ShmotThe Jewish Mother
As we begin the Book of Exodus in our public Torah readings this coming Shabbat, the Torah tells us that Pharaoh wished to destroy the Jewish Nation even in the maternity wards. He instructed the Jewish midwives, Shifra and Puah, to kill all Jewish male babies, and to allow only the girls to live. However, the Torah tells us, "The midwives feared G-d, and did not do what Pharaoh had told them, and rather let the babies live" (Ex. 1,16).
The Midrash asks: "Is it not obvious, if they did not listen to Pharaoh, that they allowed the babies to live? Why must the Torah specify this?" The Midrash answers that the verse offers praise-within-praise to Shifra and Puah...