It has been over 100 days since Oct 7 and the abduction of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Wise has created this beautiful prayer and song to express our solidarity with the hostages and their families and our fervent desire for a safe return.
On Pharaoh’s Daughter
The ancient rabbis loved a textual vacuum. When a Torah character’s biography was obscure, those creative rabbis filled it with midrash. Such is the case with the vaguely referenced “Pharaoh’s daughter.” The unnamed daughter of the unnamed pharaoh was ripe for their imaginations. Who was this mysterious character that rescued the redeemer of the Hebrew slaves from the waters of the Nile?
First, they gave her a name: Bityah – daughter of God! A high honor for an Egyptian and reflective of her role in nurturing the great Moses. (Incidentally, the 1956 blockbuster The Ten Commandments Anglicized the Hebrew and called her Bithiah). The rabbis loved the irony of one of Pharaoh’s own household rescuing the individual that would ultimately destroy him. She adored her adopted son, found him a Hebrew nursemaid (he’d only drink kosher milk…) and set him up to be the next ruler of Egypt until Moses subverted her plans on his own. One classic version has Moses reaching for Pharaoh’s crown and dashing it to the ground – only Bityah’s intervention saved the child from the ruler’s wrath. By raising him in the Egyptian court, she inadvertently taught him how to succeed in his stand against pharaoh. As the adoptive mother of the great Moses, the ancient rabbis fantasized that she was rewarded unlike non-Israelites and welcomed by God into the Garden of Eden (or World to Come)!
On one level, this is entertaining midrash, on another, it is a comment about righteous gentiles. Whether living in Babylonia, Greece, Rome, or any other region, the fate of Jews was often influenced by the behaviors of non-Jews. The rabbis understood the significance of the favor provided by both powerful and average non-Jews. While we would wish it otherwise, Jews have often found themselves in precarious positions wherever we’ve lived. Even now, we confront a surge in antisemitism that both shocks and frightens many of us. The elaborations on the story of Pharaoh’s daughter remind us of the importance of cultivating mutual and abiding relationships with our non-Jewish neighbors. Through our civic participation and the partnerships we establish, we not only improve our community for all residents and strengthen our democracy, but we also increase the likelihood of receiving the support we need when circumstances warrant.
— Rabbi Ron Stern