אגם, כדכתיב: ״קנה וסוף קמלו״.
She placed him in a marsh, as it is written: “The reeds and willows [suf] should wither” (Isaiah 19:6).
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אגם, כדכתיב: ״קנה וסוף קמלו״.
She placed him in a marsh, as it is written: “The reeds and willows [suf] should wither” (Isaiah 19:6).
״ותרד בת פרעה לרחוץ על היאר״, אמר רבי יוחנן משום רבי שמעון בן יוחי: מלמד שירדה לרחוץ מגלולי [בית] אביה, וכן הוא אומר: ״אם רחץ ה׳ את צואת בנות ציון וגו׳״.
The verse states: “And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe [lirḥotz] in the river” (Exodus 2:5). R' Yoḥanan says in the name of R' Shimon ben Yoḥai: This teaches that she came down to the river to cleanse herself from the impurity of her father’s idols, as she was immersing herself as part of the conversion process. And similarly it states: “When YHWH should have washed [raḥatz] away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and should have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of destruction” (Isaiah 4:4). This washing clearly refers to the purging of spiritual sins, rather than bathing for the sake of cleanliness.
״ונערתיה הולכות וגו׳״, אמר רבי יוחנן: אין הליכה זו אלא לשון מיתה, וכן הוא אומר: ״הנה אנכי הולך למות״.
The verse continues: “And her young women walked along [holekhot] by the riverside” (Exodus 2:5). R' Yoḥanan says: This walking is nothing other than the terminology of going toward death, and similarly it states: “Behold, I am going [holekh] to die” (Genesis 25:32).
״ותרא את התיבה בתוך הסוף״, כיון דחזו דקא בעו לאצולי למשה, אמרו לה: גבירתנו, מנהגו של עולם מלך בשר ודם גוזר גזירה, אם כל העולם כולו אין מקיימין אותה — בניו ובני ביתו מקיימין אותה, ואת עוברת על גזירת אביך? בא גבריאל וחבטן בקרקע.
The verse continues: “And she saw the ark among the willows” (Exodus 2:5). Once her young women saw that the daughter of Pharaoh was intending to save Moses, they said to her: Our mistress, the custom of the world is that when a king of flesh and blood decrees a decree, even if all the world does not fulfill it, at least his children and members of his household fulfill it, and yet you are violating the decree of your father. After the young women tried to convince her not to save Moses, the angel Gabriel came and beat them to the ground and they died.
Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.