This sheet on Exodus 1 was written by Ilana Kurshan for 929 and can also be found here
These are the names – and all of them are male
The sons of Jacob who to Egypt came
Just seventy at first – it was small scale
Then rose a king who knew not Joseph’s fame.
The king saw Jacob’s sons and grandsons – lots!
For they had babes and babes and babes galore
A demographic crisis! He could not
Keep letting Jews have babies anymore.
He made them work as slaves, and lest they fight
Appointed taskmasters who said: Make brick!
They toiled all day long, no end in sight
And still they had more babes – what was their trick?
Said Pharaoh: Throw all boys into the Nile
But girls may live. (He knew not of their wiles.)
Ilana Kurshan is the author of If All the Seas Were Ink, winner of the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.
929 is the number of chapters in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, the formative text of the Jewish heritage. It is also the name of a cutting-edge project dedicated to creating a global Jewish conversation anchored in the Hebrew Bible. 929 English invites Jews everywhere to read and study Tanakh, one chapter a day, Sunday through Thursday together with a website with creative readings and pluralistic interpretations, including audio and video, by a wide range of writers, artists, rabbis, educators, scholars, students and more. As an outgrowth of the web-based platform, 929 English also offers classes, pop-up lectures, events and across North America. We invite you to learn along with us and be part of our dynamic community.
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