B´nei Israel Congregation - Costa Rica
“You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Devarim 10:19).
“At last the great egg burst. "Pip! pip!" said the little one, and crept forth. He was so big and ugly. The Duck looked at him. "It's a very large Duckling," said she. "None of the others looks like that… But the poor Duckling who had crept last out of the egg, and looked so ugly, was bitten and pushed and made fun of, as much by the ducks as by the chickens… So it went on the first day; and then it grew worse and worse. The poor Duckling was hunted about by everyone; even his brothers and sisters were quite angry with him, and said, "If the cat would only catch you, you ugly creature!" And the ducks bit him, and the chickens beat him, and the girl who had to feed the poultry kicked at him with her foot…”
You probably realized that these paragraphs are part of the classical children’s story “The Ugly Duckling”. Why was this duck so ugly? By the end of the story, we discover that he wasn’t ugly, but it was just the way in which the other animals, his environment, perceived him.

