for Parshat Shemot
i
Moses is born
in a time of genocide.
His mother sees that he is good
and she hides him from the government
and when she cannot hide him anymore
she sends him down the river
to an unseen fate
(and the princess finds him
and names him Moses).
*
Moses sees
an Egyptian man
beating one of his brethren.
Moses looks to see
that no one is looking
and strikes the Egyptian down.
Later, a man asks him:
Will you kill me, too?
and it is clear
that the thing is known,
that the world has found out.
And Pharoah seeks to kill Moses
over this crime.
*
God takes Israel from Egypt
— a nation
from the midst of another
nearly destroying Egypt in Plagues.
ii
The good
hidden within
—Moses tucked away,
the act of justice,
Israel in Egypt—
must not be hidden.
The good must come to light
even at the risk of everything.
Shabbat shalom,
Abe
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