Midwives hold all the power in society, as anyone who’s ever binge watched Call the Midwife knows. In Egypt, the Israelite community was growing — swarming, in fact. And as any good fascist dictatorship knows, when the immigrants start to multiply, it’s time to get scared — what if they rise up against us? Pharaoh and his advisors were sure it was time to curb the Hebrew’s enthusiasm and asked the Israelite midwives Shifra and Pua (pooh-ah) for help with some accidental post-birth good old-fashioned infanticide. They weren’t having it, made some excuses to Pharaoh, and were rewarded instead with everlasting “houses,” aka big name descendants. (In a culture obsessed with names, this was a sweet example of God’s “measure for measure” biblical rewards policy.)


haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story
Source: Rishe Groner for Hey Alma