I want to say thank you to Shifra and Puah. In this week’s Torah portion, which starts the Book of Exodus, these Egyptian midwives defy the will of Pharaoh and save the lives of the babies that he sought to destroy. Their moral courage birthed an Israelite people who were able to move from oppression to freedom.
I want to say thank you to Miriam, who watched over her baby brother Moses as he floated in a basket on the Nile until he was safe in the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter. Miriam’s steadfast hope, love, and courage enabled Moses to survive.
I want to say thank you to Pharaoh’s daughter, who defied the will of her father and embraced and raised a baby that her father would have killed. Her ability to love across lines of race, faith, and class raised a leader who could lead an enslaved people out of bondage.
The pages of the Exodus story are filled with violence and brutality and murder. As readers of the story of our enslavement and redemption, we are morally obligated to be horrified by the oppression of slavery, the narcissism of Pharaoh, the human suffering that his callousness wreaked on his own people.
And we also must not let that draw our eyes permanently away from the lifesaving courage of these women. Without them, and others like them, Moses would not have survived beyond infancy, and the story of the Israelites in Egypt may have ended with the genocide perpetuated by the murder of male babies.
May they be an inspiration to us to recommit to love in the face of hate, to hope in the face of impossibility, to tolerance in the face of bigotry, and to the moral courage they require.
And may they remind us to say thank you to their reflections in our time. There is much that will be said about what happened this past week. There will be words and images that will morally enrage us and we will respond. But let us not forget to also say thank you to the people who inspire us.
Find someone who has spoken out against bigotry and violence, and say thank you. Find someone who has protested peacefully, and say thank you. Find someone who reads widely and listens deeply, and has the courage to engage in difficult conversations, knowing that echo chambers are dangerous, and say thank you. Find an elected official who is truly a public servant, and say thank you. Find someone who tirelessly registered and motivated voters to perpetuate our democracy, and say thank you. Find someone who tells the truth, even when it's inconvenient, and say thank you. Find someone who saves lives, and say thank you.
Many years from now, when our descendants read the story of this month’s upheaval, may they also take the time to read about the Shifras, Puahs, Miriams, and Pharaoh’s daughters of our time. And say thank you.