Who are the Midwives/2

Who Are the Midwives?

Exegetical Approaches

There is a spectrum of approaches among the commentators regarding the identity of the midwives:¹

The Midwives Are Israelites

Sources:Sifre BemidbarBemidbar 78About Sifre Bemidbar, Rav and Shemuel in Bavli SotahSotah 11bAbout the Bavli, Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan)Shemot 1:15About Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan), Targum Yerushalmi (Fragmentary)Shemot 1:15About Targum Yerushalmi (Fragmentary), Rav and Shemuel Bar Nachmani in Shemot Rabbah1:13About Shemot Rabbah, RashiShemot 1:15About Rashi, Lekach TovShemot 1:15Shemot 1:17About Lekach Tov, RashbamShemot 1:15About Rashbam, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorShemot 1:15About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor.

Who are Shifrah and Puah? The commentators present two options as to whether Shifrah and Puah are secondary names for women who appear elsewhere in Torah or are rather characters unknown from any other place in Torah:

• Shifrah and Puah are either Yocheved and Miryam or Yocheved and Elisheva – Sifre, Rav and Shemuel in Bavli Sotah, Targum Yerushalmi (Yonatan), Targum Yerushalmi (Fragmentary), Rav and Shemuel Bar Nachmani in Shemot Rabbah, Rashi, Lekach Tov. While the Biblical text makes no such explicit connection, there are a number of factors which may have motivated the Midrashic identification:
  • Conservation of characters – This position is consistent with the general tendency of Rabbinic Midrash to consolidate characters by identifying different names with the same person. See Character Consolidation for examples and analysis.² Maharsha adds that from that generation, Yocheved, Miryam, and Elisheva are the only three women whose names we know.
  • "וַיַּעַשׂ לָהֶם בָּתִּים" – In the Sifre, Bavli, and Shemot Rabbah,³ the identifications of Shifrah and Puah are followed by an interpretation of the phrase "and he made for them houses" as referring to dynasties of kings, priests, and Levites.⁴ This fits well with the earlier identifications, as the descendants of Yocheved, Miriam, and Elisheva were kings,⁵ priests, and Levites. It is even possible that this interpretation of "houses" as dynasties influenced the identification of the midwives – see R"E Mizrachi.⁶
  • Ages of Miriam and Elisheva – The Torah does not supply us with enough data to determine the ages of Miriam and Elisheva at the time of Paroh's decree. According to a number of Rabbinic sources, Miryam was between five and seven years old.⁷ This would seemingly make her an unlikely candidate to be the recipient of Paroh's command to kill the babies.⁸ However, in Shemot 2:8, Miryam is described as an עַלְמָה, which might indicate that she was already of child bearing age.⁹
• Shifrah and Puah are regular Israelite women, and are not identified with Yocheved, Miriam, or Elisheva – Rashbam, R. Yosef Bekhor Shor.¹⁰

Meaning of "לַמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת" – Generally in Biblical Hebrew,¹¹ when there are two consecutive definite articles (ה' הידיעה), the first word is a noun and the second word is an adjective describing the noun. Thus, the simple rendering of this phrase is "to the Hebrew midwives."¹²

Semitic names – The names of the midwives, Shifrah and Puah, are Semitic in origin,¹³ supporting an Israelite, rather than Egyptian, ethnicity.¹⁴

Loyalty to Paroh – It is questionable whether Paroh would expect Israelite midwives to not only be complicit in his plan to murder the Israelite babies but also to keep it a secret.

"וַתִּירֶאןָ הַמְיַלְּדֹת אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים" – Shemot Rabbah 1:20 and Lekach Tov 1:17 understand this as a fear of Hashem, which would appear to support a Israelite identity.¹⁵

Positive character traits – Midrash tends to identify positive characters as Jews or converts.¹⁶

The Midwives Are Egyptians or Non-Hebrews

Sources:JosephusAntiquities 2:9:2 (205-207)About Josephus, AbarbanelShemot 1About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel, ShadalShemot 1:15About Shadal.

Meaning of "לַמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת" – According to this position, the word הָעִבְרִיּוֹת cannot be an adjective describing the midwives' own nationality, but must rather be a noun referring to the Hebrew mothers whom the midwives assisted. This leaves two basic options for understanding the relationship between "לַמְיַלְּדֹת" and "הָעִבְרִיֹּת", and each assumes that our verse contains a grammatical anomaly:

• Abarbanel suggests that the phrase "לַמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת" should be understood as an abridgment of "לַמְיַלְּדֹת אֶת הָעִבְרִיֹּת" ("to those midwiving the Hebrews"),¹⁷ and is parallel to "בְּיַלֶּדְכֶן אֶת הָעִבְרִיּוֹת" in 1:16.¹⁸
• Alternatively, the phrase "לַמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת" combines two nouns in the construct state (סמיכות), and should be rendered "to the midwives of the Hebrews."¹⁹ This, however, poses a grammatical problem,²⁰ as the expected vocalization would be לִמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת‎²¹. Thus, one would need to posit that this is an instance of a redundant definite article.²²

Semitic names – Shadal contends that the Semitic origin of the names does not necessarily prove that the midwives were Israelite, as Goshen could have been inhabited by other non-Egyptians besides the Israelites. M. Greenberg²³ adds that this would not be the only case of Egyptians with Semitic sounding names, as both Hagar and Bityah the daughter of Paroh (Divrei HaYamim I 4:18), also have Semitic names.²⁴

Loyalty to Paroh – These commentators all point out that Paroh would have been more likely to trust Egyptians to carry out his commands. Shadal also wonders whether it would be possible that Israelite midwives would not reveal Paroh's plans.²⁵

"וַתִּירֶאןָ הַמְיַלְּדֹת אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים" – Shadal points out that the description of the midwives as God-fearing does not indicate that they believed specifically in Hashem (and thus does not imply an Israelite identity), as it might merely mean that they possessed a moral ethic. He notes that the verse uses the name א-להים and not 'ה, and that any religious person would have an aversion to murdering babies. See יראת א-להים for further discussion of the Biblical meanings of this term.²⁶

Theme of the story – If the midwives are non-Israelite, the story becomes a paradigm of Righteous Gentiles (חסידי אומות העולם) and civil disobedience.

The Midwives Converted to Judaism

Sources:Midrash Tadshe21About Midrash Tadshe,²⁷ R. Yehuda HeChasidShemot 1:15About R. Yehuda HeChasid.

This approach attempts to combine the advantages of both the above approaches.

Meaning of "לַמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת" – This approach can posit either that the midwives are referred to as Hebrews even at this stage due to their ultimate conversion, or like the options above that the phrase means "the midwives of the Hebrews."

Semitic names – The Torah refers to the midwives by the Hebrew names they received post-conversion.

Loyalty to Paroh – According to this understanding, Paroh approached the midwives before they had converted, when there was good reason to believe that they would obey his orders.

"וַתִּירֶאןָ הַמְיַלְּדֹת אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים" – According to R. Yehuda HeChasid, this phrase describes the transition phase in which the midwives converted to Judaism. As a result of their newly found fear of God, they refused to follow Paroh's orders. R. Yehuda HeChasid argues that had the midwives been born Jewish, there would have been no need to underscore the uniqueness of their fear of God, as murder is one of the cardinal prohibitions for which one must endure martyrdom rather than violate.²⁸

¹ See N. Leibowitz, Iyyunim Chadashim BeSefer Shemot (Jerusalem, 1970): 29-33 for a summary and analysis.

² See also the interactive learning module on the topic.

³ See also Lekach Tov.

⁴ In the Bavli both the identifications and the interpretation are attributed to Rav and Shemuel.

⁵ See Sifre and Bavli for their derivations that Miriam was the mother of royalty, and see Shemot Rabbah 48:4 that kingship came also from Yocheved (as Moshe was considered a king).

⁶ Rashbam and R"Y Bekhor Shor, who do not interpret "houses" as dynasties, are thus also not inclined to identify Shifrah and Puah with Yocheved, Miriam, and Elisheva.

⁷ Shemot Rabbah 1:13 gives Miryam's age as five years old, while Pesikta Rabbati 43 states that Miryam was six years old at the time of Paroh's second decree to throw the baby boys into the Nile. Seder Olam Rabbah 3 says that Miryam was 86/87 at the Exodus which would make her six or seven when Moshe was born.

⁸ Yet, see Shemot Rabbah, which depicts Miriam's audacity in confronting both Paroh and her father Amram.

⁹ Cf. Yeshayahu 7:14.

¹⁰ Rashbam and R. Yosef Bekhor Shor do not explicitly rule out the possibility of identifying the midwives as Yocheved, Miriam or Elisheva, but they give no indication that they support this identification.

¹¹ The same is true also for Modern Hebrew.

¹² R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, in contrast, reads the verse as if there was an "את" separating the two words, and thus he renders "to those who midwived the Hebrews." Yet, he too assumes that the midwives themselves were also Hebrews.

¹³ See W. Albright, "Northwest-Semitic Names in a List of Egyptian Slaves from the Eighteenth Century B.C.," JAOS 74:4 (1954): 229.

¹⁴ See further discussion below.

¹⁵ See further discussion below and see יראת א-להים.

¹⁶ See Midrash for elaboration.

¹⁷ R. Yosef Bekhor Shor renders the verse similarly, however, he assumes that the midwives themselves were also Hebrews.

¹⁸ Normally, when a verb is connected to a defined object, a connecting אֶת is required. Since according to Abarbanel, "לַמְיַלְּדֹת" is a verb (with an assumed subject) and "הָעִבְרִיֹּת" is the defined object of the verb, the אֶת is missing, and he needs to posit that there is an elliptical construction. Shadal notes that the phrase הָאָדָם הָאֹכֵל הַבֹּסֶר in Yirmeyahu 31:29 is a parallel case of a missing but understood "אֶת" between a verb and a defined object.

¹⁹ This is, in fact, the Septuagint's translation.

²⁰ In Biblical Hebrew, a noun in the construct state cannot take a definite article (ה' הידיעה), yet the לַ of לַמְיַלְּדֹת subsumes a definite article (לַ is a contraction of לְהַ).

²¹ M. Greenberg, Understanding Exodus (New York, 1969): 26 suggests that this is indeed how the translators of the Septuagint vocalized the word.

²² For other examples, see Ibn Janah in Sefer HaRikmah 37 (pp.375-376) and Radak in Sefer HaMikhlol (p.43a-b). The possibility that "לַמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת" is an abridgment of לַמְיַלְּדֹת שֶׁל הָעִבְרִיֹּת should be ruled out because the word שֶׁל does not appear in the Torah (and appears only rarely in Nakh). In Biblical Hebrew, the anticipated longer form would be לַמְיַלְּדֹת אֲשֶׁר לָעִבְרִיֹּת (and the אֲשֶׁר לָ would not have been shortened to a הָ).

²³ Understanding Exodus (New York, 1969): 26-27.

²⁴ One could argue, though, that Hagar and Bityah took on their Semitic names only after living among the Israelites.

²⁵ Shadal's commentary was written some one-hundred years before the Judenrate were faced with similar situations during the Shoah.

²⁶ Shadal additionally cites his student R. Yaakov Pardo who argues that had the midwives been Israelites, their actions would have been self-explanatory (coming from the love of their fellow Jews), and there would have been no need to mention the additional factor of their being God-fearing.

²⁷ See also Yalkut Shimoni Yehoshua 9. These Midrashim enumerate a number of righteous women who converted to Judaism. On the tendency of Midrash to "adopt" righteous gentiles, see Gentiles.

²⁸ Like many of the Tosafist commentaries, R. Yehuda HeChasid assumes the applicability of later halakhic concepts to pre-Sinaitic times – see Ba'alei HaTosafot. He also appears to suppose that the obligation of martyrdom in such circumstances does not apply to non-Jews (Cf. sources cited in Encyclopedia Talmudit, Vol. 22, s.v. יהרג ואל יעבור, n. 618-620).