Moonlight and Darkness -- either can lead to freedom

היום שלשים יום שהם ארבעה שבועות ושני ימים בעמר
Today is thirty days, which is four weeks and two days of the omer
גבורה שבהוד
A day of strength in a week of humility

This week's Torah parasha, Emor, is one of those that lists the biblical holidays. While studying it  with the bright full moon of Pesach Sheni shining, I was reminded that the moonlight must have been comforting for the Israelites as they left Egypt, guiding them through the dark of the night.

Last night in my class on resistance during the Shoah, the Holocaust, I showed a short film about the Jewish Partisans who lived in the forests of Eastern Europe and did all they could to sabotage the Nazi war effort. One of the partisans described the need for the cover of darkness. The moon was the enemy--the fog, the snowfall, the dark was your friend.

Different paths to liberation . . .