(ב) שֵׁ֣שֶׁת יָמִים֮ תֵּעָשֶׂ֣ה מְלָאכָה֒ וּבַיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י יִהְיֶ֨ה לָכֶ֥ם קֹ֛דֶשׁ שַׁבַּ֥ת שַׁבָּת֖וֹן לַיהוה כׇּל־הָעֹשֶׂ֥ה ב֛וֹ מְלָאכָ֖ה יוּמָֽת׃
(2) On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a sabbath of complete rest, holy to יהוה; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
Itturei Torah (Parshat Bo) Pg. 86 (R. Yitzhak Zelig Morgenstern of Sokolow)
Vayomer YHVH el moshe od nega echad avi al paro v’al mitzrayim acharei khen yeshalach etkhem mizeh keshalhcho kalah garesh yigaresh etkhem mizeh
“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will bring but one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon
Egypt; after that he shall let you go from here; indeed, when he lets you go, he will drive you out of here one and all’” (Ex. 11:1)
No good or friendly act ever goes to waste; it roots love in the heart. Love, in turn, creates a connection. If the people of Israel had left Egypt due to the good will and positive intention of Pharaoh, a sense of gratitude for this kindness would have remained in their hearts – a ray of connection and a hidden sense of interest in the good of Egypt. It was therefore necessary that Pharaoh banish them – “he will drive you out of here one and all” – in order to break any spiritual or emotional connection to Egypt or the Egyptians.
Watching My Friend Pretend Her Heart Is Not Breaking
Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
On Earth, just a teaspoon of neutron star
would weigh six billion tons. Six billion tons
equals the collective weight of every animal
on earth. Including the insects. Times three.
Six billion tons sounds impossible
until I consider how it is to swallow grief—
just a teaspoon and one might as well have consumed
a neutron star. How dense it is,
how it carries inside it the memory of collapse.
How difficult it is to move then.
How impossible to believe that anything
could lift that weight.
There are many reasons to treat each other
with great tenderness. One is
the sheer miracle that we are here together
on a planet surrounded by dying stars.
One is that we cannot see what
anyone else has swallowed.