Sh’mot, Exodus 1:1–6:1
If the Book of Exodus were a rock opera (and don’t we all wish it were?), it might just start with the Israelite slaves joining together singing the words that Bonnie Tyler made so famous in the 1980s:
Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?
Where’s the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need.
I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night
He’s gotta be strong and he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight . . .
(“Holding Out for a Hero,” Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford)
As I snap out of my musical theater moment, I am struck by how much of the Exodus story, especially in terms of how we traditionally teach and conceptualize it, is a story about passive Israelites who collectively “hold out for a hero.” We learn how they work endlessly, toiling and suffering in the desert sun, satisfying the cruel demands of a Pharaoh “who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). At first glance, there are few instances of action or heroism until Moses grows into adulthood and learns of his fate to be the redeemer of the Jewish people.
However, a closer reading of the text itself allows us to celebrate a number of important acts of resistance, bravery, and compassion. Even more interestingly, each one is performed by a woman.
Following the Pharaoh’s pronouncement that all sons born to Israelite women were to be killed immediately, we quickly hear about the courageous rebellion of two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. The midwives did not follow Pharaoh’s command and, instead, saved each baby boy. When questioned by their king they shrugged off his concern, essentially answering that the Hebrew women gave birth much too quickly for them to attend to the mothers (Exodus 1:15–19).
Unfortunately, the text does not reveal much about these two women; in fact, there is some disagreement about who they might have been. “It is unclear from the wording of the Hebrew whether they are Hebrew women who work as midwives, or Egyptian midwives who serve the Hebrews ... Alternatively, it is possible that the narrator is here mentioning the names of the overseers of two guilds of midwives—or the names of the guilds themselves. Either way, it is significant that while the pharaoh’s name is not mentioned, the names of these two women are preserved” (The Torah: A Women’s Commentary).1 Despite this lack of information, the Torah text still highlights Shiphrah and Puah’s life-saving actions and the role they play in allowing Moses to survive his birth.
Against this backdrop we meet Jochebed and Amram,2 who are already parents of two young children (Aaron and Miriam) and are now giving birth to a third child. One might ask, if the Israelites knew that such a terrible decree had been made, why would they continue having children? Well, the Rabbis asked this question as well. Here’s where one of our greatest heroines, Miriam, enters the stage. The Rabbis believed that Amram was a great scholar of his time, and thus, when he heard Pharaoh’s plan to kill all baby boys, he divorced his wife, ensuring that no more children would be born to them. All the other families soon followed.
Continue reading.
Holding Out for a Hero?
Marci N. BellowsIf the Book of Exodus were a rock opera (and don’t we all wish it were?), it might just start with the Israelite slaves joining together singing the words that Bonnie Tyler made so famous in the 1980s:
Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?
Where’s the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need.
I need a hero, I'm holding out for a hero ’til the end of the night
He’s gotta be strong and he’s gotta be fast
And he’s gotta be fresh from the fight . . .
(“Holding Out for a Hero,” Jim Steinman and Dean Pitchford)
As I snap out of my musical theater moment, I am struck by how much of the Exodus story, especially in terms of how we traditionally teach and conceptualize it, is a story about passive Israelites who collectively “hold out for a hero.” We learn how they work endlessly, toiling and suffering in the desert sun, satisfying the cruel demands of a Pharaoh “who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). At first glance, there are few instances of action or heroism until Moses grows into adulthood and learns of his fate to be the redeemer of the Jewish people.
However, a closer reading of the text itself allows us to celebrate a number of important acts of resistance, bravery, and compassion. Even more interestingly, each one is performed by a woman.
Following the Pharaoh’s pronouncement that all sons born to Israelite women were to be killed immediately, we quickly hear about the courageous rebellion of two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. The midwives did not follow Pharaoh’s command and, instead, saved each baby boy. When questioned by their king they shrugged off his concern, essentially answering that the Hebrew women gave birth much too quickly for them to attend to the mothers (Exodus 1:15–19).
Unfortunately, the text does not reveal much about these two women; in fact, there is some disagreement about who they might have been. “It is unclear from the wording of the Hebrew whether they are Hebrew women who work as midwives, or Egyptian midwives who serve the Hebrews ... Alternatively, it is possible that the narrator is here mentioning the names of the overseers of two guilds of midwives—or the names of the guilds themselves. Either way, it is significant that while the pharaoh’s name is not mentioned, the names of these two women are preserved” (The Torah: A Women’s Commentary).1 Despite this lack of information, the Torah text still highlights Shiphrah and Puah’s life-saving actions and the role they play in allowing Moses to survive his birth.
Against this backdrop we meet Jochebed and Amram,2 who are already parents of two young children (Aaron and Miriam) and are now giving birth to a third child. One might ask, if the Israelites knew that such a terrible decree had been made, why would they continue having children? Well, the Rabbis asked this question as well. Here’s where one of our greatest heroines, Miriam, enters the stage. The Rabbis believed that Amram was a great scholar of his time, and thus, when he heard Pharaoh’s plan to kill all baby boys, he divorced his wife, ensuring that no more children would be born to them. All the other families soon followed.
Continue reading.
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