Ziv – Parashat Shemot

Midwives...

The book of Shemot (Names) is also called “Exodus” in the European languages, and also the book of the “coming out of Egypt” according to tradition, signifying the main event of the history of Israel, this coming-out which prefigures all future liberations. This beginning of the book includes elements common to all servitudes. It opens with the rule of a new Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph”. In fact, as the commentary notes, he refused to know him and his God. He will say later: “Who is the LORD, that I should heed his voice” (Exodus 5:2).

The book starts by presenting the list of the sons of Jacob, indicating that they were able to preserve their identity and vocation in the midst of Egyptians. This seems to be a good enough motive for Pharaoh, who feels threatened. He is therefore going to attack the very existence of the Hebrew people, and not only their customs. He exaggerates their number and their power, and attempts to reduce them to nothing through slavery. One commentator has read the Hebrew word for “hard service” (Exodus 1:14), Be-farekh, as “by soft words” (Be-fe-rakh) - Pharaoh tries to use propaganda seeking to show the slaves the essentiality of their condition by teaching them that servitude is better than liberty. This indoctrination might explain the attitude of the workers who oppose Moses’ first attempt at delivering them by killing an Egyptian (Exodus 2:1-15) - they have come to love their alienation.

Pharaoh finally decides to “deal shrewdly” (Exodus 1:10) with the Hebrews and orders to kill all new-born boys, thereby directly opposing the divine law and the promise made to Abraham that his offspring shall be as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. But his shrewdness is limited. The danger does not come from the boys alone… Pharaoh neglected to take the force and determination of the women who “fear God” into account. They do not limit themselves to believing. They fear God more than any Pharaoh, and decide to disobey the orders of the authorities, thereby being the first documented case of civil disobedience. They shall be present all throughout the life of Moses, to oppose the forces of death that seek to destroy him from his birth. These are first his mother and his sister, then the well-known midwives, Pharaoh’s daughter and finally Tziporah (Exodus 4:24-26) for “it is by the just women that Israel shall be saved” (Exodus Rabba 1:12). Shabbat Shalom.