Blessing
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.
Barukh atah, A-donai E-loheinu, Melekh Ha-ʿolam, asher qid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu ʿal S’firat Ha-ʿomer.
Count
Today is day four of the Omer.
Meditation
Exodus 1:15-16
15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”
Devotional
The king called the people of Israel “Hebrews,” which has almost the same spelling as servant. The last letter is resh which is only different than a dalet by a single dot (yod). Is it that for the Egyptians the people they enslaved become “Hebrews”? The king sets up a system of genocide targeting new born males who would poses a threat in the future by joining with the Egypt’s enemies to fight. The king looks for those among the Hebrews who would cooperate and be complicit in the murder of the new born males. He commands two midwives to kill the male children at birth. They were to permit the girl children to live. When it comes to the oppression of others are we complicit? Do we play a role in their oppression. Do we believe some people are worthy of the harm? Do we participate in it? Do we encourage it? What choices have we made or can we make to undo systems of oppression? The midwives feared God such that they would not do harm to their own. They refused to be complicit in genocide disobeying the direct order of the king. Do our choices for our children and loved ones result in life and growth? The midwives exemplified the saying, “Be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove.” They were ready to give an answer to their oppressor. They were wise and clever out doing the corrupted wisdom of the king.