Shifrah and Puah

In the first chapter of Shemot, or “names” in English, we are introduced to many names. We first receive the names of the 12 tribes. Later in the chapter, we receive the two names of two biblical greats Shifrah and Puah. These two women were Hebrew midwives who were tasked with delivering the children of the Israelites.

Pharaoh approaches these two women in hopes of slowly but surely eradicating the Israelite’s ability to multiply. We read early in the text that Pharaoh approaches the two women and asks them to kill all the boy babies they assist in delivering, while allowing the girls to live. The text continues, and we witness an incredible act of resistance. Out of fear and in reverence of God, they went against pharaoh’s wishes and allowed the boys to live.

We then see Pharaoh confronting the two midwives in the text on why they had decided to let the boys live. Neither of them backed down. Their response? “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” The Hebrew word that is assigned to the Israelite women is חָיֶה, which best translates as lively or vigorous, coming from the Hebrew word חַי, which means life.

The book of Shemot begins with an overt act of political defiance by these two lively women, who are themselves serving the enslaved Israelites. Yet, they miraculously are capable of saving the lives of future generations, which sets the stage for the eventual and ultimate defiance of Pharaoh by the Israelites. I think there is much intentionality to why this book of Torah begins with the story of these two ultimate heroines. As we read in the Talmud in Tractate Sotah 11b, “It was the reward of the righteous women of that generation that caused Israel to be redeemed from Egypt.”

-Rabbi Melissa Lefkowitz