Passover begins in two days. The holiday marks the beginning of a people's travel that lasted 40 years. Of the many messages intwined in the Exodus story, one teaches of our human obligation to take care of "the other" – the stranger, the different. The Jewish people live because the baby Moses survived. The baby survived because of an Egyptian princess – Batyah – rescued, protected him and raised him – all in defiance of her father's orders that all first-born Jewish males be slain. She was perhaps the first "righteous Gentile" -- a term of honor given to non-Jews who have risked their lives to protect Jews from persecution and even annihilation. But Batyah's message is also universal, reminding all of us of our obligation, especially now, to protect and comfort anyone who faces bigotry – regardless of his or her politics or ours.
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