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Sotah, 12

1) WHEN WAS MOSHE CONCEIVED

QUESTION: The Gemara quotes the verse that says that after Amram remarried Yocheved, she "became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son" (Shemos 2:2). The Gemara asks why does the verse say that she became pregnant after Amram remarried her? We know that she became pregnant three months earlier, before they separated! The Gemara answers that, indeed, she did not become pregnant at this time, but she became pregnant earlier. The reason why the verse mentions that she became pregnant is to compare her birth to her pregnancy: just like her pregnancy occurred painlessly, so, too, the birth of the child occurred painlessly. This teaches that righteous women, such as Yocheved, were not included in the decree of Chavah.

The Gemara proves that Yocheved was pregnant with Moshe three months before Amram remarried her from the fact that they hid the baby in their home for three months (ibid.). Why did they hide him for only three months? The Egyptians knew that Amram and Yocheved had become remarried, and thus they would be coming to check the home for newborn babies nine months after the remarriage. The fact that Amram and Yocheved hid Moshe for three months shows that at the end of those three months the Egyptians would be coming to search the house -- which would be nine months after their remarriage. Hence, it must be that Yocheved gave birth *six* months after remarrying Amram, which means that she became pregnant three months before that.

Why, then, does RASHI on the verse say that Yocheved gave birth prematurely, after only six months of pregnancy, and not nine? Rashi there seems to be contradicting our Gemara!

ANSWERS:

(a) The simple answer is that the Midrash ("Midrash ha'Gadol") that Rashi is quoting argues with the Gemara here in Sotah.

(b) The MAHARSHA though, quoting the CHIZKUNI, suggests that both explanations are true. It is true that Yocheved gave birth after six months and not nine months. However, the Egyptians knew that it is possible for a woman to give birth after only six months. Therefore, they checked *six* months after she came back to Amram to see if she had given birth, assuming that she had only become pregnant upon her return home six months earlier.

In truth, though, she gave birth three months earlier, because she had become pregnant before she separated (three months earlier), and she gave birth after six months of pregnancy (three months after remarrying Amram)! When the verse says that they hid him for three months, it is referring to the months four to six after their remarriage (and not months seven to nine, as Rashi explains).

12b

QUESTION: The Gemara quotes the verse, "va'Tir'ehu Es ha'Yeled" -- "... and she (Bas Pharaoh) saw him, the child (Moshe)" (Shemos 2:6), and asks that the verse should say, "*va'Terei* Es ha'Yeled" ("and she saw the child"), like it says earlier (2:2 and 2:5). Rebbi Yosi bar'Rebbi Chanina answers that the verse is saying that she saw the Shechinah with him.

RASHI (DH she'Ra'ashah) says that the word "Es" in the verse is to be understood to mean "with" as we find in many places.

What indication is there in the verse, though, that she saw the *Shechinah* with the child? Moreover, the Gemara seems to be making this inference from the use of the word "va'Tir'ehu" instead of the word "va'Terei," and not from the word "Es." How does this imply that it was the Shechinah that she saw?

ANSWER: The VILNA GA'ON (Kol Eliyahu #225) answers that the letters "Heh Vav" together represent the name of Hashem, like the Gemara in Shabbos (104a) states, as well as the Gemara in Sukah (45a). Hence, the suffix "Hu" in the word "va'Tir'ehu" refers to Hashem! The verse, therefore, is saying clearly, "and she saw ('va'Tir'e-') Hashem ('-Hu') with ('Es') the child."

(See also MAHARSHA who gives a similar explanation; see also RASHI Bereishis 30:16.)

We might add that this name of Hashem is particularly appropriate according to what Tosfos in Sukah writes (ibid. DH Ani). Tosfos explains that the Holy Name "Hu" alludes to the fact that when Klal Yisrael or a Tzadik is suffering, Hashem, as it were, "suffers with him" (as is evident from its usage in Yirmeyah 40:1). As infant Moshe floated in his makeshift "boat," at the mercy of the rushing waters of the Nile River (see Rashi 12a DH she'Chaviv), the Presence of Hashem accompanied him and shared in his pain. (M. Kornfeld)