Comentario sobre Génesis 40:20

יום הלדת את פרעה HIS (PHARAOH’S) BIRTHDAY. It is called (Avodah Zarah 10a) “The birthday festival”. The causative passive form (הלדת) is used because the infant is born only by the assistance of others, for the midwife delivers the woman. On this account a midwife is called מילדת a Piel form “one who brings to birth”. This passive form occurs similarly (Ezekiel 16:4) “And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born (הולדת אתך)”. A similar passive form is used in (Leviticus 13:55) “after the plague (הכבס) is washed away”, because the washing is done by others).

יום הולדת את פרעה, some commentators say that the day referred to was the anniversary of the day Pharaoh had been born, and that he had been in the habit of celebrating this day annually with a banquet. As to the meaning of the word את, which seems difficult to fit into this explanation, one could cite other examples where the word את appears without apparent need, such as Numbers 26,55 יחלק את הארץ, or in Ezekiel 16,4 ביום הולדת אותך “on the day you were born,” where הולדך would have been perfectly adequate.

יום הולדת את פרעה, “Pharaoh’s’ birthday.” On that day a son was born for the king who was also named Pharaoh. It was a custom to make a feast on the anniversary of one’s birth.