In Parshat Shmot, Shmot 3: 1-5 we
read:

Moshe tended the sheep of his
father-in-law Yitro, Kohen Midian. He led the sheep to the edge of the
wilderness and he came to the mountain of God in the area of Chorev. An angel
of God appeared to Moshe in the heart of the fire in the midst of the
thorn-bush. He looked and behold the bush was on fire, but the bush was not
being consumed. Moshe said, “I must turn aside and investigate this sight. Why
doesn’t the bush burn?” When God saw that Moshe turned aside to see, He called
to him from the midst of the thorn-bush, and said, “Moshe, Moshe.” Moshe said,
“Here I am.” He said, “Do not come any closer. Take your shoes off your feet,
because the place upon which you are standing is holy ground.”

A few verses later (3:12), God
promises Moshe: “…When you bring the people out of Egypt- you will serve God on
this mountain.”

We see a similar story in Yehoshua 5:13-15:

When Yehoshua was in Jericho he
raised his eyes and saw, and behold! A man was standing opposite him with his
sword drawn in his hand. Yehoshua went toward him and said to him, “Are you
with us or with our enemies?” He said, “No. I am the commander of God’s legion;
Now I have come.” Yehoshua fell before him to the ground and prostrated himself,
and he said to him, “What does my master say to his servant?” The commander of
God’s legion said to Yehoshua, “Remove your shoe from upon your foot, for the
place upon which you stand is holy.” And Yehoshua did so.

Both Mount Sinai and the Land of
Israel are described as holy.

Is it possible
that Mount Sinai was in Israel?

The borders of the Land of Israel
are listed in a few different places:

God blesses Avraham in Breisheet 15:18:
“To your descendants I have given this land, from Nahar Mitzrayim (the river of
Egypt) as far as the great river, the Euphrates.”

According to the Targum, Nahar Mitzrayim refers to the Nile in Egypt.

In Parshat Masei, Bamidbar 34:5 we
read: “The border turns from Atzmon Nachala Mitzrayim (towards the Egyptian
Estuary) and its outskirts shall reach the sea.”

Here too, the Targum explains that
Nachal Mitzrayim is the Nile in Egypt.

Before Yehoshua passes away, he
describes the land that still needs to be conquered (Yehoshua 13:3) “From the
Shichor which is before Egypt to the border of Ekron northward is considered
Canaanite territory.”

Radak’s interpretation is that the
Shichor is the Nile, Nachal Mitzrayim (the river of Egypt).

Rav David Avraham Spector points out
that since Mount Sinai is north of the Nile, according to the sources above it
is considered to be within the borders of the Land of Israel.

Do
archeologists believe that Mount Sinai could be located in Israel?

Emmanuel Anati, a Jewish Italian
archeologist believes that Har Karkom (the Mountain of Saffron) located in the
southwestern sector of Israel’s western Negev, close to Egypt is the Biblical
Mount Siani. In that area they found 40,000 tablets with Biblical scenes drawn
on them. The style of these tablets is very similar to the Torah’s description
of the Ten Commandments.

The other locations which have
according to Christian tradition been thought to be Mount Sinai are in Egypt’s
Sinai Peninsula and in Saudi Arabia.

Although we don’t know exactly where
Mount Sinai is and the Jewish people never put an emphasis on finding it, the
fact that it is considered holy ground just like the Land of Israel and
according to some can fit within Israel’s Biblical borders is pretty exciting.

Tourists who have gone down to see
Har Karkom have gotten a taste of what Mount Sinai may have been like, even if
it’s not the exact mountain.

May we internalize the fact that
Mount Sinai and the Land of Israel are considered holy ground and may we
appreciate the opportunities to study Torah and explore the Biblical Land of
Israel.

Over and over, we see in the Torah
the significance of “the well” (be’er) as a meeting place. We first see it with
Avraham’s servant, when he meets Rivka at the well. The theme recurs with
Yaakov, when he encounters Rachel and again with Moshe, when he sees Tzipora
and her sisters and helps them out.

Avraham’s servant went to the well
in Padan Aram to water his camels and find a wife for Yitzchak. Yaakov went to
that same well to ask where he could find his family (he had no animals with
him) and shortly after he arrived, Rachel showed up.

In Shmot 2:15 we read: “…Moshe
resided in the land of Midian. He sat by the well.” Moshe did not have any
animals or family in Midian so why did he decide to go to the well?

Rashi brings the commentary of the
Mechilta on the words “He sat by a well” (Shmot 2:15): Moshe learned from
Yaakov who found his mate at the well.

According to Maskil L’David, Moshe
learned from Yaakov that “the well” is “the place” to meet your future wife!

Breisheet Rabba explains:

Moshe adapted the practice of his
ancestors. Three met their marriage partners at the well- Yitzchak, Yaakov and
Moshe. Yitzchak- as it is written (Breisheet 24:62-63): “And Yitzchak came from
the way of Be’er Lechai Ro’i…And Yitzchak went to meditate in the field…and he
lifted up his eyes and saw and behold camels were coming…” Also Rivka met
Eliezer (the matchmaker) at the well.  Yaakov-
(Breisheet 29:2): “And he (Yaakov) looked and behold a well in the field.”
Moshe- “And he sat by a well.”

It is interesting to note that
although Moshe was a wanted man who ran away from Egypt, he was willing to go
to the well, the most public place in order to try to find a match the way that
his forefathers did.

Ibn Ezra explains that it was called
“HaBe’er,” “The well” since it was the only well in the area.

When Moshe was ready to get married,
he thought back to how his forefathers met their wives and followed in their
footsteps.

Today as well, we need to create
meeting places like “the well” where those interested in getting married can
find their bashert (destined match).

In Parshat Vayigash, Briesheet Chapter
46, beginning with sentence 8, we read the list of Yaakov’s descendents who
went down to Egypt.

After the list of Leah’s descendents
which number 32, we are told (Breisheet 46:15):

Those were the sons whom Leah bore
to Yaakov in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. Persons in all,
male and female: 33.

Once the list of the entire family
is recorded, in Breisheet 46:26-27 we see a final description and a total count
which also doesn’t seem to add up:

All
the persons belonging to Yaakov who came to Egypt—his own issue, aside from the
wives of Yaakov’s sons—all these persons numbered 66. And Yosef’s sons who were born to him in Egypt
were two in number. Thus the total of Yaakov’s household who came to Egypt was
seventy persons.

In Parshat Shmot, Shmot 1:5 we are
reminded:

The
total number of persons that were of Yaakov’s issue came to seventy, Yosef
being already in Egypt.

Rashi, in Breisheet 46:15 quoting
the Talmud, Bava Batra 123b explains why it says 33 even though the names of
the descendents of Leah come out to 32:

The one whose name is omitted is Yocheved
who was born “between the walls” just as they entered the city, as it is said
(Bamidbar 26:59) “Yocheved, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bore to Levi
in Egypt.” Her birth was in Egypt, but she was not conceived in Egypt.

Rashi does not bring the other two
possible suggestions that are brought up in Bava Batra 123a-b and are later
rejected:

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said to Abba Ḥalifa Karoya: A twin sister was born with Dinah, as it is written: “And [ve’et] his daughter Dinah” (Breisheet 46:15).
The term et
implies an unspecified additional person. Abba Ḥalifa Karoya replied: If that is so,
one would have to say that a twin sister was born
with Binyamin, as it is written: And
he lifted up his eyes, and saw et Benjamin his brother, his mother’s son” (Breisheet
43:29), which would render the count of seventy incorrect.

The idea of Dinah or Binyamin being
born with an unnamed twin is rejected in favor of Yocheved whose birth is explicitly
mentioned in the Torah.

According
to Ibn Ezra 46:27, Yaakov himself
was the seventieth person. As Breisheet 46:8 states, Now these are the names of
the children of Israel who were coming to Egypt, Yaakov and his children . . .
Similarly in Breisheet 46:27, All the people in Yaakov’s household who came to
Egypt – seventy. Yaakov is certainly part of his household. 

From here we see that the 70^th
person was either Yocheved or Yaakov and not simply a rounding up of the number
of family members since the Torah spent the time listing each descendent by
name.

The list is important to show how
far we have come. A nation that started off with 70 family members (plus their
wives) evolved into a nation of 600,000 men between the ages of 20-60 and that
is not even counting the children, the women and the elderly.

The Modern State of Israel has also
grown a tremendous amount since 1948. We now have 9.3 million citizens. However,
the population of Israel only grew by 1.7% this past year (as opposed to 2% in
the past few years). One explanation for the discrepancy is that only 20,000
people made aliya in 2020 compared to 34,000 in 2019. The reasons for the
decline are related to the Covid-19 pandemic.

May we see an end to the pandemic
and may Israel continue to grow!

In Shmot
1:22-2:3 we read:

Pharaoh
commanded all his people, saying, “Every boy who is born must be thrown into
the river; but every girl shall be allowed to live.” A man of the house of Levi
went and married the daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and gave birth to a
son. She saw that he was “ki tov”, exceptionally good, and she kept him hidden
for three months. When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus box and
coated it with clay and tar. She placed the child in it, and placed it in the
reeds near the bank of the river.

According to Rashbam,
the woman (Yocheved, Amram’s wife) conceived during the time
period of Pharaoh’s decree that every male baby had to be thrown into the Nile
to be drowned.

Rashbam explains that anyone who thinks that Yocheved
only hid the baby because he was “tov,” good, is lying. Mothers display mercy
for all their children. The words “She saw that he was exceptionally good” can be
compared with the end of the story of creation in Breisheet 1:31, “And God saw
everything that He had made, and, behold, it was “tov meod,” very good…” At the
end of six days of creation, God surveyed all He had done to find out if any of
it needed improving. He was pleased to find that all had turned out as He had
wished it to be.” Here too, since Moshe was born three months early, Yocheved
was able to hide him as the Egyptians had not expected her to give birth until
the end of nine months. When Yocheved noted that in spite of being born so
early Moshe was fully formed in every way, she saw that he was well enough to
hide for three months until the end of the ninth month. If the inspectors would
show up, she would tell them that the baby had been premature and didn’t make
it or that the Egyptians had drowned him.

In Breisheet 1:10 (the creation story), we read
“Vaya’ar Elokim ki tov,” And God saw that it (His creation) was good. Those
words are interpreted by Ramban to mean that it was able to endure.

Here too, as soon as Yocheved saw that despite
Moshe’s premature birth, he was able to endure, she did everything possible to
save him.

Chizkuni adds another interpretation. The words “ki tov”
hint that Moshe had been born already circumcised. The custom at a Brit Mila,
circumcision ceremony, of reciting the verse “Hodu LaShem ki tov”, “Praise God
for He is good”, reminds us that Moshe did not need to be circumcised.

Chizkuni gives us insight into the calendar dates of
when she hid him for three months: The rabbis taught in the Talmud, Kidushin
38a that Moshe was born on the seventh day of the month of Adar. His mother hid
him for twenty-three days of Adar as well as all of Nissan and Iyar, so that
the last day of the three months was the sixth day of Sivan, when she put him
in the basket in the Nile, the date on which in the future, the Torah would be
given to lsrael.

So what was so exceptionally good about Moshe?

He was born in the sixth month and survived despite
not having access to neonatal healthcare as we know it today.

He was born already circumcised which shows us the
high spiritual level that he was on. It was also one less thing for his parents
to worry about during those difficult times.

Moshe’s real due date was the sixth of Sivan,the
date that he was placed in the Nile and saved, the day that ultimately B’nai
Yisrael would receive the Torah (Shavuot).

In Parshat Shmot (Shmot 2:5-6), we
find a very unusual occurrence:

Pharaoh’s daughter went down to
bathe by the river, while her maids walked along the river’s edge. She saw
(vatere) the basket among the reeds and sent her maid and she fetched it. She
opened it and saw (vatirehu) the child, and behold a boy was crying. She took
pity on it and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”

Why was Pharaoh’s daughter, Batya,
bathing with all of the commoners? Didn’t she have a private beach connected to
the palace where she wouldn’t have to mingle with the common people?

Philo of Alexandria explains:

The king of the country had but one
cherished daughter, who we are told, had been married for a considerable time
but had never conceived a child , though she naturally desired one, especially
a male, to succeed to the magnificent inheritance of her father’s kingdom,
which threatened to go to strangers if his daughter gave him no grandson. Depressed
and loud in lamentation she always was, but on this particular day she broke
down under the weight of cares; and, though her custom was to remain at home
and never even cross the threshold, she set off with her maids to the river,
where the child was exposed.

According to Philo, it just so
happened that when Batya felt that she had enough and needed to get away from
the palace, she happened upon the baby.

Philo’s premise that Batya was
suffering from infertility makes a lot of sense. We never hear about her having
any other children and the fact that Pharaoh did not have a problem with Moshe
growing up in the palace shows that he understood how deep her pain was and did
not dare try to dissuade or forbid her from adopting Moshe.

Rabbi Avraham Saba, in his
commentary, Tzror HaMor, believes that it was not a coincidence at all. God
specifically arranged for Batya to go out to the Nile at precisely that moment
so that she would see the baby in the basket and have mercy on him. Verse 6
does not say vatere (as it does in verse 5), rather it says vatirehu, with the
added letters of vav and hey (letters from God’s name) to hint that the
Shechina (Divine Presence) was involved. According to Tzror HaMor, God
specifically chose Pharaoh’s daughter to be His emissary to save Moshe.

How did Moshe repay his adoptive
mother for saving his life?

Midrash Tehilim 136:6 explains that during
Makat Bechorot (Plague of the Death of the Firstborn), Moshe prayed that Batya
be saved as she was a firstborn.

According to the Zohar, Pharaoh’s
daughter has a special place in Gan Eden (heaven).

Pharaoh’s daughter is one of the righteous
women of that generation who helped put in motion the Exodus from Egypt. May
she be an inspiration to us all.

Parsha Points-
Shmot 5778

Sponsored by Hanna and Rosa Hollander in honor of Gedaliah ben
Shoshi, a generous uncle and brother who should be blessed with good health and
prosperity

Pharaoh’s
behavior: a blueprint for antisemitism

In Parshat Shmot (Shmot 1:9-10),
Pharaoh tells his people:

Look, the Israelite people have
become too many and too strong for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them
lest they increase and if war breaks out they will join our enemies and fight
against us and leave the country.

Why did Pharaoh need to come up with
a plan to deal shrewdly with B’nai Yisrael? Why was he so secretive in the ways
that he tried to get rid of them?

First, he gave them back breaking
work. Next, he demanded that the midwives secretly kill the baby boys. Then, he
announced that all of the baby boys must be thrown into the water. Finally, he
sent the Egyptians house to house to take any babies that were being hidden.

Pharaoh was a dictator who could do
whatever he wanted so why didn’t he just kill them off? What was he trying to
hide?

According to Ramban, Pharaoh and his
advisors did not think that it would be wise to put the Israelites to the
sword; for this would have constituted rank treason to persecute without cause
a people that had come to the land at the bidding of his royal predecessor.
Moreover, the people of the land would not have allowed the king to commit this
violence since he had to consult them. All the more so since the children of
Israel were a mighty and numerous people who had the potential make war with
them.

The plan was carried out without Pharaoh’s
involvement. If confronted, he could use the excuse that the Egyptians took it
upon themselves to hurt the children of Israel. He could then declare that they
would be punished accordingly. Even the act of letting his daughter take the
baby in the basket home made it seem like it was never his decree to have the
babies killed.

Nehama Leibowitz points out that
Pharaoh originally did not want to openly declare war but once the seeds of
rebellion began to sprout (after Moshe and Aharon went to speak to Pharaoh
about letting them go to sacrifice to God) the situation was different. At that
point, Pharaoh had an excuse to openly challenge them.

According to Ramban, this story is a
blueprint for antisemitism.

There are many similarities between
the narrative in Shmot and the Holocaust.

The Nazis prepared the “Final
Solution to the Jewish Question” (the plan for
the annihilation of the Jewish people) as they were afraid that the Jews would
take over. They too had stages in order to deal shrewdly with the Jewish
people. At first the Jews were sent to ghettos, then they were told that they
were being sent away to work. The labor camps made way for concentration and
extermination camps. At first, the killing was done quietly. Mass extermination
of the Jews came later.

In the case of Pharaoh as well as in
the case of the Nazis, the plans to do evil were laid out very carefully. It is
unfortunate and devastating that they used their wisdom to cause so much
destruction.

Sponsored by Barbara BEISS Muskin

in memory of, zecher nismat

 avi
mori, David Ben Efraim, DAVID BEISS

whose yahrzeit is the 19th of Tevet

and my sister Rachel Leah bat David

whose yahrzeit was on 5th of Tevet

In Shmot 1:12 we read: “But the more the Egyptians afflicted
them, the more B’nai Yisrael multiplied and grew. The Egyptians became
disgusted on account of B’nai Yisrael.”

According to Rashi, to the extent that the Egyptians set their
hearts to oppress B’nai Yisrael, God set His heart to increase and strengthen
them.

We see this concept today in Israel as well, during this period
of violence. Those who wish to destroy the Jewish people are not succeeding.
The more they try to attack us, the more we become stronger.

On Monday, while driving with my family, my son, Dov noticed
Sarah Techiya Litman with her husband Ariel Beigel and her brother walking down
the street, a block away from our home in Jerusalem.

The entire population of Israel knows the Litman family as
Sara Techiya’s father and brother were brutally murdered a few days before her
wedding. Instead of cancelling the wedding, they postponed it until right after
the shiva. The family then invited the entire Jewish nation to attend the
wedding to show that Israel
will only become stronger. The wedding was attended by thousands of Israelis
who never heard of the couple before the incident took place including Sarah
Netanyahu. A group from Canada
even flew in to Israel
in order to be at the wedding.

We went up to the couple and told them what an honor it was to
meet them, a family who taught the world that Israel will remain strong no
matter what our enemies try to do to us.

We must continue the legacy of the Litman family and show our
enemies that they will not win.

Instead of staying at home, Israelis need to go out and show the
world that they are not afraid.

Tourists need to continue to visit Israel. This is an important time
for tour companies, schools and synagogues to arrange solidarity missions to Israel.

Those who are thinking about making aliya, need to come now as
30,000 Jews from around the world have done this year. It is interesting that
the last time aliya was this high was in 2003, during the Second Intifada.

Israel needs to show the world that we are
strong and that nothing can get in our way. The more that they try to attack
us, the more we will become stronger and the more they will become weaker.

Should the Prayer for the Welfare of
the Government, “May He who gives salvation to kings…” be recited on behalf of
the government of the United States of America, even by those who are not happy
with the results of the election?

The wording of the prayer is as
follows:

May He who gives salvation to kings
and dominion to princes, whose kingdom is everlasting, who delivers His servant
David from the evil sword who makes a way in the sea and a path in the mighty
waters, bless and protect, guard and help, exalt, magnify and uplift the
President, Vice-President and all officials of this land. May the supreme King
of kings in his mercy put into their hearts and the hearts of all their
counselors and officials, to deal kindly with us and all of Israel.  In their days and in ours, may Judah be saved
and Israel dwell in safety, and may the Redeemer come to Zion. May this be His
will, and let us say: Amen.

The origin for the Prayer for the Government
comes from Yirmiyahu’s instruction to the Jewish people at the time of the
Babylonian exile (Yirmiyahu 29:7) “Seek the peace of the city to which I have carried
you in exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because in its peace, you shall find
peace.” Since the Jewish people could not govern themselves, they asked God to
guide their foreign leaders. Abudraham introduced a form of the prayer into the
siddur in the 14^th century.

Neither the Prayer for the Government
nor the Prayer for the State of Israel was established because the Jewish
people love their politicians. In fact, it is often the opposite. We pray that
God will give them guidance to do the right thing.

Not every synagogue, even in the Modern
Orthodox community recites the Prayer for the Government. The synagogues that I
attended when I lived in New York never recited the Prayer for the Government
of the United States, yet they recited the Prayer for Israel.

Maybe this would be a good time for
the congregations in the United States who are worried about the new government
to add the prayer.

The Prayer for the State of Israel (as
opposed to the Prayer for the Government) is a much longer prayer. It includes
a prayer for Israel’s leaders (“Send Your light and truth to its leaders,
ministers and counselors and direct them with good counsel before you”) yet
goes beyond by praying on behalf of the defenders of Israel, focusing on the
ingatheing of the exiles and the return of the Jewish nation to the Land of
Israel.

In this week’s Haftara, Yishayahu
27:12-13 we also read about the return of the Jewish people to the Land of
Israel: “It will be on that day that God shall thresh from the surging river to
the Brook of Mitzrayim and you will be gathered up one by one, Children of
Israel. And it will be on that day that a great shofar will be blown and those
who are lost in the land of Ashur and those cast away in the land of Mitzrayim
will come and prostrate themselves to God on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”

Now that we have a Modern State of
Israel where Jews can govern themselves, the Jews in the Diaspora who are
dissatisfied can follow the words of the prophets and one by one return to the
Land of Israel.

In Shmot 1:22 we read: “Pharaoh then commanded all his
people saying: ‘Every boy who is born must be thrown into the river; but every
girl shall be allowed to live.’”

According to Rashi, The Egyptians were also subjected to
this terrible decree. On the day that Moshe was born, Pharaoh’s astrologers
told him. “Today their savior was born, we do not know if he is from the
Egyptians or the Jews, but we foresee that he is destined to be smitten through
water.” Therefore, on that day, Pharaoh issued a decree also regarding the
Egyptians, as it is said: “Every son that will be born must be thrown into the
water” and it does not say: “Every son that will be born to the Hebrews…”

The astrologers and Pharaoh did not know that they got it
all wrong. Moshe was destined to die because of the waters of Meriva (when he would
hit the rock in order to get water from it instead of following God’s command
of speaking to the rock). Although he died before B’nei Yisrael entered the Land of Israel,
he did not die in the waters of the Nile.

In his comment on the Talmud, Sotah 12a, Rashi adds: When
the day passed and the astrologers saw that the savior of the Jews had not yet
been stricken, Pharaoh decided to keep the universal decree in force until the
day that the unknown savior would be thrown in the river.

Maharal explains that the astrologers were unable to tell if
the future leader (Moshe) was a Jew or an Egyptian since he was destined to be
raised by Pharaoh’s daughter. In the Talmud, Megilla 13a we learn that “Whoever
raises an orphan within their house is considered as if they gave birth to the
child.”

In the Talmud, Shabbat 156a Rabbi Yochanan teaches: From
where do we know that the celestial signs hold no sway over Israel? It says
in Jeremiah 10:2:  “So says God: Do not
adopt the way of the nations and do not fear the signs of the heavens, for the
nations fear them.” Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: From where do we know
that the celestial signs hold no sway over Israel? As it says in Breisheet
15:5: “God took him (Avraham) outside and said ‘Look towards the heavens and
count the stars if you are able to count them.’ He (God) then said to him ‘So
numerous will your descendents be.’” Rav Yehuda continues: Avraham said: Master
of the Universe, I have already consulted my astrology and I am not fit to bear
a son! God said to him: Go outside of your astrology, for the celestial signs
hold no sway over Israel.

We learn from here that the Jewish people are not bound by astrology.
Instead of sitting around reading the horoscopes, take the opportunity to go
out and change your destiny.

In Parshat Shmot, we see a family of
seventy turn into a vast nation. How did this happen so quickly?

In Shmot 1:7 we read: “And B’nai
Yisrael paru, vayishretzu, vayirbu, vayaatzmu, b’meod meod, proliferated,
swarmed, multiplied and grew more and more…”

Why were so many verbs needed to
describe their rate of reproduction?

Ibn Ezra (1092-1167) comments that
the women gave birth like a tree that bears fruit. They bore twins and more. He
then explains that he knows of a woman who delivered four babies at a time
(quadruplets) and that he heard from the doctors that a woman can handle
delivering up to seven (septuplets).

Rashi quotes Midrash Tanchuma, Shmot
5, which states that they gave birth to six at a time (sextuplets).

Rashbam explains, “they were fruitful”
in pregnancies, “they swarmed” with live births, the babies increased in size
and they grew up.

Pharaoh attempted to devise a plan
to ensure that they would not continue to multiply. Ibn Ezra points out that
Pharaoh tried to “oppress him (the men) with burdens” (Shmot 1:11) in order to
dry up their seed.

Pharaoh’s plan backfired as we see
in sentence 12, “But the more the Egyptians oppressed him (B’nai Yisrael), the
more he increased and spread…”

Rashi explains: Ruach HaKodesh
(the Holy Spirit) is saying: Pharaoh said “pen, lest he (Bnei Yisrael)
increase” but I say, “ken, yes, they will increase.”

God’s intention was to make sure
that the Jewish people would multiply and there was nothing that Pharaoh could
do to change God’s plan. In fact, the more he tried to harm them, the more
children they ended up producing.

May the Jewish people continue to be
fruitful and multiply and fill up the State of Israel and may God make the
pregnancies and births as easy and trouble free as they were in Egypt.