A midrash identifies Shifra and Pu'ah, the mid-wives in Egypt with Yocheved, mother of Moses and Elisheva the wife of Aaron. Based on that identification, I wrote the midrash found below.
Photo by Christian Bowen from Unsplash
michael
A word of Torah:
It all goes back to the Garden of Eden, after the expulsion, when both Adam and Eve were punished. Eve’s punishment was to have the pains of birth. Adam and Eve felt separated from each other, bitterly accusing each other over the apple incident. And so, Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel all alone without Adam. Later she gave birth again alone to her daughters.
When they grew up, Eve spoke to them about childbirth and she said: lo tov lihyot ishshlevadah --it is not good for a woman to give birth alone, and since man won’t help, let other woman be an ezer -- a help to her. The daughters were excited by this idea. Eve said: we should have a name for this (she was into naming things because of the garden). Let’s see…this person is neither the husband nor the wife. Yoffe, one of Eve’s daughters, said: let’s call her mid-husband. Eve frowned and said: no, let’s call her mid-wife and so the oldest profession in the world was established -- midwifery.
Years later in Egypt, the times were harsh for Jews, for they were slaves and feared by the Egyptians because of their numbers. Pharoah decided that enslavement wasn’t enough to break the spirit and power of the Jews. He decided they must be killed, but rather than do it himself he knew it best to have the Jews kill each other, for that in itself would be a sign of their degradation. He called the Hebrew midwives, Shifra and Puah, and said: When you deliver the Hebrew woman, look at the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him, if it’s a girl let her live.
The mid-wives didn’t know what to do. Shifra cried out in her distress, for the burden of the decision was too heavy for her, to disobey Pharaoh, king of kings, meant to endanger not only her life, but that of her unborn child as well. Because of this cry, she became known as Yocheved meaning “O this is too much to bear (kaveid).”
The younger midwife knew that they had only one choice, for to be midwives was to give life, not death. She said: We must not obey and there is One who will protect us, the Creator who gives life to all. We imitate God, since we, too, bring life into this world. For my king is no pharaoh who kills life to build glorious pyramids to honor the dead but rather “my God is fullness” and she touched Shifra’s belly which was swollen with life. This is my God’s sign a womb of life, not a tomb of death. And Shifra/Yochebed rejoiced and said: from now on your name is no longer Puah but Elisheva (from savea/satiety), which means my God is fullness.
And so, they agreed to disobey Pharaoh. 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 full of life. Before the midwives can come to them they have given birth.” The people of Israel multiplied and increased.
Yochebed gave birth to a son later known as Moses, and Elisheva who had been hanging around Yochebed’s house came to love her elder son, Aaron and they were married.
God dealt well with the mid-wives and God established houses for them, for Yochebed’s children became leaders of Israel. Elisheva’s husband and sons became the priests of Israel. All Israel honored Yochebed and Elisheva for they had saved many lives from Pharaoh. They were the first to spark the rebellion in Egypt and the beginning of the Jews turning to God.
To this day pregnant women and their partners whisper to God: Elisheva-My God is Fullness.
kein azamrah shimkha la-ad
le-shalmi nedarai yom yom
I will sing hymns to Your name
as I strive to fulfill the promise of my potential every day
Ps. 61:9
Song
Shomer yisrael
Shemor shearit yisrael
ve-al yovad yisrael
ha-omrim Shema Yisrael
Watch over all the people of Israel.
Those who listen to the voice calling for oneness will never be lost
