And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah; and he said: ‘When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, ye shall look upon the birthstool: if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men-children alive. (Exodus 1:15–17)

וַיֹּאמֶר מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם לַמְיַלְּדֹת הָעִבְרִיֹּת, אֲשֶׁר שֵׁם הָאַחַת שִׁפְרָה וְשֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִית פּוּעָה. וַיֹּאמֶר: בְּיַלֶּדְכֶן אֶת הָעִבְרִיּוֹת, וּרְאִיתֶן עַל הָאָבְנָיִם – אִם בֵּן הוּא וַהֲמִתֶּן אֹתוֹ, וְאִם בַּת הִוא וָחָיָה. וַתִּירֶאןָ הַמְיַלְּדֹת אֶת הָאֱלֹהִים, וְלֹא עָשׂוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵיהֶן מֶלֶךְ מִצְרָיִם, וַתְּחַיֶּיןָ אֶת הַיְלָדִים. (שמות א', טו-יז)

Exodus begins with Egyptian fear of Israel and Pharaoh’s exploiting it to enslave them. He then demands midwives kill Hebrew boys; when this fails he orders everyone, “Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive” (Exodus 1:22). He mobilizes all Egypt against Israel, yet courageous women resist injustice according to conscience amid violent oppression.

Commentators including Josephus and Abarbanel consider the “Hebrew midwives” God-fearing Egyptians transcending nationality to choose universal life-saving values. Shadal finds it unlikely Pharaoh would order Israelites to kill their own people’s sons and expect secrecy. He cites his pupil Rabbi Jacob Hai Pardo: “But the midwives feared God” proves they were Egyptian; Hebrews would save children through national love. Preserving human dignity and fraternity, these women courageously opposed the system to which they belonged.

Next comes a Levite child later identified as Moses (Exodus 2:1–10). Unable to hide him, his mother puts him in a basket beside the Nile, hoping for pity. Pharaoh’s daughter sends her maid to retrieve it, pities the crying child, and adopts him despite recognizing a Hebrew her father ordered killed. She even accepts his sister’s offer of a Hebrew wet nurse and pays her, extraordinary for a princess in a world of rightless Hebrew slaves. Her moral compassion transcends nationality.

Women counter the cruelty and fear Pharaoh instills. While Egyptians enslave and oppress, women act morally, responsibly, and compassionately. Midwives, Pharaoh’s daughter, and even Egyptian neighbors lending vessels to Hebrews demonstrate preserving humanity amid evil.

In 1943 Anna Sala, twenty-two, was an antifascist student and resistance activist acquainted with the Nissim-Levi family. After Italy’s occupation, recognizing the danger to Jews, she persuaded Rabbi Dr. Paolo Nissim to take his wife Ada, née Levi, four-year-old Leah, two-month-old Daniel*, Ada’s mother Gemma Levi, and her sister Anna Levi across the Swiss border.

Anna arranged forged papers through Calogero Marrone, a senior Varese municipal registry official, later arrested and murdered at Dachau. She accompanied the family by train with these papers, but at the border learned an entire family had been captured the previous night.

She found safe hiding at engineer Giacinto De Grandi’s home in Cunardo. They remained eighteen months until liberation on April 25, 1945. Anna visited weekly with food, clothes, and toys, obtained ration coupons for the hosts, and once brought a baby carriage. She offered encouragement and many other forms of help without expecting reward.

The Nissim family was the only family in northern Italy to survive with small children.

Through courageous humanity, Anna Sala, a Righteous Among the Nations, enacted this parasha’s universal compassion and responsibility. This chapter is dedicated to her memory.

  • The infant Daniel is my wife Noa’s father.