Living Parashat Shemot: Finding Our Voice in the Narrow Places

Rebbetzin Hannah Miryam Bejarano Gutierrez

Parashat Shemot opens not with miracles, but with names. “Ve’eleh shemot bnei Yisrael—These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt” (Shemot 1:1). The Torah could have simply said “the children of Israel,” yet it insists on listing names, reminding us that redemption begins with identity. For Jewish women, often carrying invisible labor and quiet strength, this opening affirms that no soul is anonymous in the Divine story—each name matters, even in exile.

Exile Begins When Humanity Is Forgotten

The descent into Egyptian bondage begins subtly. A “new king” arises “who did not know Yosef” (Shemot 1:8). Our sages explain that this does not necessarily mean ignorance, but willful forgetting (Sotah 11a). Exile deepens when gratitude disappears and moral memory erodes. Pharaoh reduces people to numbers, labor quotas, and fear. When a society no longer sees the image of G-d in others, oppression becomes normalized.

For women, this resonates deeply. The erasure of emotional labor, faith transmission, and moral leadership mirrors this spiritual amnesia. Yet Parashat Shemot teaches that when systems collapse ethically, women often become the vessels of remembrance and resistance.

The Courage of Women Who Refused to Comply

Redemption begins not with Moshe, but with women who defy Pharaoh quietly and bravely. Shifra and Puah, the Hebrew midwives, refuse to murder newborn boys (Shemot 1:15–17). The Torah emphasizes that they “feared Gd,” teaching that true fear of Heaven manifests as moral courage, not blind obedience.

The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 1:13) identifies these women as Yocheved and Miriam—women who understood that preserving life is an act of faith. Jewish women today, balancing halacha, family, and moral clarity, can draw strength from this model: when faced with impossible choices, fear of Gd anchors ethical action.

Jewish Motherhood as an Act of Redemption

Yocheved gives birth in concealment, and when she can no longer hide her son, she places him into a basket upon the Nile (Shemot 2:3). This act is not abandonment, but surrender to Divine care. The word used for the basket, tevah, is the same word used for Noach’s ark—both vessels of salvation in chaotic waters.

Batya, Pharaoh’s daughter, reaches beyond her privilege and saves the child, defying her father’s decree (Shemot Rabbah 1:27). The Midrash teaches that her arm miraculously extended to reach Moshe—symbolizing that when a woman stretches beyond her comfort zone to save a soul, Heaven extends her capacity.

Together, Yocheved, Miriam, and Batya form a chain of redemption. The Talmud teaches: “In the merit of righteous women, Israel was redeemed from Egypt” (Sotah 11b). Redemption is born in kitchens, nurseries, whispered prayers, and moral choices no one applauds.

Moshe: A Redeemer Formed Through Compassion

Moshe grows up between worlds—Hebrew by birth, Egyptian by upbringing—yet his defining trait is compassion. He cannot ignore injustice: he intervenes when he sees a Hebrew beaten, when two Hebrews quarrel, and when Midianite shepherds harass Yitro’s daughters (Shemot 2:11–17). The Ramban notes that these moments reveal Moshe’s fitness for leadership—one who feels another’s pain cannot be indifferent to Gd’s people.

Jewish women, often trained in empathy and caregiving, recognize this quality instinctively. Leadership in Torah is not dominance; it is responsibility rooted in sensitivity.

The Burning Bush: Gd in the Hidden Fire

Moshe encounters Gd not in a palace, but in a burning bush that is not consumed (Shemot 3:2). The Sages explain that Gd chose a lowly thornbush to teach that He dwells with Israel in their suffering (Shemot Rabbah 2:5). Even in the narrowest places, the Divine Presence remains.

For Jewish women navigating exhaustion, obligation, and quiet devotion, this is a powerful message: holiness does not always roar—it flickers, perseveres, and refuses to be extinguished.

“I Will Be With You”

When Moshe hesitates, feeling inadequate, Gd responds: “Ehyeh imach—I will be with you” (Shemot 3:12). Redemption does not require perfection, eloquence, or certainty. It requires presence, willingness, and trust.

This reassurance echoes in the lives of women who feel unseen or overwhelmed. Gd does not ask for more than we can give—only that we show up, again and again, carrying faith into the ordinary.

A Message for Our Generation

Parashat Shemot teaches that redemption begins long before the splitting of the sea. It begins when women refuse to surrender morality, when mothers act with faith, when compassion disrupts cruelty, and when individuals remember their names.

In every generation, Jewish women stand at the threshold between exile and redemption—guardians of life, faith, and continuity. In our homes, communities, and inner worlds, the fire still burns.

May we merit to recognize our own holy resistance, and may our quiet acts hasten a redemption rooted in compassion, justice, and Divine presence.

Sources:

• Shemot 1–3

• Sotah 11a–b

• Shemot Rabbah 1:13, 1:27, 2:5

• Ramban on Shemot 2:11

• Tanchuma, Shemot 2