SHEMOT - 5760-1999

Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald

Now that the story of Joseph is complete, the Israelites are all in Egypt, and G-d's prediction of exile, slavery, and persecution has begun. In this week's portion, Shemot, which begins the book of Exodus, Pharaoh hears from his diviners and soothsayers that a Hebrew male child will be born who will save the Israelites and destroy Egypt.

The Egyptian soothsayers also inform Pharaoh that the savior's downfall will be through water. Determined to save Egypt, Pharaoh decrees in Chapter 1 verse 22, kol ben hayilod ha'yorah tash'lichoohoo, every male child that will be born, shall be cast into the river. This is interesting. Because typical of the virulent anti-Semite, Pharaoh is so paranoid, that he decrees that even Egyptian male children shall be thrown into the river.

In order to save the child, the babe Moses is put into a basket in the river by his mother and sister. Pharaoh's daughter, (the Midrash, the legendary interpretation tells us that her name is Bithya), while she is bathing, finds the child and rescues him. She unwittingly delivers him to the child's sister, Miriam and mother Yocheved, to nurse him until he is weaned.

Who is this child Moses, and how does he merit to become the savior of Israel? To get some insight on these question, we could ask Steven Spielberg, or go to see the movie "Prince of Egypt," but I suspect that we would do better if we investigate our own Jewish sources. The Midrash says that when Moses was about two years old, he was sitting on his adoptive mother, Bithya's lap, next to his adoptive grandfather, who, of course, is Pharaoh. Attracted by the beautiful glimmering crown, Moses the child reaches up and removes the crown from Pharaoh's head and places it on his own head. Well, the Midrash says, that one of Pharaoh's advisors, Bilaam (who eventually tries unsuccessfully to curse the Jews in the future), Bilam cries out that the child is out to destroy the Egyptian monarchy and must be put to death. He suggests to call the Egyptian wise men to render judgement. The angel, Gabriel, says the Midrash, disguised as an Egyptian soothsayer, suggests that the child be tested by putting both a beautiful onyx stone and a hot coal in front of the child. If the child chooses the onyx stone, it would prove that he wants to usurp the throne. The angel Gabriel directs the child's hand to the coal, singing Moses' fingers. The child instinctively places his hot fingers on his mouth, burning his lips, which explains why Moses becomes slow of tongue and slow of speech.

The Midrash also records that when Moses flees Egypt, he becomes a shepherd of Jethro's flocks. G-d sees how lovingly Moses tends to the sheep, especially one little sheep who runs away to fetch water. So the Almighty chooses Moses to be the shepherd of His flock, Israel. But these are Midrashim, legends. But, what does the actual Torah text tell us about Moshe?

The Torah tells us in Chapter 2, verse 11, va'yigdal Moshe, that when Moshe was grown, he went out to his brethren, va'yar et sivlotam, and he sees their burden. This young man, raised as an Egyptian prince, feels the pain of his Hebrew brothers as his own. Moses encounters an Egyptian smiting a Jew for no other reason but that he was a Hebrew, not for laziness or neglect of his work. When Moses sees that there's no one else would intervene to save the Hebrew, who would otherwise be killed, Moses smites the Egyptian.

Then, a second occurrence. Moses witness's a clash between two Jews and intervenes. And finally, when he arrives in Midian, Moshe rescues the daughters of Jethro, who are unfairly chased away from the well, by the Midianite shepherds. We see that in the first instance, Moses intervenes in a clash between a Jew and a non-Jew. In the second instance, in a fight between two Jews, and in the third instance, in a quarrel between two non-Jews. In each instance, Moshe champions the cause of justice.

Where does Moshe develop this exalted sense of justice, which seems so ingrained and natural for him? Perhaps we can say that it comes from his limited, but intense training during his formative years, when he was nursed by mother and his sister. As the Catholic church is want to say, "Give me the child for the first five years, and you can have him for the rest of his life." Because those first five, formative years, are the most important, and the values instilled in the child, during those years, will last forever.

Or perhaps, there's another source, an unexpected, an unacknowledged source of Moshe's exalted ethical sense. Could it be that Moshe received his training from the Egyptian princess Bithya? That she was the secret source of his ethical rearing and learning? Some Midrashim actually say that she joined the Jewish people, married Kalev ben Yephuneh, who together with Joshua returned from Canaan with a positive report. Is the Torah, perhaps, giving us a first glimpse of the people, non-Jew people, who we would later be called Chasiday oomot olam, the righteous gentiles, who would risk their lives in order to save Jews during the Holocaust. Is that perhaps why her name is Bithya, Batya, the daughter of G-d? Perhaps tradition is purposely ambiguous on this question. Because both possibilities are correct. Moses obviously received his rearing from his mother and his sister as a young child, but also from Bithya. And both of these possibilities should be embraced. It's something for all of us to ponder.

May you be blessed.