Pieces of Yesterday

As today is about to start I still hold pieces of yesterday. It was a teaching day that rated about 98, poo poo poo. 6 classes. 3 Torah Guidance sessions. A test that made kids know material while allowing them a good chance to succeed. A discussion about Moshe as an adopted person and opinions about a paper on an article (which I hope to share notes on soon) that was handed in and evoked passionate responses. A class inspired haiku. A good hour of improv club at the end of the day (5:30-6:30, and then catching bus number one of two just on time as he stopped at a red light and I knocked on his door).

One beautiful moment I wish to share before it fades away, or worse - gets overshadowed by toxic shtus:

The king of Egypt dies. The people cry out to G-d. Why do they cry now? One could argue that things would get better and there was no reason to cry. Before I shared Rashi's answer and other approaches, Daniel offered his own idea. He said that they cried now because while the Egyptians were crying for the death of Pharoh, they could cry over their suffering and it would go unnoticed. (This reminded me of how when I lost my mother I didn't want to cry all the time, so sometimes it worked out well when I was surrounded by people crying for an acceptable contextual reason and I could cry for mom, and not stand out).

Dafna challenged Daniel: Why couldn't they just cry because they were suffering slaves, why - according to Daniel - did they need to cover up their tears? Talia answered on Daniel's behalf, suggesting that if the Jews cried openly then the Egyptians would have beaten them more. This is the way of bullies. Elizabeth suggested that crying due to their oppression would give the Egyptians satisfaction and that's why they did not cry. My thought was that human dignity is something which we always wish to maintain. Even in an a situation, in which it is understandable that we cry, we are uncomfortable with having mascara running down our face - due to our basic need for human dignity.