Regaining her composure, Shifra swallowed and said- “I know it sounds like a strange question, but I just arrived here from… elsewhere. Can you please tell me- what is the date?”

“Well… you do ask strange questions. Now is the Hebrew year 2403.”

2403. The numbers dances around in Shifra’s mind. If now is the year 5781, then she had gone back 3378 years! She was in the time of the enslavement of Mitzrayim! It was too hard to wrap her head around such a mind boggling thought, so she decided to leave it for now.

“It’s seems as though you are a little confused,” Efrat said kindly. “That’s ok, for now you can come to my home and take a rest. We love to have guests.” Efrat’s cheerful smile then turned into a worried frown. “We just have to make sure that they don’t see us.”

“Who?”

“The cruel Mitzrim. It seems as if their hobby is to strike Jewish people…”

Shifra didn’t know if to feel frightened or excited. She was really here in Mitzrayim, and… she knew what was going to happen next. She knew everything. But should she tell Efrat? Should she give away the ending? Shifra decided not to. It just didn’t seem right.

Shifra followed closely behind Efrat. It seemed as though they were nearing civilization, since Shifra was starting to see people. There was a young boy of about eight, struggling to haul some water from a bucket out of the well… and there- Shifra averted her gaze. There was a Mitzri with a look of pure hatred on his face, raising a stick high in the air. Next to him cowered a small, wrinkled, old Jew. No! Shifra didn’t want to look.

“Sadly,” Efrat told her, “this is what has been going on for a while already… We don’t know when, or if, it’s all going to end. The wicked, wicked Pharaoh…

Oh, but it is going to end! Shifra felt like shouting. But something held her back.

To be continued…