Parashat Shemot: Righteous Women

When tyranny becomes law, resistance becomes duty. The story of the Exodus begins not with Moses, but with the women who defied Pharaoh’s murderous decree and made liberation possible.

The sons of Jacob have died, their descendants now multiplying into what the Egyptians see as a demographic threat. A new Pharaoh has replaced the king who honored Joseph, and this cruel ruler views the Hebrew workers as a “fifth column”, or internal enemy. He enslaves the Israelites and eventually orders the murder of every male infant born to them. The chain of events leading to liberation begins with the courageous actions of several heroines.

The women who defied Pharaoh’s murderous decree

Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives, receive explicit orders to kill every male infant during childbirth. They refuse at risk to their own lives. Jochebed, a daughter of Levi, defies the decree – “Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile” (Exodus 1:22) – by hiding her son at home as long as possible, then placing him in a basket on the river under her daughter’s watchful eye. Pharaoh’s daughter spots the basket, ensures it is drawn from the water, and despite clearly recognizing this is a Hebrew child and knowing she is violating her father’s law, she saves him and raises him as her own son. A succession of women who refuse orders and save the people of Israel. Rabbi Akiva was right: “By the merit of righteous women we were redeemed from Egypt” (Yalkut Shimoni).

One word: compassion

Pharaoh’s daughter’s case is particularly striking. What caused the ruler’s daughter to violate the law? The Torah answers in one word: compassion. “Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile, and her girls were walking along the Nile. She saw the little-ark among the reeds and sent her maid, and she took it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, a weeping boy. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.” (Exodus 2:5-6).

Compassion means understanding another’s distress, identifying with them, feeling deep empathy, and consequently shifting from indifference to action. As Shadal wrote: “For the compassionate one suffers in the suffering of his friend and is not at peace until his friend's break is bound and his wound is healed.” (Sefer Yesodei HaTorah, 5).

A connection between Pharaoh’s daughter and Isaiah’s vision

The Book of Chronicles tells of Bitya daughter of Pharaoh, and the Sages identify her with that same Pharaoh’s daughter from our parashah, who is not named in Exodus, and only referred to as daughter of Pharaoh. The Midrash explains her name: “Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: The Holy One blessed be He said to Bitya daughter of Pharaoh: ‘Moses was not your son, but you called him your son; you, too, are not My daughter, but I call you My daughter,’ as it is stated: ‘These are the sons of Bitya,’ the daughter of God” (Vayikra Rabbah 1:3). In Hebrew, Bitya and Bat-Yah are spelled the same and Bat-Yah literally means “daughter of God.”

In “Dirshuni,” Vol 2 (Yedioth Books), Dr. Gili Zivan draws a profound connection between Pharaoh’s daughter’s actions and the prophet Isaiah’s vision of a just and compassionate society. Zivan reads each step of the rescue – seeing the basket, sending her maid, taking the basket, opening it, and looking at the child – as a progression of moral courage that Isaiah later echoes in his calls to aid the oppressed, shelter the poor, and refuse to look away from suffering. Pharaoh’s daughter saw a stranger’s child and chose not to say “he is not one of us,” but instead raised him as her own.

A symbol for all generations

Two contrasting models emerge at the opening of Exodus: the cruel model embodied by Pharaoh and his followers, driven by fear of the stranger and wielding power to the point of murder; and the compassionate model embodied by Pharaoh’s daughter – and later by Moses when he aids foreign women at the well in Midian.

The story of Exodus through Deuteronomy is Moses’s story, and it begins with a heroic rescue by one who earns the title Bat-Yah, daughter of God. She deserves to be a symbol for all generations: of compassionate resistance to cruel laws, of empathy that crosses borders, and of the moral courage to do good even when it means defying those in power.

Lior Tal Sadeh is an educator, writer, and author of “What Is Above, What Is Below” (Carmel, 2022). He hosts the daily “Source of Inspiration” podcast, produced by Beit Avi Chai.

For more insights into Parashat Shemot, listen to “Source of Inspiration”.

Translation of most Hebrew texts sourced from Sefaria.org

Main Photo: Moses' mother\ Wikipedia