As we continue to celebrate the holiday of Passover today, coincidentally or not, on today’s daf TB Sotah 12 we can find some the most famous midrashim concerning the miraculous birth and early life of Moses. I’ll share some of them for you. All quotes obviously come from Sefaria.org translation.
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The verse states concerning Moses: “And the woman conceived, and bore a son;
and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months”
(Exodus 2:2). The Gemara asks: But Jochebed was pregnant with
Moses for three months at the outset, before Amram remarried her, as
will be explained further… The verse states with regard to the
birth of Moses: “And the woman conceived, and bore a son; and when she saw
him that he was a goodly [tov] child, she hid him three months”
(Exodus 2:2). It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir says:
“Tov” is his, Moses’, real name, as it was given to him by his
parents when he was born. Rabbi Yehuda says: His name was Toviya. Rabbi
Neḥemya says: They said he was good because they saw that he was fit for
prophecy. Others say: They said he was good because he was born when he
was already circumcised. And the Rabbis say: At the time when Moses was
born, the entire house was filled with light, as it is written here:
“And when she saw him that he was a goodly [tov] child,” and it is
written there: “And God saw the light, that it was good [tov]”
(Genesis 1:4)…
“The verse
states: “And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of
bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and with pitch; and she put the child
therein, and laid it in the willows by the river’s bank” (Exodus 2:3). The
Gemara asks: What is different about bulrushes that she decided
to use them? Rabbi Elazar says: From here it is derived concerning
righteous people that their money is more precious to them than their bodies,
as she took an inexpensive material to build the ark. And why do they
care so much about their money? Because they do not stretch out their
hands to partake of stolen property. Therefore, their own property
is very precious to them…(Righteous people want to be above suspicion is the
meaning of their property is more precious to them-gg)”
“The Gemara
comments: The Pharaoh’s daughter said: “This [zeh] is one of the
Hebrews’ children” (Exodus 2:6). Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This teaches
that she prophesied unknowingly, as the intention of the word “zeh”
was: This one falls, i.e., is cast, into the water, but no
other will fall by means of water, for on that day Pharaoh’s decree
was canceled.
"The Gemara explains: And this is what Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “And when they shall say to you: Seek unto the necromancers and the diviners, that chirp [metzaftzefim] and that mutter [mahggim]” (Isaiah 8:19)? The explanation of their chirping and muttering is: They see [tzofin], but they do not know what they are seeing; they enunciate [mahggim], but they do not know what they are enunciating. Although necromancers and diviners do have some insight into the future, they do not see clearly enough to understand what they are actually seeing.
“The Gemara applies this to Pharaoh: Pharaoh’s astrologers saw that the savior of the Jewish people would be stricken by water. Therefore, they arose and decreed: “Every son that is born you shall cast into the river” (Exodus 1:22); they thought that their vision indicated that Moses would be killed in the water. Once Jochebed cast Moses into the water, although he was protected in an ark, the astrologers said: We no longer see in the stars anything like that sign we saw as to the downfall of the leader of the Jews by water, and therefore at that moment they canceled their decree. But they did not know that what they saw foretold that Moses would be stricken on account of the waters of Meribah. They envisioned a downfall for Moses by water but didn’t fully comprehend their vision.
“And
this is what Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “These [hemma]
are the waters of Meribah, where the children of Israel strove with
the Lord, and He was sanctified in them” (Numbers 20:13)? The verse indicates
that these are the waters that the astrologers of Pharaoh saw and
on account of which they erred (for
this event did not happen until many decades later-gg). And this is what
Moses said: “The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand
men on foot [ragli]; and yet You have said: I will give them flesh,
that they may eat a whole month” (Numbers 11:21). Moses said to the Jewish
people: On account of me, which is an alternative meaning of the word
ragli, all of you were saved, as the decree to throw all males into the
river was canceled on my account.”
Happy Passover to everybody.
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