פרשת שמות: הפיתרון הסופי, גרסת פרעה

A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.”

A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.” So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field. The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and increased greatly. And [God] established households for the midwives, because they feared God. Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

THEN YE SHALL KILL HIM. In secret so that it will not become known, because he was committing an act of violence.

We must assume that Pharaoh wanted to ensure that his plan would succeed. Which expectant mother would expose her unborn child to be killed by inviting the midwife? Pharaoh therefore told the midwives to behave in a manner which could not arouse any suspicion. By having a look at the birthstool to determine if a girl or a boy was about to be born, they would be able to kill the baby prior to its being born and tell the mother that the baby had been stillborn. The midwives would announce this before the baby had left the mother's womb. How did the midwives know all this? This is where the sign mentioned in the Talmud comes in. Pharaoh told the midwives how to make sure beforehand. When he said והמתן אותו "and you shall kill it," the extra letter ו indicates that they should only kill after first having made sure that it was a male baby. The baby was to be killed before it could be heard at the moment of birth.

COME, LET US DEAL WISELY WITH HIM. Pharaoh and his wise counsellors did not see fit to slay them by the sword, for it would have been a gross treachery to smite without reason a people that had come into the land by command of a former king. The people of the country also would not give the king consent to commit such perfidy since he took counsel with them, and all the more so since the children of Israel were a numerous and mighty people and would wage a great war against them. Rather, Pharaoh said he would do it wisely so that the Israelites would not feel that it was done in enmity against them.
It is for this reason that he placed a levy upon them, as it was customary that strangers in a country contribute a levy to the king, as it is mentioned in the case of King Solomon. Afterwards he secretly commanded the midwives to kill the male children upon the birthstool so that even the mothers should not know it. Following that, he charged all his people, Every son that is born, ye — yourselves — shall cast into the river. Essentially, Pharaoh did not want to charge his executioners to slay them by the decree of the king or to cast them into the river. Rather, he said to the people that whoever would find a Jewish child should throw him into the river. Should the child’s father complain to the king or to the master of the city, they would tell him to bring witnesses and then they will exact vengeance [for the crime]. Now once the king’s restriction was removed, the Egyptians would search the houses, entering them at night, and indifferent [to the cries of the parents], would remove the children therefrom. It is therefore said, And when she could no longer hide him.
It appears that this [decree to drown the Israelite children] lasted but a short time, for when Aaron was born [three years before Moses], the decree was not yet in existence, and when [shortly after] Moses was born, it appears that the decree was revoked. Perhaps it was through Pharaoh’s daughter, who, in her compassion for the child Moses, said to her father that he should not act in that way. It may be that when it became known that this decree was enacted by the king, he revoked it, or again it may be that it was revoked on account of the astrologers, as is the opinion of the Rabbis, since it was all done dexterously by them in order that the crime not be known. This is the meaning of the complaint made to Moses our teacher [by the officers of the children of Israel], Ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us, meaning, “Now they will increase their hatred of us and find justification for saying that we rebel against the government, and they will then openly slay us by the sword without the necessity of doing it slyly.”

He said: When you deliver the Hebrew women and you look upon the birthstool [ovnayim], if it is a son you shall kill him but if it is a daughter she shall live (Exodus 1:16).
“He said: When you deliver the Hebrew women…” Why did he command to kill them by means of the midwives? It was so the Holy One blessed be He would not prosecute him, but would punish them.
“And you look upon the ovnayim,” [this is] the place through which the baby passes [as it emerges]. Alternatively, ovnayim, Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: The Holy One blessed be He makes a woman’s limbs hard as stones [avanim]when she is sitting on the birthstool in childbirth, as were it not so, she would die. Rabbi Pinḥas the ḥaver says in the name of Rabbi Yona, this supports Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon: Ovnayim means nothing other than a block, which is a hard object, as it is written: “I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was at work on the wheel [ovnayim]” (Jeremiah 18:3). Rabbi Ḥanin said: He provided them a clear sign: Just as the potter has one thigh here and one thigh there and the block in the middle, so too, a woman giving birth has one thigh here and one thigh there and the newborn is in the middle. Some say: When she crouches to deliver, her thighs grow cold as stones.
“If it is a son, you shall kill him.” He said to them, if it is male, kill him, and if it is female, do not kill her; rather, if she lives, she lives, and if she dies, she dies. They said to him: How will we know if it is male or if it is female? Rabbi Ḥanina said: He provided them a clear sign. If it is face down, know that he is male, as he is looking, in his mother, at the earth from which he was created. If it is face up, she is a female, as she is looking at her source, the rib, as it is stated: “He took one of his ribs” (Genesis 2:21).
The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Wicked one, whoever gave this counsel is a fool. You should have killed the females. If there are no females from where will the males marry women? One woman cannot take two men, but one man can take ten women, or one hundred.’ That is: “The princes of Tzoan are but fools” (Isaiah 19:11); it is they who gave him this counsel.

AND THE KING OF EGYPT SPOKE TO THE HEBREW MIDWIVES. These midwives were in charge of all the other midwives. For there can be no doubt that there were more than five hundred midwives. These two midwives were in charge of all the other midwives and saw to it that they gave a tax to the king from the money they collected for their services. I have seen such a practice in many places. The opinion that the two midwives were mother and daughter was handed down by tradition, for it is correct.

The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, etc.: Some say that the midwives were Egyptians. And it is as if it stated, "the midwives of the Hebrews." For were it not so, what is the novelty in its stating (Exodus 1:17), "But the midwives feared God?" But our Rabbis said (Sotah 11a), "Shifra is Yocheved; Puah is Miriam, etc." Yet it can be [further] examined: As maybe it was the opposite, that Puah was Yocheved and Shifrah was Miriam! And what is Scripture telling us with this, that they changed their names? And it appears to me that Puah is an expression of speech, and that would certainly indicate Miriam, as she was a prophetess. That is like our Rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Megillah 14a), "'And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took' (Exodus 15:20) - for she would prophesy, 'My mother is destined to bear a son who will deliver the Jewish people.'" And in Parshat Vaera, Rashi explains (Rashi on Exodus 7:1) that nevuah (prophecy) is an expression of speech, formed from the expression, "I will create a niv (expression) of the lips" (Isaiah 57:19). Yocheved is Shifrah, based on her returning to her beauty (shufrah), similar to the beauty of her youth, when she was 130 years old, like that which happened to Sarah. And this miracle was also a sign that a son that would deliver the Jewish people was born to her. For this miracle was not done to her for nothing! And that is why Scripture tells us to look at how foolish the counsel of Pharaoh and all of his magicians was: For he called midwives who called themselves by the names, Shifrah and Puah, which indicate that the redeemer will come from them; and they were the very ones that would give birth to the redemption. So how could they could kill their literal children? Whereas Pharaoh did not notice the change of their names, saying it was nothing. Moreover, Scripture told us their names, since it was an indication that they were not in doubt about the redemption. For there was room for them to be in doubt about it, as it is written in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 20:8), "and I thought to destroy [...] them in the land of Egypt." But these names indicate the birth of the redeemer. And it is for this reason that they did not do that which Pharaoh said to them. As if they were in doubt, perhaps they would have agreed to the decree of Pharaoh. For it is better for [the Jewish children] to die [as] infants than for them to be born into emptiness and confusion, and to be in distress and subjugation for all of their days.

ויאמר…וראיתן על האבנים, He said: "look at the birthstool, etc." Why did Pharaoh have to instruct the midwives to look at the birthstool? Was it not enough to instruct them to kill male babies? It is true that our sages in Sotah 11 say that Pharaoh gave the midwives a sign which would alert them to the approaching birth of a male baby i.e. if the head of the baby was facing downwards, whereas if the head faced upwards this was an indication that a baby girl was about to be born. I have never understood why the midwives would need to be told such a sign [After all they were supposed to be the experts, not Pharaoh. Ed.]. Another thing we have to know is why Pharaoh did not decree death on all Jewish babies. It is most unlikely that he was motivated by a desire to ensure that some Jews would survive. Why did he not command the midwives simply: "kill them," without suggesting that they do something first which would eventually result in the death of these boy babies? What is the precise meaning of "If it turns out to be a daughter, let her live?" If Pharaoh himself had only decreed death on the males, why would the midwives need to be told to let the girls live? Surely midwives would not murder voluntarily!

The words אם בת היא mean that Pharaoh was anxious to avoid having the mothers think that the midwives were implicated in murder; therefore as long as the mothers felt that some of their babies survived birth they would not grow suspicious of the midwives. Presumably the midwives were not even to reveal that the stillborn baby had been a boy. In this fashion suspicions could be long delayed.

He said: When you deliver the Hebrew women and you look upon the birthstool [ovnayim], if it is a son you shall kill him but if it is a daughter she shall live (Exodus 1:16).
“He said: When you deliver the Hebrew women…” Why did he command to kill them by means of the midwives? It was so the Holy One blessed be He would not prosecute him, but would punish them.
“And you look upon the ovnayim,” [this is] the place through which the baby passes [as it emerges]. Alternatively, ovnayim, Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: The Holy One blessed be He makes a woman’s limbs hard as stones [avanim]when she is sitting on the birthstool in childbirth, as were it not so, she would die. Rabbi Pinḥas the ḥaver says in the name of Rabbi Yona, this supports Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon: Ovnayim means nothing other than a block, which is a hard object, as it is written: “I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was at work on the wheel [ovnayim]” (Jeremiah 18:3). Rabbi Ḥanin said: He provided them a clear sign: Just as the potter has one thigh here and one thigh there and the block in the middle, so too, a woman giving birth has one thigh here and one thigh there and the newborn is in the middle. Some say: When she crouches to deliver, her thighs grow cold as stones.
“If it is a son, you shall kill him.” He said to them, if it is male, kill him, and if it is female, do not kill her; rather, if she lives, she lives, and if she dies, she dies. They said to him: How will we know if it is male or if it is female? Rabbi Ḥanina said: He provided them a clear sign. If it is face down, know that he is male, as he is looking, in his mother, at the earth from which he was created. If it is face up, she is a female, as she is looking at her source, the rib, as it is stated: “He took one of his ribs” (Genesis 2:21).
The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘Wicked one, whoever gave this counsel is a fool. You should have killed the females. If there are no females from where will the males marry women? One woman cannot take two men, but one man can take ten women, or one hundred.’ That is: “The princes of Tzoan are but fools” (Isaiah 19:11); it is they who gave him this counsel.

Pharaoh displayed a double portion of shrewdness since it was also his objective to prevent the Jews from emigrating. As the proportion of females would increase they would be forced to look for Egyptian husbands due to the dearth of eligible Jewish males. Once the two peoples began to merge through intermarriage there was no longer any fear that they would try to emigrate. Moreover, from a mystical point of view, intermarriage results in holy souls becoming so intertwined with souls of impure origin that any eventual separation would become well nigh impossible. After all, our sages are on record in Vayikra Rabbah 32,5 that the Jewish people could not be redeemed from Egypt until 4 conditions existed, one of which was careful abstention from all kinds of incest and sexual licentiousness. Kabbalists interpret the words גן נעול in Song of Songs 4,12 as "chaste as a garden locked," i.e. that if the Jews had intermarried in Egypt they would never have been redeemed.

רThe beginning of wisdom is reverence toward GOD;שall who practice it gain sound understanding.תPraise of [God] is everlasting.

Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.” So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field. The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.