The story of Moshe Rabbeinu and, by extension, the geula of the Jewish people from Mitzrayim, is incomplete without Batya. In fact, it started with her. So influential was she that she became one of the nine people in Tanakh who ascended to Gan Eden without dying1, and even in her life, she is referred to as simply the โDaughter of Hashemโ. All this for adopting a baby?
Batya enters the Nile2 as the daughter of the Pharaoh and exits as the daughter of Hashem. Given such a dramatic change, the commentators3 explain that she used the Nile as her mikvah, and converted to Judaism. This is difficult to understand, given that the โJewsโ did not yet exist, so to speak, only the Hebrews, and there was no Torah and mitzvot to accept upon oneself as converts do post-matan Torah. So what actually happened at the Nile?
The Midrash4 says that Bat Paroh received a prophecy that she would raise the redeemer of Israel, and so she walked by the Nile every morning waiting for a sign. Targum Yonatan5 says that she was stricken with tzaraat, and that she went to the Nile to ease the boils and scabs with its waters. Different reasons for ending up at the Nile, but the same result nonetheless; she came across a reed basket with a baby boy inside, and she (a) rejoiced at having her prophecy embodied, and/or (b) was healed from her ailment. The waters of the Nile may have converted her, but her personal, and our national redemption, began with her taking in Moshe. Batya took in a child that wasnโt her own, and in return, Hashem took in Batya as if she were His own6.
The surface-level story of Batya ends here, we donโt read about her again in the Chumash, and the plot moves on to Moshe and his life as an adult. We have to wonder, what happened to Batya? When did she die? Did she leave Egypt with the rest of Am Yisrael and hear Matan Torah?
The Oral Torah gives us a deeper insight. We learn that it was both female and male Egyptian firstborns who died in the Plague of the Firstborn, but Batya (Parohโs firstborn) was spared thanks to Mosheโs prayers7 8. We donโt know exactly where she was at the time, but itโs presumed that she joined Am Yisrael in Yetziat Mitzrayim9 and heard Matan Torah, thus completing her conversion that she had started some 80 years before at the Nile.
In what is perhaps the most surprising revelation of Batyaโs later life, the Gemara10 relates that she married Calev, one of the two good spies, who also married Miriam at another point. This shidduch sounds unlikely, but we quickly learn that it is based on a simple connection: rebellion. Vayikra Rabbah11 explains that Calev rebelled against the counsel of the spies, and Batya rebelled against the counsel of her father. Neither of these rebellions were for the sake of rebellion itself, in fact they were both almost impossible to pull off. Both Batya and Calev had to live each day holding their breath, relying only on Hashem to keep their secrets. Each of their experiences were isolating, so it actually makes perfect sense that they would understand each other very deeply.ย
Batyaโs character and role in the redemption of Israel from Mitzrayim is hard to encapsulate, and yet it is written so simply; she sees a baby abandoned in a river, and adopts him. She then gives him to a wetnurse to nurse him. Without being too critical, that doesnโt seem so heroic in and of itself. Most people with a conscience would want to help an abandoned baby in distress, and she was the princess of the most powerful empire of its day, so she would have had ample resources to take care of him. Whatโs more, Mosheโs greatness wouldnโt have come from the fact that he was simply adopted. It is evident that what scripture records of Batyaโs greatness is only a fraction of what wasnโt recorded.ย
Summarized by one Sage, โHe saved the flock; she saved the shepherdโ.12
Furthermore, one consistent theme that we see in relation to Batya is light. The Ohr HaChaim13 notes that what stood out to Batya about the baby at the Nile was that Hashem caused a halo of light to surround Moshe, ensuring that Batya knew this baby was special. Rabbeinu Bachya14 comments on the verse in Mishlei15, โShe sees that her business thrives; Her lamp never goes out at nightโ that this is referring to Batya, with the โlightโ being Batyaโs soul, and the โnightโ being the plague of the death of the firstborn, from which Batya was spared. In the Zoharโs16 description of Batyaโs portion in the World to Come, thrice a day she goes to see Moshe and exclaims โHappy is my portion, that I raised such a light!โ.
Batyaโs character and role in the redemption of Israel from Mitzrayim is hard to encapsulate, and yet it is written so simply; she sees a baby abandoned in a river, and adopts him. She then gives him to a wetnurse to nurse him. Without being too critical, that doesnโt seem so heroic in and of itself. Most people with a conscience would want to help an abandoned baby in distress, and she was the princess of the most powerful empire of its day, so she would have had ample resources to take care of him. Whatโs more, Mosheโs greatness wouldnโt have come from the fact that he was simply adopted. It is evident that what scripture records of Batyaโs greatness is only a fraction of what wasnโt recorded.
Batyaโs greatness is visible in her actions, and the outcomes of her actions. We see who Moshe became and what he achieved, and while we certainly canโt discredit Yochevedโs role in his upbringing, he is recorded as the son of Batya for a reason. The Zohar17 describes Batyaโs almost unattainable portion in the World to Come, something that could only befit a person whose actions in this world were second to none.
Batyaโs personal story is a microcosm of the Jewish people; she found Hashem in a world of idolatry, and she dedicated her life to Him, regardless of the risk it involved. There was no glamor in this choice, no outside motivating factors, simply an understanding of Truth and her duty to it. As a result, Hashem not only saved her, but He rewarded her tenfold.
- Derekh Eretz Zuta 1 โฉ๏ธ
- Shemot 2:5 โฉ๏ธ
- Sotah 12b โฉ๏ธ
- Midrash haGadol, Bereishit 23:1 โฉ๏ธ
- Targum Yonatan, Shemot 2:5 โฉ๏ธ
- Vayikra Rabbah 1:3 โฉ๏ธ
- Shemot Rabbah 18,3 โฉ๏ธ
- Yalkut Shimoni, Shemot 18:3 โฉ๏ธ
- Shemot Rabbah 20:4 โฉ๏ธ
- Megillah 13a โฉ๏ธ
- Vayikra Rabbah 1:3 โฉ๏ธ
- ibid. โฉ๏ธ
- Ohr HaChaim on Shemot 2:6 โฉ๏ธ
- Rabbeinu Bachya on Shemot 13:2 โฉ๏ธ
- Mishlei 31:18 โฉ๏ธ
- Zohar Shโlach 23 โฉ๏ธ
- Zohar Shโlach 23 โฉ๏ธ
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