Long ago, there was a king named Pharaoh, who ruled the land of Egypt.  The Hebrew people who lived in Egypt were Pharaoh's slaves.  He made them work very hard to build cities, pyramids and palaces. 

Pharaoh was worried that a Jewish boy might grow up to be a leader of the Hebrew slaves, and fight against him.  So, Pharaoh ordered that all the little Jewish boy babies were to be killed.  He told the midwives to kill the Hebrew babies.  But the midwives loved all babies, and they refused to obey his orders.  Two midwives, Shifrah and Pu'ah, told Pharaoh lies to protect the little babies.

One Jewish mother, Jocheved, was very worried about her new baby boy, and she put him in a basket and set the basket on the river.  Jocheved's daughter, Miriam, was very worried watching her baby brother float away.  She ran along the bank after him, making sure he was safe. When Pharaoh's daughter, the princess, came to the river to swim, she found the baby and pulled him out of the water.  The princess decided she would adopt the baby and raise him as her own son. She named the baby "Moses".

Miriam watched the princess take her brother from the water and went up to her, saying "I know a woman who can help you take care of your baby."  Then Miriam ran home to her mother and brought her to the princess.  The princess asked Yocheved to help her take care of the baby, not knowing that she was the baby's mother.  Yocheved agreed.  We can imagine Mirium giggling happily, knowing her baby brother would get to live, growing up free and safe with his adopted mother and his birth mother.


haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story