PARASHAT Shemot

PARASHAT Shemot

One of the themes in Parashat Shemot that I find compelling is the role of women in the beginning of the parasha. Pharaoh's underestimation of women leads to Moses' survival and thus to Pharaoh's eventual downfall/the liberation from slavery.

From the start Pharaoh decrees against Jewish men only, seeing the Jewish people in Egypt as a potential military threat/fifth column. Rashi, the prolific French medieval commentator, however says that Pharaoh decreed against the males only because of a prediction by his astrologers predicting Moses' birth. I'm not sure how to square this with the text of the parasha which explicitly states that the Egyptians felt threatened by the possibility of the Israelites allying themselves with foreign attackers.

This decree is subverted by the two midwives, Shifra and Puach. It is interesting that in a section of the parasha with no names given, Shifra and Puach are called out by name. All the major characters go without names at this point (and some will continue to remain nameless, though our Midrashic tradition fills in the gaps). Is it possible that remembering Shifra and Puach by name is a reward itself, aside from the households (i.e., children) given to them by G
-d? Shifra and Puach may not have been Israelite. Were they the first instance of Righteous Gentiles protecting Jews from persecution?

Rashi notes that the Israelite women are compared to animals which do not need midwives to deliver babies. The Israelite women are less than human in Pharaoh's eyes.

Midrash famously has Miriam convincing her father Amram to decide for the Jewish people to continue having children despite Pharaoh's decree. Amram hadn't wanted to bring boys into the world only to have the Egyptians kill them. Miriam protests that Amram has decreed against all children while Pharaoh only decreed against the males.

When Moses is placed in his basket - really an ark, the same word as used for Noach's ark - he's watched over by his sister Miriam. This liminal event - the risky travel of the baby who will bring liberation to the Israelites - is guarded by her.

Closer to home for Pharaoh, he is deceived by his daughter, unnamed in the text, traditionally known as Batya - daughter of HaShem. Batya goes down to the river to bathe. Why? Surely there were baths in her palace. As was noted in my daughter's class at KI Religious School, midrash holds that Batya was rebelling against her father's decree. In protest, was she converting to Judaism and the river was serving as her mikvah? Could it be that Batya was going down to the river to try to rescue a Jewish baby?

Batya then arranges with Miriam to have Yocheved be Moses' wet nurse. Yocheved then raises Moses and doesn't bring him back to Batya until "he matures" (two years old in the midrash).

The infant Moses is protected every step of the way by women. Shifra and Puach protect him and every other Jewish child. Miriam follows him from the riverbank while he is in his ark/basket. Pharaoh's daughter, Batya, adopts him, names him, and gives him back to his biological mother so she can raise him under the guise of being his nurse.

Sometimes finding non
-patriarchal angles on our tradition can be difficult. As the father of two daughters, it is something that I try to bring to the fore when we discuss Torah. It's particularly gratifying to find it so close to the surface in so important a parasha as Shemot.