The Women Who Saved Moses and the Israelites

The liturgy of Passover is particularly focused on thanking G-d for enabling the Israelite slaves to escape ancient Egypt. And when we anecdotally tell the story of Passover, whether to small children at Jewish schools or to our non-Jewish friends, we often focus on the heroism of Moses (though in the actual Haggadah, his name is only mentioned once). 

But this year, I finally realized that we Jews probably would have perished in Egypt, or have been non-Jewish Egyptians today, if it were not for the wise decisions of several women who, I argue, not only saved Moses, but all of the Israelites over 3,000 years ago. 

Normally, a decree by Egypt’s Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the region (if not the world) at the time, would have been enacted to the letter. But perhaps Pharaoh had never met an independent-thinking Jewish woman, or in this case, two of them: Shifrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives who knew that Pharaoh had ordered the immediate death of every newborn Jewish male, but who, amazingly, refused to follow orders because they “feared — the midwives did — G-d and they did not do as he spoke to them the king of Egypt did — and they kept alive the boys” (Exodus 1:15-21). 

When summoned by Pharaoh, the midwives’ explanation for why there were still so many male Jewish newborns reveals the women’s’ sage intuition as well as Pharaoh’s cruel bigotry: Shifrah and Puah told Pharaoh that Hebrew women were skilled and swift at childbirth, but the midwives also concocted a story that painted the Israelites as overly vigorous, using a reference that’s often reserved for reproducing animals, not humans. They knew that Pharaoh firmly believed that the Israelites were less human than Egyptians, and surely enough, he bought the story. As we know, antisemites today rationalize their hate and violence against Jews, including Israelis, by dehumanizing them at every turn. 

In refusing to kill newborn Israelite males, Shifrah and Puah were also the first women to save Moses’ life, but not the last. 

Talmudic sages believed that Shifrah and Puah were actually Moses’s mother, Yocheved, and his older sister, Miriam (with Yocheved being Shifrah). But whether or not Yocheved was one of the midwives, she also saved Moses’s life, and in doing so, saved the lives of the ancient Israelites because her son grew to lead them out of Egypt. After Moses was born, Yocheved kept him alive for three months, nourishing him until he grew so big that she could no longer hide him. 

The doting, yet desperate mother then made what is referred to as an ark, the same word that is used for Noah’s famous vessel in Genesis 6:14, out of reeds, clay and pitch. She placed her younger son in the arc and asked her daughter, Miriam, to watch over it as it floated on the Nile. 

Miriam deserves so much recognition for her life-saving decisions that beginning in the 1980s, some Jews started a tradition of reserving “Miriam’s Cup” at the seder table. In recounting how Moses was sent down the river, the Torah does not use specific names for Yocheved or Miriam, but describes how Moses’s sister “stationed herself at a distance to know what would be done to him” (Exodus 2:4).

Miriam saved Moses’ life not only by keeping watch over him in his small ark, but more importantly, by securing nourishment for him once Pharaoh’s daughter discovered him in the river. It was Miriam who spoke with the woman, who is only mentioned as “Pharaoh’s daughter” in the Torah, but whom Jews call Batya (“daughter of G-d”), and suggested a nursemaid to feed the baby. That nursemaid, as Miriam knew, would be Yocheved. “Shall I go and call for you a woman who can nurse from the Hebrews, so that she will nurse for you the boy?” Miriam asked Batya, who agreed and even offered to compensate Yocheved for nursing the baby. In this way, Moses’ own Israelite mother was able to continue to nurse him and inculcate him with Jewish values.

Jews believe that Miriam again saved Moshe (and all of the Israelites) as they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because she was accompanied by a miraculous well of water (Be’erah shel Miriam). That well sustained the people for decades and sadly, dried up after her death. Miriam brought life to the Israelites, whether literally or through infusing them with communal joy, as she played her timbrel and led the women in joyous song and dance after the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea.

It took an amazing combination of divine intervention and human compassion for Moses to live, thrive and eventually confront Pharaoh on behalf of his G-d and his people. 

But it was Pharaoh’s daughter, Batya, who also helped ensure Moses’s physical safety as he grew up in Pharaoh’s place. Batya saved Moses’ life when she pulled him from the water (she named him “Monios” because he was drawn from water; in Hebrew, the word is Moshe). Batya knew immediately that Moses was an Israelite, saying, “From the boys of the Hebrews is this one,” but she nevertheless took compassion upon the crying infant. Surely, Batya’s maidservants would have known of Moses’s real identity as well. It took an amazing combination of divine intervention and human compassion for Moses to live, thrive and eventually confront Pharaoh on behalf of his G-d and his people. 

And then, there was Tzipporah, who would become Moses’ wife. Moses met Tzipporah’s father, Jethro, who was a Midianite priest, and sought refuge from him. When Moses admitted that he was fleeing from Pharaoh, Jethro, who was an advisor to the Egyptian ruler, had Moses thrown into a pit to starve to death. 

For 10 years, Tzipporah secretly brought Moses food and water in the pit. After a decade, she reminded her father of the Israelite and suggested seeing whether he was alive or dead. When Jethro found Moses standing and praying in the pit, Tzipporah explained the miracle by crediting the G-d of the Israelites. Moses was released (and washed, given a haircut and offered a chance to eat with Jethro and his family in their home). Is it any wonder that Moses asked to marry someone as kind as Tzipporah?

Amazingly, Tzipporah saved Moses’s life once more. One of the most debated verses of the Torah recounts how G-d actually sent an angel to kill Moses, before being appeased by Tzipporah. Exodus 4:24–26 tells how Moses and his family stayed at an inn while traveling from Midian to return to Egypt to tell Pharaoh of the plagues. Why did G-d want to kill Moses? (The question seems absurd, given Moses’s role in Jewish history and redemption). Most believe it was because Moses had delayed circumcising his son, Gershom (some believe it was his other son, Eliezer; either way, travel wasn’t exactly easy or safe in those days and stopping to circumcise a son may have been dangerous). 

According to Rashi, Tzipporah saw that the destructive angels, Af and Hemah, had swallowed Moses until his area of circumcision, and she immediately understood that Gershom would need to be circumcised to avoid G-d’s anger and wrath. Exodus 4:24 describes, “Now he [Moses] was on the way, in an inn, that the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. So, Zipporah took a sharp stone and severed her son’s foreskin and cast it to his feet…”

At times, it seems as though the extraordinary women mentioned above conspired together to ensure the survival of Moses. And in keeping Moses alive, they ensured the ultimate freedom and survival of the ancient Israelites, whose descendants would go on to receive the Torah thousands of years ago, and who continue to infuse the world with kindness, morality and resilience today.

Tabby Refael is an award-winning weekly columnist for the Jewish Journal, and an LA-based speaker and civic action activist. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @TabbyRefael.