[Avodah] dvar tora

[Michael Makovi]

>
>
> >
>   r avi weiss=    myaldot
> > > -jewish or not?  are rashi and sforno looking thru the lens of the
> > goyim
> > > of THEIR day, as to whether to expect the noble gentile?
> >
>

>
> > I don't think so.  I think Rashi was more likely influenced by the
> > conclusion, "vaya'as lahen batim", which he understands as the midwives'
> >
> > reward for disobeying the order - "batei kehuna uvatei malchut".
> >
> > Malbim, OTOH, understands that *Par'oh* made houses for the midwives,
> > not as a reward but in order to frustrate their defiance.  By having
> > official midwife stations from which all midwives must be dispatched
> > Par'oh would know when they were dispatched, and could make sure that
> > they obeyed his orders.
> >
> > --
> > Zev Sero
> > zev at sero.name
> >
>
>

 I think that Rashi understanding batim as batei kehuna, is part of the fact
that Rashi is simply quoting Chazal, which includes both Shifra and Puah =
Yocheved and Miriam, and batim = batei kehuna. As I said in my reply a
minute ago, the question isn't how Rashi understood Shifra and Puah, but
rather how Chazal quoted by Rashi understood Shifra and Puah.

I personally would simply say batim = stam families. I believe it is Rabbi
Joseph Telushkin who says midwives often were childless, making this reward
very simple to understand.

As for Malbim, I haven't read him, but I don't understand this
interpretation. It clearly says that the batim was a reward, no? Why would
God reward Shifra and Puah, whoever they are, by making it more difficult to
save children in the future?

Mikha'el Makovi
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