Reb Jeff
  • Blog
  • About
  • Favorites
  • Resources
    • Counting of the Omer
  • Wedding Officiation
  • Contact Me
  • Temple Sinai

Shemot: Midwives, Morality and Meaning

1/7/2012

 
At the beginning of the book of Exodus in this week's Torah portion (Shemot), we read that there were two midwives, Shifra and Puah, who refused to carry out Pharaoh's order to kill the newborn boys of Israel. Because of their act of civil disobedience, baby Moses was saved from being thrown into the Nile to drown. He was, instead, placed in a basket to ride on the surface of the Nile to live in the house of Pharaoh. Nice irony.

It is hard to imagine that the midwives would have done anything other than save the baby boys. Murder a newborn baby? Who would do such a thing, even under the orders of a powerful king? Such an act would haunt the soul of any normal person for the rest of her life. It is painful to consider how a person would overcome the quaking fear within that warns us against committing such a horror.

Indeed, the Torah tells us, in its own way, that Shifra and Puah did save the Israelite baby boys because of exactly this capacity to be horrified at the thought of committing murder. The Torah says that the midwives "feared God" (Exodus 1:21). 

The "Fear of God" is not, as some imagine, the cowering fear of a divine being who will come to smite the wicked with lightening bolts. Rather, when Jewish tradition talks about "fearing God," it is talking about the innate human response to the thought of committing an immoral act. This is the kind of fear (yirah in Hebrew) that we feel in our gut that sets a boundary against doing what we know is wrong.

The Torah says that because of their fear of God, Shifra and Puah were rewarded by God who "established households for them" (ibid). According to some commentators, this reward should not be understood only on a literal level. Those "households" may also have been the figurative four walls, floor and ceiling that define our moral universe and make us feel secure in who we are.

In his collection, Degel Machaneh Ephraim, the late-eighteenth-century chasidic master, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Ephraim of Sudilkov made this connection. He wrote that the fear of God can be called a "house" because it is the capacity within us that establishes our limits and boundaries. It creates a vessel into which we pour our lives. 

This capacity to tremble at immorality is something that almost everyone discovers in childhood. We recognize the suffering to others that results from our bad choices, and we are repulsed instinctively by the idea of being the cause of such suffering. This is a quality that we share with other animals. Monkeys and apes also show a innate discomfort in causing harm to their fellows, even when it is to their own immediate benefit.

As we grow older, the ability to respond to the discomfort of causing harm to others is something that we can develop into a mature moral sensibility, or it is something that we can learn to ignore. It is up to us to choose. 

People who choose, as Shifra and Puah did, to harness their actions according to that gut feeling, tend to feel more secure about themselves. They have a set of personal boundaries that help them to understand who they are and their own, personal expectations for themselves. Those boundaries help them to discover a sense of purpose and find happiness in life.

On the other hand, people who develop the habit of ignoring the feelings that tell them when they are stepping over the line, tend to feel ungrounded in life. WIthout a set of boundaries, life can seem purposeless and unrewarding. People who habitually act on their instincts to satisfy their desires without regard to the affect their actions have on others, over time, begin to feel that their unbounded desires can never be fully satisfied. They often grow unhappy with a world that never seems to give them what they want because they fail to recognize any limits on themselves or on their desires.

There is also an unhappiness that can result when people place too stringent limitations on the boundaries of their behavior. A person who convinces himself that everything he does is wrong is also likely to be unhappy, of course. We often think about people who are "wound too tight" when we imagine how people can make themselves unhappy, but we do not always recognize that having loose or missing boundaries can also lead to unhappiness.

God rewarded the Shifra and Puah's fear by establishing "households" for them. That may really mean that they found their own reward by living lives of moral order. By knowing themselves and setting boundaries for their actions, they found a sense of meaning and purpose in life. We can help ourselves to become more fulfilled by listening, as they did, to our own feelings. When we are aware of the trembling within that warns against harming others, we come closer to finding our own happiness.


Other posts on this topic:
Fearing God
Shelach Lecha: Getting Up Close and Personal
Barb L.
1/8/2012 02:35:11 pm

Unfortunately, in today's world where so much is interconnected, a lot of the things that we do that are bad for the world don't give this kind of feedback that makes us instinctively not want to do them, like burn fuel, be concerned about the workers who make the goods we buy, or how the animals we eat were treated. How do we set boundaries when the effects of our actions are abstract and unknowable?

Reb Jeff link
1/10/2012 04:35:13 am

I think it's a very good question, Barb.

It is easy in our world not to ever have a chance to feel the trembling awe that warns us about bad choices because we are so unaware of the far-reaching consequences of our actions. We are alienated from the social and environmental implications of the food we eat, from the lives of the workers who make our gadgets, and from the global consequences of our energy use that we never know how we are hurting other people.

The answer, I think, is that you start small with the opportunities that are in front of you. A person who develops an awe-inspired awareness of how his or her everyday actions affect the people in his or her life—and, as a result, resolves to improve—will experience the joy of becoming a more responsible and life-affirming person. When people start to see the meaning of their life as emanating from the way they treat others, they naturally become eager to discover new ways to bring further sanctity into their life. They can do that be probing more deeply into the hidden effects of their behaviors and commit to being a more responsible citizen of the world.

By thinking today about the way you greet a stranger in the street, and by discovering the personal happiness that comes with treating others well, you prepare yourself for thinking tomorrow about the millions of people you could help by changing other behaviors. By choosing foods that benefit local farmers, by asking companies to improve the lives of the foreign workers who make their products, and by reducing use of energy sources that fill the pockets of dictators, you help repair your own soul and help repair the universe.


Comments are closed.

    Welcome

    This blog is about living a joyful Jewish life and bringing joy to synagogues and the Jewish community. Join the conversation by commenting on posts and sharing your experiences. For more on the topic, read the First Post.
    "Like" Reb Jeff on FB

    RSS Feed

    Enter your email address to subscribe to Reb Jeff posts by email

    Follow Reb Jeff's Tweets

    Recent Posts

    Purim & COVID-19
    ​The Honor of Heaven
    Chasing Our Own Tails
    Drilling Under Your Seat
    Change the World
    Self-Righteousness
    Where We Came From
    What We Must Believe
    ​Is Passover 7 or 8 Days?Origin Story
    Va'eira: Leadership​

    Jeff's Favorites

    • First Post
    • Searching for How the Bible Defines Marriage 
    • The Difference between God and Religion
    • In the Beginning of What?
    • Rape, Abortion and Judaism
    • Ten Thoughts about Being a Rabbi
    • Temple Dues and Don'ts
    • A Pesach Lesson from Yoga
    • The Purpose of the Torah

    Torah Portions

    Genesis
    Bereshit
    Noach
    Lech Lecha
    Vayera
    Chayei Sarah
    Toledot
    Vayetze
    Vayishlach
    Vayeshev
    Miketz
    Vayigash
    Vayechi

    Exodus
    Shemot
    Va'eira
    Bo
    Beshalach
    Yitro
    Mishpatim
    Terumah
    Tetzaveh
    Ki Tisa
    Vayakhel
    Pekudei

    Leviticus
    Vayikra
    Tzav
    Shemini
    Tazria
    Metzora
    Acharei Mot
    Kedoshim
    Emor
    Behar
    Bechukotai

    Numbers
    Bamidbar
    Naso
    Beha'alotecha
    Shelach
    Korach
    Chukat
    Balak
    Pinchas
    Matot
    Masei

    Deuteronomy
    Devarim
    Va'etchanan
    Ekev
    Re'eh
    Shoftim
    Ki Tetze
    Ki Tavo
    Nitzavim
    Vayelech
    Ha'azinu
    Vezot Haberachah

    Holidays
    Shabbat
    Rosh Chodesh
    Pesach/Passover
    Omer Period
    Yom HaShoah
    Yom HaZikaron
    Yom Ha'atzma'ut
    Pesach Sheini
    Lag B'Omer
    Yom Yerushalayim
    Shavuot
    Fast of Tammuz
    Tisha B'Av
    Tu B'Av
    Rosh Hashanah
    Days of Awe
    Yom Kippur
    Sukkot
    Hoshanah Rabbah
    Shmini Atzeret/
    Simchat Torah
    Chanukah
    Tu BiShvat
    Adar (Joy Increases!)
    Purim

    Archives

    November 2022
    September 2022
    May 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    Loading
    Jewish Bloggers
    Powered By Ringsurf
    Picture