Imagine MosesThe quintessential Jewish leader who spoke face to face with God, unlike any other prophet, and who freed the people from Egypt, led them through the desert for forty years, and received the Torah on Mt. Sinai. His Hebrew name is Moshe.
leading the slaves
out of Egypt on Zoom.
That’s where we are
crossing the Sea of Reeds
to an unknown land
at a SederLit. Order. The festive meal conducted on Passover night, in a specific order with specific rituals to symbolize aspects of the Exodus from Egypt. It is conducted following the haggadah, a book for this purpose. Additionally, there an ancient tradition to have a seder on Rosh Hashanah, which has been practiced in particular by Sephardi communities. This seder involves the blessing and eating of simanim, or symbolic foods. The mystics of Sefat also created a seder for Tu B'shvat, the new year of the trees. on a computer,
trying to picture
not one but ten plagues,
the past as present.
Stories work that way.
We eat the symbols:
bitter herbs for hardship,
salt water for tears,
unleavened bread/matzos,
apples mixed with wine–
sweet times to come. Apart/
together we sing in unison.
My grandson who’s autistic
speaks up–surprises us
to announce he feels privileged–
his word–which leads me
to ask, “Who in the story
has privilege?”
“Moses,” he says immediately.
Straight to our hearts,
a light, it dawns on us:
Moses struggles, he stutters,
he must getA writ of divorce. Traditionally, only a man can grant his wife a get. Liberal Jews have amended this tradition, making divorce more egalitarian. help from others,
yet he guides, he has visions
he pursues, out of which words
come to three religions
alive to this day we’ve made new.
