For our Pesach Seder, we have been
using the Hagadah published by The Rabbinical Assembly "The Feast of
Freedom. One of my favorite passages of this Hagadah is "Through the
merit of the righteous women of that generation, the Israelites were
redeemed from Egypt." What did the women do that was so meritorious?
The passage explains that when Pharaoh decreed that all baby boys
would be thrown into the waters of the Nile to be drowned, the men
separated themselves from their wives and so initiated their own
practice of birth control. The women would have none of this. They
approached their husbands and said "They will not succeed in
subjugating us. In the end, the Holy One will redeem us." The Midrash
explains "thus in spite of the decree, they would be together and they
did have children. And so, "through the merit of the righteous women
of that generation, the Israelites were redeemed from Egypt." The
women believed that they would overcome. We often see the Hebrew Bible
as men's turf. The two towering figures of Exodus are in fact Moses
and Aaron not to mention the other male Pharaoh but it is the women
who play a central role in our deliverance.
This Shabbat, we rise in the synagogue to hear the reading of Shirat
Hayam - the song of the sea. It is also known as the song of Moses who
led the Israelites in its initial rendition. It is powerful poetry of
some nineteen verses. Following this great song, we reach a song of
one verse with a preceding one verse introduction known as the song of
Miriam. I especially love these two verses. When we wrote our Ohev
Shalom Torah some ten years ago and we each had the opportunity to
dedicate a verse or passage, I chose the Song of Miriam. Miriam was
my mother's name and she was a formidable woman in her own right.
These two verses read "Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron's sister picked
up a hand-drum and all the women went out after her in dance with
hand-drums. And Miriam chanted for them 'Sing to the Lord for G-d has
triumphed gloriously; horse and driver G-d has hurled into the sea.'"
This is not the first time Miriam appears in the Torah, but it is the
first time she is mentioned by name and remarkably by title as well.
Miriam is a prophet and is designated as such even before her brother
Moses.
"Through the merit of the righteous women of that generation, the
Israelites were redeemed from Egypt." Miriam is one, but not the only
one, of the remarkable women of Exodus. Miriam is, of course, the
woman referred to as Moses' sister who placed him in a wicker basket
in the reeds of the river to give him a chance for life. It is another
woman, nameless but none other than the daughter of Pharaoh who
rescues this little baby from the water. This woman knew of her
father's decree and that this was a Hebrew baby but she was that
"Righteous Gentile" who defied authority to save and raise this little
boy. Again a woman, Pharaoh's daughter saves the day but not even she
was the first woman to be mentioned in Exodus.
Two Hebrew midwives also defied Pharaoh's decree to kill all Israelite
boys at birth. These two midwives Shifrah and Puah refused to carry
out this order. Their excuse to Pharaoh was that the Hebrew women give
birth so quickly that the baby is born even before they arrive. We are
not sure if these two women were Hebrews themselves. Were they
midwives who were Hebrews or were they midwives to the Hebrew women?
They may be two more Righteous Gentiles. In either case they perform
the great act of civil disobedience. They are the precursors of the
likes of Rosa Parks, and on this weekend, which honors his life and
legacy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They possessed the courage to defy
authority and to chart a different course.
The Torah reading for this Shabbat could not be more appropriate to
coincide with the observance of Martin Luther King's Day. Our story of
the Exodus from slavery in Egypt provided hope and inspiration for
generations of African Americans to this very day. Dr. King's soaring
oratory echoed the biblical illusions. He spoke about reaching the
Mountaintop and reaching the Promised Land. Dr. King's dream has not
yet been fully realized yet, we all had reason to be proud to be
Americans when an almost exclusively white state of Iowa gave a
victory to a presidential candidate whose father was from Kenya.
Whatever the results of this election, we will all be winners if race
is not the overriding issue. As I write about the women of Exodus, it
is even more meaningful that the two top contenders for the Democratic
nomination are a woman and an African American.
Beginning on February 5th, I will be teaching a five session course
for Women's League of Conservative Judaism. The title of the course is
"By Their Merit Israel Was Redeemed - The Women of Exodus." All
members of our Sisterhood are welcome to register for this course. For
more information on registration through Women's League, you can be in
touch with Paula Segal at psegal@ohev.org.
This Shabbat, we recall the glorious moment when Israel left Egypt and
crossed the Sea of Reeds. Moses and the Children of Israel sang a
great song unto the Lord. After their song, Miriam leads the women in
song and dance. Their song of one verse has special meaning because,
as that line of the Hagadah says, it was because of these women of
Exodus, that Israel was redeemed.
Shabbat
Shalom
