Refusal to Tarry in Egypt

Praise, above all cities, be unto Egypt
Whither came first the word of God.
There a chosen vine was planted,
Whose clusters became a peculiar treasure;
There the envoys of God were born,
Envoys of God, as from bridegroom to bride;
And there God's glory came down and walked
In a pillar of fire and cloud, swathed in thick darkness;
And there the offering of the Lord was made,
And the blood of the covenant given, and redemption found.
There stood Moses to supplicate—
And verily no assembly is like unto this for prayer.—
And Israel is to be, unto Egypt and Assyria,
A third, and a highway between them.
Yea, an altar of the Lord hath been in the midst of Egypt,
To exalt His name above all praise,
And such signs and wonders and fame,
That the world is filled with the glory of His memory.
Even her river is of the rivers of Eden,
And the goodness of her soil may be weighed
We have tested her, and thus she is—yet my heart Refuseth those that give healing so lightly:
For I know that here the Divine Presence turned aside,
Like a wayfarer, to the shade of the oak and the terebinth,
But in Salem and Zion it is like one home-born,
For there is the Torah, there the greatness,
The abode of judgment, the abode of mercy,
And there may a man hope for reward of his toil.
Yea, that mountain was called of God the Mount of His heritage:
He set it aside for sanctification like the hallah.
He came down from the holiness of her unto Babylon,
While Egypt was—
But when, from any of the lands, a man goeth up
Unto these, highest above the high is she to him.
Then why do the satirists mock at me
And make me a word of reviling?
Since if they believe in God’s law
The teaching of Israel refutes them,
And if they lack faith—lo! we part
With no portion in common between us.