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Yocheved is also a lioness, who acts If previously it was only the Hebrew
with the same spirit. And then Miriam midwives, and then a Hebrew mother
appears, a little girl who acts like a and her daughter, who opposed Pha-
mature woman of faith. According to raoh, now the daughter of Pharaoh
the Midrash, Miriam’s parents sepa- herself joins in opposing him – an
rated because they feared they would impressive, powerful display of sister-
have a boy who, by Pharaoh’s decree, hood. These extraordinary women, the
would be thrown into the River Nile. “wonder women” of their time, would
But Miriam convinces her parents to deservedly become heroic figures in the
remarry and never lose hope. So Moshe history of Am Yisrael. May we merit to
is born and his sister Miriam watches follow in their footsteps!
over him from the river’s edge: “His  Translated by Yehoshua Siskin.
sister stood from afar, to know what
would be done to him” (Shemot 2:4).
This is a breathtaking passage. Some
commentators explain that Miriam,
being a prophetess, knew that every-
thing would turn out okay, that salva-
tion would come, except she did not
know how it would happen. Therefore,
she was not under duress, she was just
standing there, waiting to see how
things would work out for the best. “His
sister stood from afar, to know what
would be done to him.”
Sivan Rahav-Meir
And then a third woman enters the pic- is a media personality and lecturer. She
ture: “Pharaoh’s daughter went down lives in Jerusalem with her husband,
to bathe, to the Nile, and her maidens Yedidya, and their five children, and
were walking along the Nile, and she serves as World Mizrachi’s Scholar-in-
saw the basket in the midst of the Residence. She is a primetime anchor
marsh, and she sent her maidservant, on Channel 2 News, has a column
and she took it. She opened [it], and in Israel’s largest newspaper, Yediot
she saw the child, and behold, he was Acharonot, and has a weekly radio
a weeping lad, and she had compassion show on Galei Tzahal (Army Radio).
on him, and she said, ‘This is [one] of Join me at the
the children of the Hebrews.’” (Shemot World Orthodox Israel Congress Est. 1902
2:4–5) orthodoxisraelcongress.org 120 YEARS OF RELIGIOUS ZIONISM

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