“Behind every great man, there’s a powerful woman” is what used to lie on my bubbe, the rabbi’s wife’s, fridge. There’s no more powerful patriarch than Moses, redeemer of the Israelites from Egypt, so obviously his mama would have to be pretty special. Yocheved was not only the first of the Children of Israel born in Egypt, she was the magic key to getting them out again, this time by defying Egyptian authorities and hiding her newborn son in a pimped-out basket she slipped into the Nile river, cuing Ofra Haza’s brilliant “River Lullaby” in the movie we should all be watching this week, Prince of Egypt. (Her 5-year-old daughter, Miriam, followed the basket and watched its progress along the river, so props to her, too.) Yocheved had the faith, the vision, and the strategy to save her son — and in the process, saved a nation.


haggadah Section: Maggid - Beginning
Source: Rishe Groner for Hey Alma