Plate 14. We Cried Out

This papercut design is inspired by the message underlying the Exodus narrative. “And we cried out” appears in various Hebrew styles. Elsewhere in Tanakh “crying out” is interpreted by commentators to mean prayer. The variety of lettering styles mirrors the many different ways in which individual Israelites cried out or prayed—personally and collectively—to elicit a response from above. Interspersed among the cries appear the responses: vayishma, “And God heard”; vayizkor, “and God remembered”; vayar, “and God saw”; and vayeda, “and God knew.”