Study Sotah folio 13A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
ואומרת: עתידה אמי שתלד בן שמושיע את ישראל. וכיון שנולד משה נתמלא כל הבית כולו אור. עמד אביה ונשקה על ראשה, אמר לה: בתי, נתקיימה נבואתיך. וכיון שהטילוהו ליאור, עמד אביה וטפחה על ראשה, אמר לה: בתי היכן נבואתיך? והיינו דכתיב: ״ותתצב אחותו מרחוק לדעה מה יעשה לו״ — לידע מה יהא בסוף נבואתה.
And as a child Miriam would say: In the future, my mother will give birth to a son who will save the Jewish people. And once Moses was born, the entire house was filled with light. Her father arose and kissed her on her head. He said to her: My daughter, your prophecy has been fulfilled. And once they put him into the river, her father arose and hit her on her head. He said to her: My daughter, where is your prophecy? And this is as it is written: “And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him” (Exodus 2:4), i.e., to know what will be the ultimate resolution of her prophecy.
יוסף זכה וכו׳. מאי שנא מעיקרא דכתיב: ״ויעל יוסף לקבור את אביו ויעלו אתו כל עבדי פרעה וגו׳״, והדר: ״וכל בית יוסף ואחיו ובית אביו״, ומאי שנא לבסוף דכתיב: ״וישב יוסף מצרימה הוא ואחיו״, והדר: ״וכל העולים אתו לקבור את אביו״?
§ The Mishnah teaches: Joseph merited to bury his father, resulting in a display of great honor to his father. The Talmud begins its discussion of the burial of Jacob by asking: What is different initially that it is written: “And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt” (Genesis 50:7), and afterward it says in the following verse: “And all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father’s house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen” (Genesis 50:8), indicating that the brothers of Joseph were second in importance to the Egyptians? And what is different at the end that it is written: “And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brothers,” and afterward it states: “And all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father” (Genesis 50:14), placing the brothers before the Egyptians?