In preparation for Passover I have been rewatching Prince of Egypt with my children. This set off many conversations regarding elements of the original that are adopted, adapted, or left out. One of the scenes that is left out of the puzzling story of the incident in the inn just before Moshe goes back to Egypt to liberate the Israelites. There we read:

At a night encampment on the way, the Lord encountered him and sought to kill him. So Tzipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his legs with it, saying, “You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me!” And when [God] let him alone, she added, “A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.”Exodus 4:24-26

Many interpreters depict Moshe as being “lazy” in not circumcising their son. It is interesting in that a Bris and eating of the Korban Pesach are the two positive commandments for which not doing gets you koret- “cut off” from the Jewish people. In the case of Moshe this was the last thing he needed to do before going to Egypt and for the Israelites the Korban Pesach was the last thing they needed to do before leaving Egypt.

On another level this connects to the central story of Passover and the last plague. There we see that the Israelite first born boys will be saved if they put put blood on their doorposts. That night the angel of death passed over their homes. Similarly there is a sacrifice of blood to save his children. But in this case it is Moshe who is saved. Maybe there is something else to be learned from this language of it being a groom. But regardless there is something deep regarding this juxtaposition as it happens in a hotel. It is hard to imagine that there were any permanent structures in Midian at the time. Why does this whole story place in a hotel?

This reminds me of famous story told about the Chofetz Chaim. As the story goes a wealthy American businessman who was passing through the Polish town of Radin paid a visit to the home of the leader of his generation, the saintly Rabbi Yisroel Meir HaKohen z”l, known to all as the Chofetz Chaim. Upon entering the home, he was struck by how sparsely it was furnished. Where is all your furniture!?, the businessman asked. And where is yours?, replied the Chofetz Chaim. Somewhat startled by the response, the businessman said, Oh, I am only passing through. To which the Chofetz Chaim replied, I, too, am only passing through.

What the Chofetz Chaim taught the businessman that we are all just passing through this world on our way to the Next World – echoes a 2000-year-old teaching of our Sages who wrote, “Rabbi Yaakov said: This world is like a lobby before the World to Come; prepare yourself in the lobby so that you may enter the banquet hall.” (Avot 4:21)

Moshe needs to go down to Egypt to convince these slaves that they need to leave the only home they had ever known. They need to be convinced that their permanent home is actually just temporary. Just as the people who are planted need to be uprooted. Moshe needs to be grounded in having his child join the covenant. This is held in juxtaposition to Moshe who has made a nomadic life for himself in the desert. This all comes together in an “inn” which is permanent structure that us used as a temporary living space. Passover is about passing through.