Rabbi Yoshiyah offered a creative reading of the Hebrew word "ufasachti" — "and I will pass over you" — from the Passover narrative. He said: do not read it as "ufasachti" but as "ufasati," from a root meaning to skip or leap. The image is not of God passively passing over Israelite homes but of God actively skipping and leaping between them.
The proof text is breathtaking. (Song of Songs 2:8) describes the beloved: "The voice of my Beloved, behold, it comes, skipping over the mountains." And the following verse continues: "Behold, He stands behind the wall." The rabbis read this as a poetic depiction of what happened in Egypt on that terrible night.
God was not a distant force methodically working through a list of houses. He was leaping — moving with joyful urgency from one Israelite home to the next, shielding each one personally. The image is intimate and dynamic. Like a lover rushing to meet the beloved, God bounded over the rooftops of Egypt, His presence darting between the homes of His people.
This reading transforms the Passover from a grim night of judgment into something far more complex — a night that was simultaneously terrifying for Egypt and tender for Israel. While the angel of death moved through Egyptian homes, God Himself was skipping like a bridegroom across the homes of His people, personally ensuring that no harm would touch them.