Moshe Outside
Shari Salzhauer Berkowitz
Moshe Rabbeinu was always on the outside. He never made it home. Fished from the river, to masquerade as a prince But never feeling quite like a prince somehow. Striking down the overseer--where did that come from? From the whispers in the hallway about his birth? From his bones? From his heart? In his tent with Zipporah, far from his confusing childhood, He found a quiet peace, But even so, had to speak in another tongue With his own tongue scarred and stiff, slowly forming thoughts in his third language. Heading back to Pharoah’ s palace, he was a changed man; He had seen things. All those tongue waggers who said he would never turn out right were vindicated. After crossing the sea, he was now adrift on a sea of sand, Leading a ragtag band of a million misfits toward a land promised But not to Moshe himself.
Once he left his mother’ s breast Moshe was never home again I feel that way sometimes.
Dr. Shari Salzhauer Berkowitz is an author( Color the Omer), songwriter, educator, prayer leader, cantorial soloist, and shofar trainer. She studies part-time online at Hebrew Seminary, in their para-rabbi program.
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