Parshas Shemos (5779)
In this week's Torah portion, the descendants of Jacob in Egypt - the beginning of the Jewish nation - are being persecuted and enslaved by their Egyptian captors. The purpose of this enslavement of the Jews, as stated by Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was to stem the growth of the Jewish nation "lest it become numerous and stronger than we" (Exodus 1:9). When this didn't seem to be working, and the Jews were continuing to grow, Pharaoh came up with an even more dastardly plan. He would threaten and prevail upon the Jewish midwives to kill the male babies - this way there would be no next generation of Jewish males, and the females would blend into Egypt.
But the one thing Pharaoh didn't reckon with in his evil plan was the moral fortitude and courage of the Jewish woman - in this case, the two midwives, Shifrah and Puah, who, according to the Sages, were really Yocheved and Miriam, the mother and sister of Moses. And the Torah tells us what these women did:
"The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the first was Shifrah and the name of the second was Puah - and he said, 'When you deliver the Hebrew women, and you see them on the birthstool; if it is a son, you are to kill him, and if it is a daughter, she shall live.' But the midwives feared G-d and they did not do as the king of Egypt spoke to them, and they caused the boys to live" (Exodus 1:15-17)
The Torah goes on to say that G-d rewarded these heroic midwives and promised them that great batim (lit. “housesâ€, or “dynastiesâ€) would descend from them - the houses of kehunah (the priesthood), leviyah (the tribe of Levi), and malchus (royalty).
Many commentators ask what should be the obvious question - why did it take "fear of G-d" for the Jewish midwives not to kill the male babies? Fear of G-d? Do atheists go around murdering babies because they lack the fear of G-d? Even without fear of G-d, the midwives should have resisted Pharaoh's evil orders to kill all the Jewish infants in cold blood!
THE REAL STORY BEHIND THE SCENES
In order to answer this question – explains Rabbi J. David Bleich at length in his book Contemporary Halakhic Problems - we must first understand what Pharaoh was really asking of these Jewish midwives, and under what circumstances they then found themselves.
Some of the Bible commentators, based on a passage in the Talmud in Sotah 11b, explain that Pharaoh did not order the midwives to perform infanticide - that is, to kill the male babies after they were already born. This would've been too dangerous a move and would likely have spurred a rebellion among the Jewish slaves. Instead, Pharaoh's plan was that the midwives would perform an abortion while the baby was still inside the mother's stomach. The Talmud writes that Pharaoh even gave them a sign how they could tell whether the child to be born was going to be a male or a female. This way, the midwives could secretly perform an abortion and then tell the mother that the child had died in childbirth, and less suspicion would be aroused.
Of course, the Jewish midwives had no intention of following these orders, and they even helped the Jewish women give birth, and then lied to Pharaoh to cover it up. It was only at that point, when Pharaoh saw that his plan wasn't working - and he experienced a “midwife crisis†- that he had no choice but to openly decree that all male babies were to be thrown into the Nile.
So what we really have here, according to these commentators, is a story of Jewish midwives, under penalty of death, being forced to perform late, third-trimester abortions on male babies.
In light of this, and in order for us to fully appreciate what these Jewish midwives did and why, we need some background and understanding of the Torah's view and the Halachah (Torah Law) regarding abortions for both Jews and non-Jews (since it's not clear what status the Jewish descendants of Abraham and Sarah had prior to the Receiving of the Torah at Sinai), as well as to see how these laws apply when, as a result of following the law and not performing the abortion, a loss of life might occur - in this case, the lives of the midwives who were under strict orders from Pharaoh.
[These laws are really quite complex, and cannot be done proper justice in so small a forum as this z-mail, so we will merely touch upon the major issues involved, particularly those points which are relevant to our present discussion. For a full treatment of the Torah Halachah regarding abortions, see Rabbi J. David Bleich's Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Volume 1, pages 325-371]
"FETICIDE" IN THE NOAHIDE CODE
As a general rule, the Torah prohibits abortions for Jews in all cases, except where the mother's life is at risk. The Torah considers the unborn fetus to be a live person and, according to many halachic authorities, the abortion of that fetus is considered an act of murder, although it does not entail capital punishment as do other forms of homicide. However, since the fetus has yet to emerge into this world, it is not considered a nefesh, a life, in the full legal sense of the term, and hence is subordinate to the life of the mother in status and value. And even though we never take one life to save another - as the Talmud puts it, "Why do you deem your blood to be sweeter than the blood of your fellow? - the Torah allows us to take the life of the fetus to save the mother, whose status as a full nefesh takes precedence over the fetus.
The Torah prohibits abortions for non-Jews as well. [Judaism posits a series of obligations binding upon non-Jews, the "Seven Commandments of the Sons of Noah", sometimes known as the Noahide Code. Abortion, or feticide, is included in that list.] And, interestingly, abortion is an even more serious offense in the Noahide Code than it is in Jewish law as applied to Jews. The prohibition against abortion as applied to non-Jews is derived from Genesis 9:6 which in Talmudic exegesis is rendered as "He who sheds the life of a man within a man, his blood shall be shed." "Who is 'a man within a man?'" asks the Talmud in Sanhedrin 57b. The answer it gives is that it refers to "a fetus within its mother's stomach". This interpretation serves to establish, not only that feticide is forbidden to non-Jews, but that it constitutes a capital crime in the Noahide Code.
The Tosafists, in their commentary to Sanhedrin 59a, express doubt with regard to whether the Noahide prohibition against feticide applies in situations in which failure to terminate pregnancy will result in the loss of the life of the mother. It could be that since, under Noahide law, feticide is a capital offense, the Torah considers the non-Jewish fetus to be a full nefesh, whose murder carries the death penalty - in which case, the non-Jewish fetus is the moral and legal equal of the mother, forcing us to apply the rule that we don't take one nefesh to save another. [It is interesting to note that the Catholic religion has adopted this most stringent position, and will not allow abortion under any circumstances, even when the mother's life is at risk.]
Additionally, there is a well-known halachic principle that the prohibitions of law are suspended for purposes of preserving human life, with the three exceptions of murder, illicit sexual relationships, and idolatry. These exceptions, however, only apply to Jews, who were commanded at Sinai to sanctify G-d's Name by sacrificing their lives before transgressing the three "cardinal sins". The Talmud in Sanhedrin 74b states that a non-Jew, or Noahide, may commit any transgression, including idolatry, at least in private, in order to save his own life.
SHIFRAH AND PUAH, THE G-D-FEARING "PRO-LIFERS"
And now back to our G-d-fearing Jewish midwives in Egypt. As we mentioned earlier, these two women were presented with a choice - either abort all the male Jewish fetuses or be put to death. Now since it wasn't clear to them whether they were considered full Jews or just Noahides - remember, the Torah was not yet given to the Jewish nation - they had to consider all possibilities. The two G-d-fearing midwives, Shifrah and Puah, thus reasoned as follows:
If we are considered full Jews who must follow Torah Law, as we are descendants of Abraham and Sarah who received special commandments above and beyond the Seven Noahide Laws, then we are certainly allowed to perform these abortions, as the unborn male fetus is not a full nefesh, and, should we fail to perform the abortion, our own full nefesh/lives are at risk and should therefore take precedence.
And if we are as yet considered Noahides who must subscribe to the Noahide Code, as the Torah was not officially given yet, and thus the male fetuses are considered a full nefesh even in their mother's stomachs as well as their mothers full moral and legal equal - we should still be allowed to perform the abortions, since a Noahide is not obligated to sacrifice his life so as not to transgress the three cardinal sins of murder, illicit sexual relationships and idolatry.
For these reasons, the Jewish midwives could easily have taken the less dangerous path of performing abortions on all the Jewish male fetuses, just as Pharaoh had ordered, and they would have still been within the parameters of the Torah and the Noahide Law.
Yet, as the Torah states, "the midwives feared G-d, and did not do as the king of Egypt spoke to them" - and they helped all those Jewish mothers give birth, thus ensuring the continuity of the Jewish nation. And because of that courageous and heroic act which these two Jewish women performed - even when they had the legal and moral grounds to follow Pharaoh's orders and abort the male babies - they merited to see great dynasties - houses of kehunah, leviyah, and malchus - descend from them, who, in turn, would serve G-d in the Temple, teach Torah to the masses, and rule the Jewish nation justly, thus ensuring the continuity of our people till this very day.
[Sources: Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Volume 1 by Rabbi J. David Bleich, Ktav Publishing House, Inc.]
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