Torah Study Blog

The Book of Exodus opens with Hebrew people having lived in Egypt for several generations and being, “fertile and prolific.” (Exodus 1:7) Pharaoh was concerned that the Hebrews were becoming too numerous and could, potentially, rise up against Egypt. Pharaoh instructs his people to oppress the Hebrews and put them into forced labor, with the hopes of decreasing their numbers. However, “the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out.” (Exodus 1:12)

The next plan of Pharaoh to decrease the Hebrew population is even more heinous and it involves two midwives:

The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of who 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.” (Exodus 1:15-16)

The birthstool was two stones that women sat on, or leaned against, during childbirth to make the delivery easier.

But Puah and Shiphrah did not do as Pharaoh commanded. The narrative continues:

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.” (Exodus 1:17-19)

Today in Torah Study we talked about the midwives and continued a centuries-old debate: Were Puah and Shiphrah Egyptian women whose job it was to tend to the pregnant Hebrew women? Or were the midwives Hebrew themselves?

The Medieval scholars Rashi and Rashbam believed the midwives were Hebrew. In fact, Rashi believed the names given to the midwives were actually pseudonyms for Jochebed, Moses’s mother, and Miriam, Moses’s sister. Our Torah Study attendees who attended yeshiva as children were all raised to believe the midwives were Hebrew. And one of our regular attendees mentioned that it would have been unusual for two, non-Israelite women to be specifically named. Therefore, they must have been Hebrew.

Medieval scholar Yehudah HaChasid disagreed with his contemporaries and taught that the midwives were originally Egyptian, but converted to Judaism because they saw the power of God. Abarbanel, a 15^th century scholar, believed the midwives must have been Egyptian because otherwise Pharaoh would not have ordered them to kill the Hebrew babies. It just wouldn’t make sense.

The majority of our Torah Study members believe that the midwives were Egyptian and several points were made to back-up this assertion: 1) There is a common motif that runs through many of our traditions which shows non-Israelites acknowledging the power of our God. 2) The story is propelled by an interesting twist if you do not expect the midwives to save the Hebrew babies. 3) The story is more hopeful if the midwives are Egyptian, and there is hope for all humanity no matter what their religion may be.

Our resident Bible and Semitic languages scholar, Professor David Sperling, tells us that the names Shiphrah and Puah are Semitic, but not traditional Israelite names. The name Puah shows up in ancient Ugaritic texts and the name means, “girl.” Most families went by the name of the male: House of David, House of Jacob, etc. This part of the story ends by saying, “And because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.” (Exodus 1:21) According to Professor Sperling, this story may be an origin story that explains why there were two significant families that were indicated by the names of women.

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter