בילדכן את העבריות וראיתן על האבנים אם בן הוא והמתן אתו ואם בת היא וחיה.

When you assist the Jewish women in giving birth, and you see on the birthstool, if it is a son, you are to kill him, and if it is a daughter, she shall live.  Rashi explains that Paroh is only worried about the boys, for his astrologers told him that a boy was destined to be born who would save the Jewish people.

Several obvious questions come to mind.

Why does Paroh ask Jewish midwives to commit abortion/infanticide?  Why not find Egyptian midwives?  Did he truly believe these midwives would follow his order?  If in fact they did as they were told, wouldn't the laboring Jewish women catch on and not call them for the delivery?  Why add that if the baby is a girl, then she shall live - that would be obvious if the decree was only on the boys.  What was Paroh thinking?

The next Pasuk (1:17) says:

ותיראן המילדת את האלוקים ולא עשו כאשר דבר אליהן מלך מצרים ותחיין את הילדים.

And the midwives feared Hashem and they didn't do as the king of Egypt instructed them, and they kept the boys alive. 

It seems like they feared Hashem and - at the risk of disobeying Paroh - were not willing to kill the babies.  Yet the Pasuk adds that they didn't simply remain passive but rather actively gave life to the boys.   In fact , Rashi based on the Medrash and Gemara in Sotah (11b) explains that the extra words ותחיין את הילדים refers to the provisions of food and water that these midwives gave to the newborns.

But what does ותחיין את הילדים really mean?  The Medrash writes ותחיין את -אלו האמהות, הילדים - הילדים ממש. They enlived the mothers and the children.  What is the deeper meaning?

When Paroh questions them in the next Pasuk, he specifically questions their active actions. Why did you (not only not follow my wishes and remain passive, but you chose to be active)... Why did you do what you have done and have given life to the boys?

If they are truly rebellious against the King whose plan was faulty to begin with, why doesn't he just execute them?  Instead, he allows them to answer.  The Jewish women are not like the Mitzri women, they respond, for they are חיות, before the midwives get there, they have given birth.  The word חיות has various translations.  Rashi quotes the Targum to suggest that they, the laboring women, themselves are midwives, but then follows with the Medrash and Gemara's pshat that they are like animals who do not need midwives.  It seems then that Paroh let's them off scott-free.  Hashem rewards them with houses (כהונה, לויה, ומלכות), and Paroh moves to his next idea of throwing babies boys in the river... Yet again in this new decree says וכל הבת תחיון, all the girls shall live.

What really transpires in these conversations/events?  Is there any coincidence that the two women are Yocheved and Miriam about whom we are about to learn more about during the events of Moshe's birth?

The Chasam Sofer writes a beautiful explanation in his sefer Chasam Sofer Al HaTorah to which I would like to add.  In explaining the give and take between Paroh and the midwives, he suggests that Paroh understood that according to the Noahide laws it is forbidden to commit abortion.  These laws were followed by Egyptian culture, and are in fact stricter for Non-Jews than for Jews (as we pasken today).  Hence he couldn't convince Egyptian midwives to perform abortions.  Yet, the Jews, according to their dictums, considered life to be only truly valid (or equal to other living humans) when the baby emerges into the world.  When the baby is still a fetus emerging from the womb, it is not considered full fledged murder.  His ultimate plan was that the boys would be killed "in utero" and there would be an abundance of single girls.  In order that the Egyptians marry them they needed to be enlivened, enriched.  Hence, he says if it is a boy, go ahead and kill them in utero, but if it is a girl, give her life, enliven her so that she be attractive to Egyptian men.  The midwives make two arguments to Paroh.  If we were to follow your wishes, you would lose your work force, and secondly they are being born before we get there and we too, like Egyptian midwives will not commit outright murder!  Thus, we are actively feeding your work force, the Jewish boys - so your enslaved population remains strong.  Paroh concedes to their arguments.  Until now is the Chasam Sofer's pshat.

With this argument, Paroh backs off and accepts their argument and moves on to plan B.  Throw the boys in the water, let them drown naturally, and again make the Jewish girls attractive for the Egyptians.  The workforce is less important than making sure the redeemer is killed in infancy.

It might be possible to suggest an alternate approach.

Paroh enslaves the Jewish people and gives them crushing labor.  While we have difficulty thinking back to Galus mitzrayim, many of us can potentially imagine the incredible torture and suffering of the Jews in the holocaust. In those conditions, did anyone think of bringing children into this world??  An evil world, where the children would be subject to back breaking work, endless torture and suffering.  Who in their right mind would consider such a prospect?!

Maybe that is how it was in Mitzrayim.  Paroh, realizing this and after hearing that the redeemer will soon be born, capitalizes on the opportunity and asks Yocheved and Miriam to prevent more boys from being brought into a world where they would need to work.  If you go ahead and abort them in utero - it is not true murder according to Jewish law, but rather you would be potentially doing the Jewish women a favor by sacrificing these children before they grow up in such an evil place.  Thus, when the Jewish women would find out what was happening, many if not all would continue to ask for these services. Why bring children into a world of suffering? So Paroh goes to the Jewish midwives, who can sell this theory to their fellow Jewish women.  Even more so, let me approach Yocheved, who was separated from her husband because of this very concern - the potential of bringing a boy into the world in which he would be killed.  It seemed like the perfect plan.

However, בזכות נשים צדקניות נגאלו ישראל ממצרים.  The women looked into the future.  They dreamed of a time when כלל ישראל would emerge whole and powerful.  So Yocheved and Miriam went and consoled the women ותחיין  - אלו הנשים... encouraged them to not make cheshbonos... but rather softly spoke into their ears... We are like חיות - Yehuda like a lion, Binyamin like a wolf and so on.  Animals don't make calculations - they just have children.  We are life itself (chiyus) - we will forever give life even when all the cards are stacked against us, even when are children will be born into an evil world, we need to keep reproducing because eventually we will produce the savior, the redeemer.

So, according to Paroh's plan, they would be the ones to convince the women to let them kill the fetuses.  But, they did just the opposite... They convinced the jewish women to give birth and give life to the children!
While, they easily responded to Paroh, they are chayos to mean they give birth without cheshbonos and before we get there - their intent when speaking to the Jewish women contained the deeper meaning... You are chayos - your job is to give life in all circumstances - with this mentality we will give birth to the yeshua!

The Gemara in Sotah 11b writes that Puah was called Puah שהיתה פועה לולד. Classically as Rashi explains it means she cooed at the crying babies to sooth them.  Tosafos on the page quotes the Rabbeinu Chananel who says לוחשות לחישה ויוצא הולד כמו שעושים אלו עכשיו באזני האשה. Puah would whisper into the ears of the laboring women and the child would emerge as is done nowadays.  Mistama she was whispering its going to be okay, it's worth it as the Gemara explains with another explanation of the word Puah שהיתה פועה ברוח הקדש ואומרת עתידה אמי שתלד בן שמושיע את ישראל. She would cry out in ruach hakodesh that her mother would give birth to a boy who would redeem the Jewish people.  Maybe both opinions are one in the same.  Puah told the women - it may look grim.  You might think the potential loss may seem much greater than any benefit, but don't give up, don't despair, don't listen to Paroh.  We are here to give you chiyus and to give chiyus to our children, our boys, no matter what the circumstances.

In fact, the Gemara in Eruvin 13b writes that beis Shamai and beis Hillel spent two and a half years arguing whether it would have been easier for man to have been created or to not have been created (in this "difficult" world).  They finally voted and concluded that it is would have been easier to not have been created, but once you are created, search your ways, or calculate your actions.  Rashi explains on calculate your actions: אם בא מצוה לידו יחשב הפסד מצוה כנגד שכרה ולא יניח מלעשותה בשביל ההפסד שהרי שכרה עתיד לבא.  If a mitzvah opportunity comes your way, calculate the loss entailed in performing the mitzvah relative to the reward, and don't refrain from doing it because of the loss, for the reward is destined to come!  This was the message of our holy midwives during childbirth itself.  It may have been better not to have created,  but we don't make cheshbonos and once created, focus on the eventual reward - the fact that we will be redeemed and their will be incredible reward.

This as we know is somewhat of Miriam's argument to her father Amram after he separates from Yocheved.  We need to keep having children, even if they might be boys, for who could know Hashem's plan.  He agrees with his daughter, reunites with Yocheved, and lo and behold Moshe is born, the redeemer!

The Megaleh Amukos in Shmos writes the following about the midwives: the Jewish women were מעולפין בלידתן בתוקף מרירות השעבוד והם ממשיכים עליהם ומשפיעין להם חיים ממש. The Jewish women were enveloped during their delivery with the strong bitter slavery, and they (the midwives) extended to them and influenced them with true real life.  He goes on to explain the word ותחיין and חיות found in our parsha and points out that חוה (who is given this name for being the mother of all mankind) actually sees one of her sons kill his brother and then loses that remaining son to another mistaken homicide.  He doesn't explain much further. 

Possibly, he is alluding to what we explained.  After Chavah loses two children to sibling murder and homicide, who would want to have more children after that? To explain, let's see Rashi in Bereishis (4:24). Briefly Rashi quotes the Medrash that says that Lemech's wives separated from Lemech and stated there is a decree that after seven generations from Kayin, his descendants would be destroyed.  Why should we give birth to a world that will be destroyed? ... Lemech came to Adam HaRishon to complain about his wives.  Adam rebukes Lemech, why are you concerning yourself with Hashem's decrees? You do your mitzvah, and Hashem will worry about what He needs to do.  To which Lemech and his wives respond: Adam - first fix yourself - you yourself separated from your wife Chavah for 130 years, when death was decreed on this world from your sin... Immediately Adam reunites with Chavah and they have Sheis, the progenitor of Avraham...

Sound familiar? This is the almost the exact same story replayed.  First Adam and Chavah - separate and are scared to bring children into this "terrible" world, yet reunite and give birth to Sheis.  Now Amram and Yocheved, they too separate because they don't want to bring boys into Galus Mitzrayim.  Then Miriam convinces her father that in order to be alive, to give real life to our children, one must continue to bring neshamos into the world at all costs, because at the end, the Geulah will emerge and the reward will be so powerful relative to all the losses. 

These are our true נשים צדקניות - the ones that convince us to keep going, to fight all odds, for in the end we will reap the rewards.

Allow me to end with an incredible story.

A 65 year old, mother of 7, healthy woman was spending some time in Eretz Yisrael during the winter of 2010.  She became deathly ill on the night of Asara B'teves 5751 and was rushed to an Israeli hospital.  She was immediately put on life support and her predicament was grave.  Her husband called one of their sons, a doctor living in America, to consult about the situation.  Within a few days - all of the 7 children left their families and came to the hospital bed of their critically ill mother.  Each child spent considerable time at the bedside, yet the son, the doctor, remained there almost 24 hours a day to be available to discuss the treatment plan with the Israeli doctors.  One night at approximately 2 am, a complete stranger came to the ICU room - when only the unconscious woman and her physician son were present.  Dressed in a hat and jacket, with a beard and little payos - the young man asked if he could come say Tehillim by the patient's bed.  Surprised, the son said sure - and wondered if this was a volunteer service that was done in Eretz HaKodesh.  Not engaging in any further conversation - the young man came into the room with a Tehillim and proceeded to daven as if it was his own mother that laid their ill!  Psalm after psalm, the stranger said with much kavana specific real heart-felt bakashos that Hashem heal the sick woman.  The son watched in amazement.  After about 40 minutes, the young man got up to leave.  The patient's son then asked him, "What is your name?"  He responded, "Shmuel" (name is changed).  "Shmuel, why did you come at 2 am?" the son asked.  He responded, "I have little children at home and my wife works - so I need to be home when they are up.  The only free time I have is at this time of day - when everyone is sleeping at home.  Wow - Mi K'amcha Yisrael - this man is coming to say tehillim at 2 am because he has no other free time, the son thought to himself!  The young man left.  Soon after, the son saw his own mother's condition improve greatly.  The physician son was truly perplexed.  Who was this young man?  Eliyahu HaNavi??

The next morning - Yossi - another son of the patient came to visit his ill mother.  The physician son began describing to his brother Yossi the events of the previous night.  To which Yossi responded, "Did you say his name was Shmuel?" "Yes," his brother the physician, answered.  Yossi then said, "Do you remember in 2008, I asked you for some money for a young couple in Yerushalayim whom you didn't know?"  "Yes," the physician son, answered.  "And I told you that they only have one child, and would like to have another one, but they can't afford it.  So Ema and Aba and many of the kids got together and we raised some money to lighten their burden.  That money was for Shmuel and his wife!" Yossi said.

Then it hit the physician son - This man Shmuel first chose not to have another child for given his family's circumstances - it's too difficult in this world.  A friend from America, Yossi, raised some funds from his parents and siblings, to help Shmuel through this tough time and he in fact used that money to have another child.  His family gave Shmuel a Yeshua at his time of need.  Years later, when Shmuel heard that Yossi's mother was sick in a hospital in Yerushalayim - he felt the need to come say Tehillim.  But when?  His wife worked and he watched the kids.  So he decided he'll come in the middle of the night - at 2 am!  Most people would have not come.  But he did, he came - and his tefillos opened up the gates of Shamayim.  He brought a yeshua to this woman - and a week later she walked out of the hospital.  Exactly a year later, she remembers the illness, But more importantly she remembers and celebrates the incredible Yeshua during this week of Parshas Shemos.  Who will ever know if it was the tefillos of many - or specifically the Tefillos of Shmuel at 2 am that rewarded her and her family with her miraculous recovery.  As we quoted eariler: אם בא מצוה לידו יחשב הפסד מצוה כנגד שכרה ולא יניח מלעשותה בשביל ההפסד שהרי שכרה עתיד לבא.  If a mitzvah opportunity comes your way, calculate the loss entailed in performing the mitzvah relative to the reward, and don't refrain from doing it because of the loss, for the reward is destined to come!

I don't need to verify the details of this story for I am the physician son and the ill woman is my mother (she should live to 120 in good health).

רון סמט