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Shabbat Shalom: Parshat Shemot Exodus 1:1-6:1
By Shlomo Riskin
Efrat, Israel - Who was the real model for Moses, the great liberator of his
people who waged a successful revolution against one of the mightiest
autocrats in history, Pharoah King of Egypt? It may very well have been
Amram his father, who according to the Midrash was the head of the Sanhedrin
(Jewish Court) and labored mightily to maintain the traditions of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob even among the Hebrew slaves; it may also have been Yocheved
his mother, who according to the Midrash was one of the midwives who refused
to listen to Pharoah’s orders to murder all of the baby males on their
birth - stools; and it may even have been his older sister Miriam, who
argued with her father against his original plan to separate Hebrew husbands
from their wives so that no Hebrew male babies would be cast into the Nile
River; Miriam charged her father with being even stricter than Pharoah,
since the Egyptian despot only prevented the Hebrew males from growing up
while the “divorce plan” would prevent Hebrew girls as well as boys from
being born. Amram accepted his daughter’s argument, and so baby Moses was
born!
I believe that Moses’ true model was his third parent, his Gentile,
Egyptian “mother,” who was no less an important factor in his life than
were Amram, Yocheved and Miriam. The Bible opens Chapter Two of the Book of
Exodus with the very nondescript and laconic record that “a man went from
the house of Levi and took a daughter of Levi; the woman conceived and gave
birth to a son whom they hid (from the Egyptian authorities) for three
months. (The woman) could not hide him any longer, so she took for him a
wicker basket, and smeared it with clay and pitch. She placed the child into
it and placed it among the reeds at the bank of the River (Nile). His sister
stationed herself at a distance to know what would be done with him”
(Exodus 2: 1-4).
Each of these three characteristics are nameless – perhaps because
Egyptian law decreed that the baby boy-child was not supposed to have lived,
and then neither he nor his parents and sister would even comprise a family
unit together.
The story continues:
“Pharoah’s daughter went down to bathe by the River (Nile), and her
maidens walked along the River (to allow her some privacy – Netziv). She
saw the basket among the reeds; she sent forth her maidservant (the one
close attendant who was usually constantly at her side) and took the basket.
She opened it and saw him, the child, and behold, a youth was weeping. She
took pity on him and said, ‘this is one of the Hebrew baby boys’”
(Exodus 2:5,6).
Apparently, Pharoah’s daughter – identified by the Midrash as Bityah,
literally daughter of G-d – suspected what was contained in the wicker –
basket, and desired to be alone – without any witnesses – when she
opened it. Miriam the guardian seizes the moment to suggest calling a Hebrew
wet-nurse for the baby, brings his biological mother Yocheved, whom the
Egyptian princess hires immediately. “And the boy grew up, and she (Yocheved)
brought him to the daughter of Pharoah, and he was a son to her. And she
called his name Moses (Moshe), as she said, ‘For I drew him from the water’”
(Exodus 2:10).
Now the Ibn Ezra already asks about the origin of the name Moshe; the Hebrew
literally means “I draw forth,” the active verb, but in context he
should have been named “Mashui,” the one who was drawn forth, in the
passive voice. The Netziv and Kassuto both make the point that the word
Moshe in Egyptian means son, which gives profound meaning to Bitya’s
declaration: “she called his name Moseh, son, because (she said) ‘I drew
him forth from the water.’” She is in effect declaring that she has
earned the right to consider him her son since she took him from the water
(a double entendre, referring both to the waters of the Nile River and –
by allegory the water or amniotic fluid which “break” with the birth of
a baby) and saved his life from the Egyptian decree.
From this perspective, the Egyptian Princess was a true rebel against the
unjust and inhuman laws of Pharoah’s regime, risking her life to save this
child of the Hebrews. Bitya was indeed a second mother and a magnificent
model of courage, righteousness and faith for a man whose name would prove
prophetic: he, too, would “draw forth” the Hebrew slaves from the waters
of the Reed Sea, bringing them from death to life, from slavery to freedom,
from darkness to light. Moshe would be the model for the eventual Moshia, or
savior, who will ultimately bring all the nations of the world to peace,
freedom and redemption. It is only fitting that our great liberator who gave
the message of freedom to Jew and Gentile alike should have a mother born of
Hebrews and a second mother born of Pharoah.
Shabbat Shalom
Shlomo Riskin
Chancellor Ohr Torah Stone
Chief Rabbi - Efrat Israel
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