Torah Portion
Some Unsung Heroes
Of Jewish History
this ultimate test of choice enabled
Moses to be born and survive. Whether
these heroic women were from the
Jewish people is not clear from the
Torah — although the Midrash quoted
by Rashi (Exodus 1:15) identifies them
as Yocheved and Miriam, Moses' moth-
er and sister — but the identity of the
n this week's Torah portion, we
third heroine of this saga is clear.
have the development of the
After the failure of his policy with
Jewish nation and the beginning
the
midwives, Pharaoh commands his
of the story of its exodus from
subjects to cast the sons born to Jews
Egyptian slavery and its covenant with
into the river (Exodus 1:22).
God, which culminates in the accep-
Pharaoh's own daughter defies this
tance of the Torah.
order. The Torah describes
It is a story singular in all
how, when she is bathing
of human history. It marks
she finds the infant Moses
the nexus of the divine in
who
has been hidden by his
human history, laws and
parents.
She recognizes at
morality. God's revelation of
once that the crying child is
His Torah must surely be con-
Jewish and yet the Torah
sidered the greatest event of
tells us that (Exodus 2:6),
human history, and in the
"She had pity upon him."
center of this story is the man
She
arranges for the infant
Moses.
to
be
cared for — as it
Moses, the leader of his
turned
out, by his own
nation of millions of former
RABBI E LIEZER
mother
— and when he is
slaves who wandered for 40
CO HEN
weaned,
she raises him as a
years; Moses, the advocate of
Special to The
son. In fact, his very name,
his people before the most
Jewish News
Moses, is the name this
powerful emperor in the
Egyptian woman gives him.
world and before God
The
Torah
tells us this story of an
Himself; Moses, the greatest of all
Egyptian
woman
whose tender
prophets and religious leaders in all of
mercy
for
a
baby,
one identified as
human history, who represented man
an
enemy
to
her
nation
and her
before God and brought God to
father the king, brought about the
mankind; Moses, the conduit through
deliverance and sanctification of the
which divine laws were transmitted to
Jewish
people and God's revelation
mortal man. Certainly, without Moses
to
mankind.
the story would have been much differ-
All too often, the heroic sacrifices
ent, if it would have happened at all.
of
women throughout history are
The existence of Moses, according
forgotten
or demeaned by being con-
to our Torah portion, was due to the
trasted
with
the exploits of men. The
courage, loving kindness and selfless-
Torah reminds us in this portion that
ness of three women.
more often than not, the real heroes
When the Jewish people presented a
of human history are the women
threat to Pharaoh, he commanded the
whose
courageous acts of commit-
midwives Shifra and Puah, who minis-
ment
and
love sustain us all. T1
tered to the Jewish women, to kill the
sons that were born. But the Torah tells
us (Exodus 1:17) that "the midwives
were God-fearing and did not do as the
king of Egypt commanded; rather they
What would you have done
allowed the Jewish sons to live." These
under the same circumstances as
two women defied the king and refused
Shifra, Puah and Pharaoh's
to enforce his command because their
daughter? Why? Whose act was
awe and commitment to God and
greater, the midwives' or the
what was right superseded their fear of
princess'? Why is the greatness of
Pharaoh and his power.
women so often overlooked?
These two simple women refused to
What other cases are you famil-
"follow orders" and instead put them-
iar with where non-Jews hero-
selves in jeopardy by doing what was
ically helped and saved Jews?
right and kind. The heroic courage of
What
cases are you familiar with
Shifra and Puah when confronted with
where Jews heroically helped and
saved non-Jews?
Eliezer Cohen is rabbi of
Shabbat Shemot: Exodus
1:1-6:1; Isaiah 27:6-
28:13; 29:22-23.
I
Conversations
Congregation Or Chadash.
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