The Midwives’ Escape
by: Maggie Anton
March 4, 2025 Banot Press
296 pages
Jews are known as “people of the book”, and as a lifelong reader, I can definitely say that the Torah, our book, has always featured prominently in my life. As a kid, I enjoyed hearing the weekly portion in Synagogue. It contained way more plot twists and shocking reveals than any novel or TV show. As a teen, I searched for meaning. As an adult, I wondered where all the women were – why my POV was not as represented as I would have chosen – and learned to distinguish between the actual text and the views superimposed upon it by commentators. It’s been a long, and sometimes troubled, relationship. Something always pulls me back, and each time I am surprised. Which is why I couldn’t resist The Midwives Escape by Maggie Anton.
Starting from the exodus, and spanning numerous books of the Torah including the beginning of Joshua, the novel tells the story of the forty years the Jews spent wandering in the dessert. However, the author is clear that this is simply a piece of well researched fiction. Numerous Torah portions are glossed over as they wouldn’t contribute much to plot, and the choice of POV is as essential here as it is for any piece of literature. The narrators are actually two Egyptian/Hittite women who were not Hebrews, but chose to leave Egypt with them anyway. This large group leaving Egypt together with the newly freed Hebrews is the subject of many a mysterious midrashic commentary on the Torah where they are referred to as the “erev Rav” (mixed multitude) and often blamed for numerous ills in the dessert.
Side note for the hilarity of one of the midwives bemoaning the tenth plague and wondering ‘what they ever did to the Hebrews’ to deserve this, when just a few lines up she notes her husband regularly sexually abused the slave women. What did we do indeed? (Turns out she’s just as happy to be rid of the guy as readers are, but still. Oblivious much?).
Underscoring the work of fiction aspect here, one of the midwives is named Shifra and her aunt, who is also a midwife, is named Puah. These names are given in the bible as the names of the midwives who refused Pharaoh’s orders to kill male Hebrew children. However, many Torah commentators state that these are aliases for the Hebrew women Miriam and Yocheved – Moses’ sister and mother. Did I mind? No, because there are about a million commentators, often contradictory, and as we said this is fiction. So again, I remind readers to treat this as a novel and not a religious text.
In general, the mixed multitude has a bad rap. They get blamed for a lot by commentators, including being a bad influence on the Hebrews and instigating numerous complaints and revolts. The Midwives’ Escape takes the opposite approach. The mixed multitude, are presented as so immaculate they are practically saints (if Judaism had saints, which it doesn’t). They look down at the Hebrews and are shocked each time they misbehave or fail to trust and Moses. They are depicted as having perfect faith. If I’m honest – and I always am – this got a little annoying. I suspect the real truth is somewhere in between these two extremes. Both groups likely had their malcontents and idol worshipers, and both groups were likely prejudiced each towards the other. It would have made for nuanced reading to acknowledge the complexity of human nature across both groups and allow that grey area to grow and blossom in ways that are so scarce in the actual bible.
Where the novel succeeds is not in providing new ideas about the mixed multitude, but rather in giving familiar stories an emotional frame on which to rest. The titular midwives are a mother and daughter, and their family dynamics grab the readers attention and let us view these happenings through an entirely different lens. Plus, as members of the mixed multitude, they allow us to observe the various cultures of the time, as well as the survival skills needed in the dessert – from how to press oil to birthing a baby. The details are rich and provide context for what exactly those forty years might have looked like. Another side bonus for including some of the wilder midrashim – like how each male dug his own grave on the ninth of Av and slept in it, unsure if he would wake up in the morning.
There are some interesting choices made regarding Moses, Aharon, and Miriam that mash together some more obscure commentaries with the authors own inventions. They help make the plot more emotionally relevant, and as a woman I enjoyed the greater focus given to Miriam, but this is not a strict textual reading. Remember the framework – fiction not biblical scholarship. If that is going to bother you, just pick a different book and let the rest of us enjoy the story in peace.
The Midwives’ Escape actually ends with a sample from the next book, and I am both more excited and more apprehensive about this next story. The narrator is one of my favorite biblical characters – Serach BaT Asher the woman who never dies – but it takes place during the book of Judges which I think we can all agree was a pretty messy time. I am hoping for just a tiny bit more kindness towards the newly settled Hebrews than we have seen in The Midwives Escape, but as any writer well knows, this is all a matter of point of view.
Note: BookishlyJewish received an arc of this publication from the publisher.