I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;

” Parsha in a Nutshell “

The Children of Israel multiply in Egypt. Threatened by their growing numbers, Pharaoh enslaves them and orders the Hebrew midwives, Shifrah and Puah, to kill all male babies at birth. When they do not comply, he commands his people to cast the Hebrew babies into the Nile.

A child is born to Yocheved, the daughter of Levi, and her husband, Amram, and placed in a basket on the river, while the baby’s sister, Miriam, stands watch from afar. Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the boy, raises him as her son, and names him Moses.

As a young man, Moses leaves the palace and discovers the hardship of his brethren. He sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and kills the Egyptian. The next day he sees two Jews fighting; when he disapproves, they reveal his previous day’s murder, and Moses is forced to flee to Midian. There he rescues Yitro’s daughters, marries one of them – Tzipporah – and becomes a shepherd of his father-in-law’s flocks.

One day when Moses was watching the herd, G-d appears to him in a burning bush at the foot of Mount Sinai and instructs him to go to Pharaoh and demand: “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.” Moses’ brother, Aaron, is appointed to serve as his spokesman. In Egypt, Moses and Aaron gathered the elders of Israel to tell them that the time of their redemption has come. The people believe; but Pharaoh refuses to let them go, and even intensifies the suffering of Israel.

Moses returns to G-d to protest: “Why have You done evil to this people?” G-d promises that the redemption is close at hand.

” Dvar Torah “

In this week’s Parsha, we read about the birth of Moshe Rabeinu, the savior of the Benei Yisrael. After the Benei Israel have been enslaved by Pharaoh for many years, Hashem finally decides to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians by sending Moshe to lead them out of Egypt. But there were other heroes involved in the rescue operation, who risked their lives in order to save the Jews. Two of these heroes were the two midwives who delivered the Jewish children, Shifrah and Puah. The Torah says: Now the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, and he said, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, and you see on the birth stool, if it is a son, you shall put him to death, but if it is a daughter, she may live.” The midwives, however, feared G‑d; so they did not do as the king of Egypt had spoken to them, but they enabled the boys to live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, that you have enabled the boys to live?” And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are skilled as midwives; when the midwife has not yet come to them, they have already given birth.” G‑d benefited the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong. Now it was because the midwives feared G‑d, that He made houses for them.

There is an obvious difficulty in understanding G-d’s reward to the midwives. The phrase “and the people multiplied and became very strong” seems totally out of place?! It appears to interrupt the description of the actual reward with which G-d benefited the midwives by making them houses. So what is the significance of this “extra” phrase?

Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetsky gives a beautiful explanation. His method of commentary is usually by telling a relevant story first: A couple had a premature child. The baby was in the hospital for a couple of months and came home after several weeks of intensive care in the hospital. The parents were very grateful to the doctors and especially to the nurses in the children’s Intensive Care Unit. The father of the baby called his Rabbi and asked him how he could show his appreciation to the staff in the hospital. The Rabbi advised the following: Every year on the child’s birthday, he should take the child back to the children’s ICU and show the nurses and the doctors how much he has grown. “See the actions of your hands. Look who you allowed to live and to grow up.” The greatest reward for the people working in that unit is seeing that their efforts paid off, that their labors resulted in a very significant accomplishment.

Accordingly, Rabbi Kamenetsky, uses the same reasoning to explain the midwives’ reward. G-d rewarded the midwives with what? And the answer is: “The people became many and very mighty.” The greatest reward for the midwives was that the Bnei Yisrael grew. Pharaoh wanted to kill off all the Jews and destroy the possibility of a future Jewish nation. The “houses” that G-d made for Shifra and Puah were only a secondary reward. Their main reward was seeing the fruits of their labor, which was: “The people became many and very mighty!”

Yes my friends, two of the heros in helping to rescue the Benei Israel from the hands of the Egyptians were Shifra and Puah, the two midwives. They risked their lives in order to save the lives of others! And because of their heroic sacrifices, we are a living nation today.

Pharaoh and the Egyptians did not succeed in killing the Jews, but unfortunately, we still have Pharaohs in our generation.  And our today’s Pharaohs are the enemies of the State of Israel, who want to destroy the Jewish nation and wipe Israel off the map. But once again, Hashem has not abandoned us. He has send us the midwives too. And our today’s heroic midwives are our dear Israeli Soldiers who risk their lives in order to protect the lives of other Jews living in Israel. Don’t think for a moment that their rewards are the medals or any other benefits that they might receive from the State of Israel. But rather, their true reward is to see the Bnei Yisrael “increase, multiply and become very strong”. May Hashem bless them, protect them and make them houses in this world and the world to come, just like he did for Shifrah and Puah.

Shabbat Shalom & Regards;

Martin