It’s just a stick, really, probably oak; the kind given to small round-eyed boys when they are first taken along to help with the sheep. The sticks get longer and stronger as the boys grow into men, but they remain what they are, an extension of the shepherd’s arm, almost part of his body. A shepherd without a staff is inconceivable. So when God says, “What's that in your hand?” (Exod. 4:2) Moses at first looks down, having forgotten that the knotted staff is where it always is. God shows him a magic trick using the staff, and from then on that simple wooden stick becomes a player in the drama of Israel’s redemption. Moses shows off the stick-to-snake trick to his people to establish his credibility, then Aaron gets a turn doing the same before Pharaoh. Held out over the Nile, the rod later makes the river run with blood; the rod summons the frogs and the lice. The rod is revered. The rod is feared. Back in Moses’ hands, it is the rod

                                                  Image: Joel Filipe There is no fight left in this people. No fight and no faith. They are like children, like sheep that in the morning bleat their complaints, but at noon obediently trot to slaughter. How does a people grow up to become defenders of justice, doers of good—a light to the nations? They must know that I love them fiercely so they remember promises made, and learn to walk tall and with love to spare, and be as fierce in their loyalty to Me as I am to them--even when life is not perfect. I will make an example of Pharaoh. Demonstrate that I have heard them, that I will guide them to freedom—if only they do their part to help themselves and bravely choose the covenant I first made with Abraham over material comforts. “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them ... in order that you may know that I am the Lord.” (Ex.10:1-2) Bloo

Photo: Gary Ellis (on unsplash) - There’s a call ... - For me? - Not specifically.    It’s more of a cry, really, a crying out. - A cry? A crying out? Well ... - You’ve been expecting it ... - I have? - Yes, for four hundred-odd years. -Oh ... that’s quite a while! Wonder what kept them? I better go down. ------------------------------- Na'aseh v'nishma. At the beginning of Shemot these words are a long way off. Here it is words and names that come first, what is said more important than what is done. Who are you? What's your name? What if they don't believe me? Why me? Send someone more eloquent, I stutter! Moses is a skeptic, impressed by the pyrotechnics, but not by God's words. In exasperation God gives him magic tricks to perform to make believers out of his own people. They've been cut off too long. It is not only Pharaoh who doesn't remember Joseph. Year in, year out they bear the drudgery and abuse, because in spite of all the hard work they keep hav