Shemot is the book of the Bible that contains the familiar story retold every year at the Passover Seder. The descendants of Yaakov are enslaved in Egypt only to be liberated in spectacular fashion by God. There is a hero’s journey for Moses, amazing miracles, and an antagonist for the ages. Pharaoh claims his super villain title easily in this weeks Parsha by attempting to secretly kill all the baby boys born to the Hebrews. When he is thwarted by two midwives who refuse to listen to his demands, he decides to simplify matters by dispensing with the need to keep this mission quiet and openly throws all the infant boys into the Nile. Which is how baby Moses ends up floating down the river in a basket.
If you have ever sent a child to Hebrew school, you know that Moses in his basket is a favorite of Hebrew school teachers. Children can make endless projects depicting the basket floating among the reeds, and perform in numerous plays reenacting the Egyptian Princess Batya’s arms stretches out to save the baby. I’d like to focus on the fact that Moses’ sister Miriam, who many believe was one of the midwives defying Pharaoh, watched over him in the reeds. It can’t have been easy or comfortable for her to sit there in the heat watching her baby brother at the whims of the Nile. Nor would she have been without fear when she stepped up and spoke with the Egyptian Princess about a nurse for the baby. It’s never safe to know the secrets of royalty and Miriam was already on Pharaoh’s bad side. She did it anyway, and she is notably one of only seven female prophets in the bible – referred to later in the Torah by her own name rather than that of the males she was associated with, which is still one of the most popular names in the Jewish world today. While we can only guess at her motivation, it is likely the same as the one that helped her defy Pharaoh as a midwife – it was the right thing to do.
In The Passover Lamb, by Linda Elovitz Marshall (Author), and Tatjana Mai-Wyss (Illustrator), a little girl named Miriam has been waiting all year to go to the Passover Seder at her grandparents house. Children are given special roles during the Seder, which only comes once a year, and Miriam will also get to see all of her relatives. She’s helped out with the arduous chores leading up to the holiday, so she is eager to partake in the joy. Just as the family is preparing to leave their farm for the drive, one of their sheep goes into unexpected labor late in the lambing season and delivers a litter of three lambs. Alas, the mother sheep only has enough milk for two, and therefore refuses to nurse the last one. The task of rescuing the lamb through bottle feeding falls to Miriam and her family who will now be stuck on the farm with the baby lamb.
Miriam is disappointed. She and her siblings attempt to resist, only to realize that caring for the helpless animal is their responsibility. Miriam saves the day by coming up with an ingenious way to safely transport the lamb – in a basket just like baby Moses – and they head off to the Seder with their new charge in hand. Much like biblical Miriam found a way to save and feed her baby brother, storybook Miriam rescues the lamb. The lesson here, for me, is that we cannot turn our backs on the vulnerable no matter how inconvenient or scary that may be for us. The Miriam’s set us an important example. We must do the right thing, now matter how difficult or scary.