Shemot: What Is So Feminine about the Number 70?

In the beginning of Parshat Shemot, the Torah enumerates the descendants that traveled to Egypt with Yaakov. The pasuk¹ states that Yaakov had seventy descendants with him when he came down to Mitazrayim. This, however, is more than just a number or census count. The number 70 has strong symbolism, and there is much to be gleaned from this seemingly innocuous statement. 

If one counts the descendants of Yaakov that left Canaan with him, the numbers will only add up to 69. Someone is unaccounted for. There are differences of opinion as to who this seventieth member was. Some count Yaakov himself, solving the issue². The issue with this, found by some commentaries, is that the pasuk refers to the seventy as “descendants of Yaakov,” which would deem it strange to include Yaakov in this count. The Chizkuni actually specifies outright that Yaakov was not included in this count. Others³ count Yosef as one of the seventy, but the pasuk continues to mention Yosef as already in Mitzrayim and thus, as many commentators conclude, is excluded from the count. 

The gemara⁴ gives another explanation – this seventieth member was Yocheved, the daughter of Levi and mother of Moshe. She was born “between the boundary walls” of Egypt. She was conceived in Eretz Canaan, and born as Yaakov and his accompanying party entered Mitzrayim. According to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, this gave Yocheved a special power. Having been conceived in Eretz Yisroel, or Canaan at the time, she was far less susceptible to the negative influence of Egyptian culture. Yet on the other side of the coin, having been born in Egypt gave her tremendous power and influence over the circumstances around her. She was fully present in her situation and the situation of her nation, but she was not affected by the negative environment. With this in mind, it is no wonder that she merited to give birth to Moshe, the ultimate in human influence over the Jewish situation in Egypt. 

This journey to Egypt was more than just a transfer of location. This was the onset of a 210-year galut; the seed of over two centuries of pain and hardship. Klal Yisrael was entering one of the darkest times in our history, but we were not going in alone. Hashem Himself came with us, in the most caring, mothering form. Shechina is the feminine aspect, or presentation, of Hashem…

The Midrash⁵ takes yet another approach to the mysterious seventieth member. There is another opinion that says that the seventieth member of the party was the Shechina Itself. What could that mean? With someone of such a high caliber, we would certainly assume that the Shechina was with Yaakov wherever he went! Evidently, there is something highly significant about this voyage. 

This journey to Egypt was more than just a transfer of location. This was the onset of a 210-year galut; the seed of over two centuries of pain and hardship. Klal Yisrael was entering one of the darkest times in our history, but we were not going in alone. Hashem Himself came with us, in the most caring, mothering form. Shechina is the feminine aspect, or presentation, of Hashem⁶. It was this aspect that came with us to galut in Mitzrayim. Even though Hashem had to send us into a period of tzarot, He came with us as a source of care and warmth. Through this time of din and hardship, from the very start, Hashem’s love remained with us.

This concept of “Imo Anochi b’Tzara” is a central theme in Parshat Shemot. Later in the parsha, when Hashem first speaks to Moshe, He appears in the form of a burning bush⁷. The bush was burning, meaning on fire, but it did not get burnt, or consumed. Hashem performed this miracle to indicate that although the pain of galut may be blazing at the moment, the Jewish people will not be consumed by it⁸. They will survive the inferno, as the bush survives its fire. Rashi⁹ also asks why Hashem chose a lowly bush as His representative, instead of something more befitting of His grandeur. He explains that Hashem specifically chose a meager shrub, because He cannot endure glory while His nation is downtrodden. This is the concept of “Imo Anochi b’Tzara.” When we are in pain, so is Hashem. He is with us in our suffering, and yearns for our redemption far more than we can ever know. 

This concept is foreshadowed in the Shechina’s descent to Mitzrayim along with Yaakov. Hashem does not only join us in our suffering; He is there from the very beginning until the very end. From joining Yaakov’s journey down to Egypt to redeeming His nation with all His might and glory, Hashem is with us every step of the way. This is the practice of Hashem that the gemara refers to as “sending the cure before the disease.”¹⁰ His abilities transcend time, and as such, even before we are put into situations of tzara, Hashem prepares our salvation. 

This idea also provides another layer of depth to the gemara that names Yocheved as the seventieth traveler to Egypt. Yocheved was the mother of Moshe, the redeemer of the Jewish people from their galut in Mitzrayim. She was born just as the group entered Egypt, essentially at the starting point of the galut. From the beginning, Hashem was preparing the redemption. 

The enumeration of 70 is also an allusion to the upcoming redemption and Hashem’s closeness to us in galut. The commentaries¹¹ point out that this is a show of Hashem’s miracles, for a group of 70 individuals became a nation of over two million! Even at a time when Hashem is sending hardship our way, He still shows His love by performing abundant miracles for us. 

However, there is more to the number 70 than comparison to the number that was redeemed. The start of Galut Mitzrayim was not just so. Galut Mitzrayim was the first of four major Galuyot, the last of which we are still experiencing today. When Yaakov went down to Egypt, he not only began the exile there, but commenced the entire galut process of Jewish History. Rabbeinu Bachye¹² likens the 70 travelers with Yaakov to the 70 nations that will be conquered at the end of the final exile, and links the reference to Yosef with Moshiach ben Yosef, the initiator of Geula. When the Shechina came into Galut in Parshat Shemot, it wasn’t only a reference to the Egyptian exile. It was a guarantee that throughout all of our history and suffering, Hashem will be with us, until the very end, when we merit our Final Redemption.

1. Shemot 1:5 ↩︎
2. Ibn Ezra, among others ↩︎
3. Including the Ralbag and Midrash Rabba ↩︎
4. Baba Batra 123a ↩︎
5. Midrash Hagadol 46:4 ↩︎
6. Zohar ↩︎
7. Shemot 3:2 ↩︎
8. Shemot Rabba 2:5 ↩︎
9. Shemot 3:2 ↩︎
10. Megillah 13b ↩︎
11. Chizkuni, Daas Zekeinim Shemot 1:5 ↩︎
12. Shemot 1:5 ↩︎