Passover and the Pursuit of Justice

There is a saying in Judaism:

Justice, justice you shall pursue

We all know the story of Moses. While every other baby boy was being murdered by Pharoah’s soldiers, he was put in a basket that was sent up the Nile. That basket was found by the Egyptian Princess who raised Moses as her own. When he grew up, he watched the Hebrew slaves toil and suffer. Upon seeing an old man being beaten by an overseer, Moses stepped in and inadvertently killed the overseer. This sent him on a journey of getting justice for his people.

He could have done nothing. He could have ignored the beating and kept on with being an Egyptian Prince. But he could not ignore what was happening around him.

Thousands of years later, Moses’s actions and his journey continue to inspire us. Fighting for what is right is never easy. But it is always worth it. Martin Luther King Jr. once said the following about justice:

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” 

To all those who celebrate, have a Happy Passover.

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A Biblical Movie Done Right-The Prince Of Egypt

We all know the story of Moses. He is the infant son of Hebrew slaves living in Egypt. A rumor is spreading that among this new generation of sons born to the Hebrew slaves, one will grow up and free the slaves.  Pharaoh sends his soldiers to kill all of the male infants. Yochoved is one of many women who has just brought another son into the world. Willing to do anything to save her son, she puts him in a basket and puts the basket in the Nile. The basket stops at the watery doorstep of the Egyptian princess, who raises the infant as her own. Years later, Moses experiences a crisis of faith and must discover who he is meant to be.

In 1998, The Prince Of Egypt premiered. The actors who lent their voices included Val Kilmer (G-d/Moses), Ralph Fiennes (Rameses) and Michelle Pfeiffer (Tzipporah).

This was a biblical movie done right, for several reasons.

First is that it reflected the rainbow of skin colors that exist in the Middle East, unlike the upcoming Exodus: Gods and Kings or the 1956 The Ten Commandments movie. Second is that there was a spiritual aspect to this movie. It was respectful of the biblical and religious aspect without becoming a spectacle or becoming a romanticized, Hollywoodized story that the 1956 movie is.

Biblical stories are tricky to transfer from the page to the screen. But this was done right.