~ One Hundred Words on the Parsha – Shemos

ויעש להם בתים

Hashem rewarded Shifra and Puah for their work by giving them “houses”.

My great uncle R’ Kasriel Shlomo Orbach זצ"ל asks a question regarding a well known רש"י in this week’s פרשה and gives an interesting answer.

רש"י comments on ויעש להם בתים “and He made for them houses”, that Hashem gave Shifra and Puah the gifts of kings and כהנים and לויים descending from them as a reward for the sacrifice they exhibited as midwives who disobeyed פרעה’s instructions to kill the Jewish newborns. According to רש"י, Shifra was Yocheved, the mother of אהרן (the firstכהן ) and of משה (the most prominent לוי). Puah was Miriam who was the ancestress of Kings (with her husband כלב from the שבט יהודה).

R’ Kasriel notes that the דעת זקנים explains (as opposed to רש"י) that Puah was Elisheva, Yocheved’s daughter-in-law. However, kings were not descended from her. In that case, posits R’ Kasriel, בתים is referring only to כהנים and לויים , not מלכות . Elisheva, the wife of אהרן was indeed the ancestress of all כהנים. . I was thinking that perhaps even according to the דעת זקנים who says Puah was Elisheva, that kingship can be included in the reward of “houses”, however not through Elisheva but through Yocheved. As the mother of משה רבנו who was considered to be a “king” of כלל ישראל.

~ One Hundred Words on the Parsha – Shemos

"וגם אני שמעתי את נאקת בני ישראל אשר מצרים מעבידים אותם"

“I’ve heard the davening of the Jews, about מצרים subjugating them.”

Simply understood, this means that מצרים was oppressing the Jews by making them work very hard. A different explanation could be as follows: Because of the subjugation of מצרים, the Jews were being עובד ה' crying out to him because of the tremendous burden.

אשר מצרים מעבידים אותם - causing them to be עובד ה'. The suffering brought them to תשובה and therefore, ה' accepted their תפילות. A פסוק in חומש דברים talks about the end of time: the צרות will cause the Jews to return to ה' with all our heart and ה' will have pity and redeem us. May it be soon in our time.