Moses: Leading the oppressed Israelites across the Red Sea

Moses: Leading the oppressed Israelites across the Red Sea.

Staff Writers Colleen Donohue and Ron Morgan contributed to this report

Thebes, Middle Kingdom (AP) -- Discovering that a Hebrew slave is his birth mother has been a mixed blessing for Egyptian Prince, Moses. Moses was reunited last year with his birth parents, Hebrew brick manufacturers who have thus far remained anonymous.

At first the experience seemed like a fairy tale for Moses, 33. Overnight, he acquired an extended and loving family, and nagging questions about his origins were resolved.

He spent long weeks in the slave quarter of Goshen, leisurely getting to know his birth mother, sitting by the mudpits, hanging out with stone cutters and celebrities.

But as fairy tales go, Moses now concedes, this one is slightly flawed.

There was a two-month rupture in relations with his adoptive parents, the King and Queen of Egypt. Moses' once-close ties to brother Ramses, a Toronto advertising executive, remain strained. A relationship with fiance Nefertiri foundered, in part because of Moses' frequent trips to the mudpits of Goshen.

"It's been a very tough year." And although he speaks to his birth mother -- " I'm not ready to call her mom yet" three or four times a week and sees his birth father frequently, he said he feels pulled emotionally in several directions.

At one point, his stress sent him to Mt. Sinai, and a consultation with the Deity.

Now back in his palace in Thebes, Moses is contemplating his options, "striving to find a little regularity."

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(This feature appeared in the Spring 2001 issue of the Bastard Quarterly.)