A Taste of Torah in honor of Shabbat
from Rabbi Avi Weiss

Parshat Shemot
January 8-9, 1999/ 21 Tevet 5759

Who were the midwives asked by Pharoah to kill the newborn Jewish males? (Exodus 1:15, 16)   Their identity is important.  After all, they deserve credit.  In the end, at great personal risk, they "did not do as the King of Egypt commanded them, but saved the boys." (Exodus 1:17)

Rashi insists the midwives were Jewish women.  Specifically Yocheved and Miriam, the mother and sister of Moshe respectively.  For Rashi, the term meyaldot ha-ivriyot (Exodus 1:15) is to be understood literally, as the Hebrew midwives.

Sforno disagrees.  He insists that the midwives were non-Jews.  For Sforno, meyaldot ha-ivriyot is to be understood as the midwives of the Hebrews.

What stands out in Rashi's interpretation is the request.  Pharoah asks Jews to murder other Jews, believing they would commit heinous crimes against their own people.   Tragically, this phenomena has occurred in history-tyrants successfully convincing Jews to turn against their own people.

What stands out in Sforno's interpretation is the response.  In the end, the non-Jewish midwives, at great personal risk, were prepared to save Jews. This has also occurred in history-the preparedness of non-Jews to stand up to authority and intervene on behalf of Jews.

Sforno mirrors the time in which he lived. As part of Renaissance Italy in the 15th century, he was a universalist par excellance.  He believed that non-Jews would risk their lives to help Jews.

Rashi hundreds of years before, lived in a different world.  Living before the Crusades,  he could not imagine that non-Jews would stand up against the Pharaoh and save Jews.

Without this watershed moment in our history, there may have been no nation of Israel. Yet, there is no human consensus as to the identity of these heroines. Only God knows for sure.

As a time when the media is fighting over honoring "People of the Year," we must remember this important lesson.  Most of the time, we don't know who the true heroes are.  Many who are given honor are undeserving.  Others, who deserve honor, remain forever unknown.  It is God alone, who really knows.

SHABBAT SHALOM

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Rabbi Avi Weiss, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale
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