Background/Definitions
Yocheved and Amram are the names given to Moses' parents (later in Exodus).
Shifra and Puah are the midwives who resisted Pharaoh's command to kill baby boys.
The Sanhedrin was supposedly the high court of ancient Israel during the Second Temple period, composed of the greatest sages and leaders of the day. The head of the Sanhedrin would therefore (in the rabbinic imagination) be the leader of the community. (By making Amram head of the Sanhedrin, the rabbis are projecting familiar social and political constructs onto the ancient Israelites, and simultaneously making Amram the most influential Israelite.)
In some versions of this text, Miriam is a young child.
ויאמר מלך מצרים למילדות וגו'. מה היו המילדות? . . . רבי שמואל בר נחמן אמר: אשה ובתה, יוכבד ומרים... אשר שם האחת שפרה, שהיתה משפרת את התינוק, כשהוא יוצא מלא דם... פועה, שהיתה מפיעה את התינוק, כשהיו אומרים מת... דבר אחר: פועה, שהופיעה פנים כנגד פרעה, וזקפה חטמה בו. ואמרה לו: אוי לו לאותו האיש, כשיבוא האלהים לפרע ממנו, נתמלא עליה חמה להרגה. שפרה, שהיתה משפרת על דברי בתה, ומפיסת עליה. אמרה לו: אתה משגיח עליה תינוקת היא, ואינה יודעת כלום...
פועה, שהופיעה פנים כנגד אביה, שהיה עמרם ראש סנהדרין באותה שעה, כיון שגזר פרעה, ואמר (שמות שם, כב): כל הבן הילוד. אמר עמרם: ולריק ישראל מולידים?! מיד הוציא את יוכבד ופרש עצמו מתשמיש המטה, וגרש את אשתו כשהיא מעוברת משלשה חודשים. עמדו כל ישראל וגרשו את נשותיהן. אמרה לו בתו: גזרתך קשה משל פרעה, שפרעה לא גזר אלא על הזכרים, ואתה על הזכרים ונקבות! פרעה רשע הוא, וגזרתו ספק מתקימת ספק אינה מתקימת, אבל אתה צדיק, וגזרתך מתקימת! עמד הוא והחזיר את אשתו, עמדו כל ישראל והחזירו את נשותיהם. הוי, פועה, שהופיעה פנים כנגד אביה:
"And the king of Egypt said to the midwives . . ." (Ex. 1:13) [The rabbis ask,] Who are the midwives? . . . Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman says a woman and her daughter, [that is] Yocheved and Miriam.
[The Midrash asks, Why does the Torah call them "Shifra and Puah" if they were really Yocheved and Miriam?] [Yocheved] was [called] Shifra because she beautified (mishaperet) the baby when it would come out full of blood. . . . [The Torah calls Miriam] Puah: because she would cause the newborn to cry out when it was thought to be stillborn.
. . . She [Miriam] was called Puah because she rebuked (hofi’ah panim) her father. Amram was head of the Sanhedrin when Pharaoh ordered the Israelite boys to be cast into the Nile, and Amram said: “Shall an Israelite lie with his wife in vain?” He immediately separated from Yocheved, stopped having intimate relations with her, and divorced her, when she was three months pregnant.
[When the Israelites saw this action by Amram, the head of the Sanhedrin,] all Israelite men stood up and divorced their wives.
His daughter [Miriam/Puah] said to him, “Father, your decree is harsher than that of Pharaoh! He only decreed against the males, but you have decreed against both the males and the females. Pharaoh is an evil man, and it is doubtful whether his decrees will come to pass; but you are righteous, and so your decree will be fulfilled!”
He stood up and returned to his wife, and [following his lead] all the other Israelite men returned to their wives. Miriam was accordingly given the name of Puah, since she rebuked (hofi’ah panim) her father.
Questions for Discussion:
- What do you think Amram learned through this experience?
- How do you think Amram was different at the end of the episode than at the beginning?
- Who and what helped him change?
- If your child came to you and rebuked you in this way, how might you have responded?
- Can you think of a time in your life when you learned something important about yourself from someone else?