ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמות 1:17

And perhaps it alludes to weakness of hands that they weakened their hands from the Torah which was given from hand to hand, and from prayer which is through the lifting of hands, and from the attribute of acts of kindness which is something given from hand to hand. And evidence for this is from what it says, and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, in order to strengthen these three pillars upon which the house of Israel is established. And these three pillars were upheld by the three shepherds: Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, in whose merit God gave them manna, the well, and the clouds of glory. The manna was in the merit of Moses, for the Torah was only given to those who ate the manna. And the well, which supplied all their needs, was in the merit of Miriam who supplied food for the children, as it is said, and they kept the children alive. And the clouds of glory were in the merit of Aaron, who was occupied with the service of the sacrifices which caused the Divine Presence to dwell among Israel, and the cloud of the Lord was upon the Tabernacle.
And when Amalek heard of Aaron’s death, and that the clouds of glory had departed, then he came to fight with them, as is found in the portion of Chukat (Numbers 21:1). And from there is evidence that Aaron’s merit stood for Israel to save them from Amalek, who was always a strap of rebellion for Israel. Therefore, in this war, Moses wanted his hands to be steady through reminding them of the merit of these three pillars. And therefore Moses stood in the middle with the merit of receiving the Torah in his hand, and Aaron and Hur supported his hands from this side and that side, because Aaron had the merit of the service in his hand, and Hur, the son of Miriam, had the merit of acts of kindness in his hand.

And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, etc. Some say that the midwives were Egyptian, as if it said “to the midwives for the Hebrews,” for otherwise, what is the significance of saying “and the midwives feared God”? And our Rabbis said (Sotah 11b) that Shifrah was Yocheved and Puah was Miriam, etc. One should contemplate: Perhaps it’s the opposite, that Puah was Yocheved and Shifrah was Miriam? And what is the Torah telling us by changing their names?
It seems to me that “Puah” is related to speech, which clearly indicates Miriam, who was a prophetess, as our Rabbis taught (Megillah 14a) on the verse Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aaron. She prophesied, “My mother is destined to give birth to a son who will save Israel.” And in Parshat Vaera (Exodus 7:1), Rashi explains that prophecy [nevuah] is related to speech, derived from the expression “creating the utterance of lips” [borei niv sefatayim].
Yocheved is Shifrah, named because she returned to her beauty [shufrah] and youthfulness despite being 130 years old, as her beauty then resembled that of her youth, similar to what happened with Sarah. This miracle was also a sign that a son who would save Israel would be born from her, for this miracle was not performed for her in vain.
Therefore, the verse informs us to show how the counsel of Pharaoh and all his magicians was foolish, for he called upon midwives who were named Shifrah and Puah — names that indicated the redeemer who would come from them. They themselves were the bearers of the redeemer, so how could they kill their own children? Pharaoh did not notice the significance of these names to say, “Is this not significant?”
Furthermore, the verse tells us their names because they indicate that they had no doubts about the redemption, although they had reason to doubt, as it says in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 20:8): I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them, to spend My anger upon them in the midst of the land of Egypt. These names indicate the birth of the redeemer, and for this reason, they did not do as Pharaoh had told them. For if they had doubted, they might have agreed to Pharaoh’s decree, thinking it better for the children to die young than to be born for naught and for trouble, living all their days in distress and servitude.

למה הרעותה לעם הזה?, this is not to be understood as a complaint or insolence, but simply as a question. Moses wanted to know the use of the attribute which decrees sometimes afflictions on the Just and all kinds of advantages for the wicked, while the Just are forced to watch this. Moses who had become exposed to these manifestations involving his own people even after G’d had told him that He had taken note of the injustice done to them, did not understand all this. Moses also did not understand which afflictions have what purpose, as sometimes they appear to strike people who clearly are guilty of certain sins, as per Isaiah 57,17 בעון בצעו קצפתי ואכהו הסתר ואקצוף, “For their sinful greed I was angry; I struck them and turned away in My wrath.” On the other hand, Moses also realised that there is an affliction known as יסורים של אהבה, afflictions resulting from G’d’s love, such as the manna being described as ויענך וירעיבך, “He afflicted you by letting you starve,” (Deuteronomy 8,16) where the very affliction was the forerunner of acts of love such as the heavenly bread G’d fed the Israelites for 40 years in the desert. Concerning such afflictions David has said in Psalms 94,12 אשרי הגבר אשר תיסרנו י-ה, “hail the man whom G‘d has seen fit to subject to such afflictions!” When Moses noticed that from the day he had begun his mission and had confronted Pharaoh the workload of his brethren had been increased instead of decreased, he asked G’d why He had permitted Pharaoh to get away with this when it was clearly within His power to save the Israelites altogether? Why had He not immediately saved the people seeing that it was His plan to do this, and he had appointed him to be His instrument in bringing this about? He could not understand that if even the midwives, who are only human beings, not possessing the power to give life or to kill, are being credited with “giving life to the babies whom they refused to murder” (Exodus 1,17) why G’d Who is surely able to grant such life, did not save the same Jews whom He credited the midwives with saving? We must surely understand the line ותחיינה את הילדים, as “they allowed the children to keep living,” not as “they granted life to the children!” Here too, the words למה הרעותה have to be understood as “why did You allow the Egyptians to continue to do evil to the this people instead of Your having saved them?” Moses‘ question expressed concern that Pharaoh would be allowed to continue in this vein and to make the lives of the Israelites still more miserable. Actually, Moses’ question here is echoed by the prophet Jeremiah 12,1 when the prophet asked:מדוע דרך רשעים צלחה שלו כל בוגדי בגד,”why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are the workers of treachery at ease?” The prophet did not criticise G’d but wanted to know if the prosperity enjoyed by the wicked is in payment of the good deeds which most of them also have performed at one time or other and which G’d cannot repay them in the hereafter seeing they have already forfeited their afterlife so that they have to enjoy their reward while on this earth. Alternatively, did G’d grant these people an enjoyable life on earth in order to increase the punishment they would endure after their bodies had died? G’d answered Moses that the apparent success of Pharaoh was only in order to make him suffer so much more in the end. The matter is similar to that described by David in Psalms 69,28 where he asks G’d concerning the Gentile nations: תנה עון על עונם ואל יבואו בצדקתך, “add that to their guilt; let them have no share of Your beneficence.” In our verse G’d’s answer to Moses was given in Exodus 6,1 עתה תראה אשר אעשה לפרעה, “from now on you will see what I am going to do to Pharaoh.” G’d meant, that the afflictions which Israel had to suffer had as their purpose to double the reward they would reap. This is the meaning of: “now you will see.” You, Moses, will see and realise shortly that the relative peace which Pharaoh has enjoyed up until now was only meant to enable Me to increase the afflictions which I will subject him to. I had already made ready all these plagues. It was necessary for him to impose even harder working conditions on the Israelites in order to trigger carrying out My program, something which I had made ready on the day that I appointed you even though you did not realise this at the time. Not only is the result of My plan increased suffering for Pharaoh, but it is also increased reward for the Jewish people. The fact that they were able to endure it and did not collapse under this burden is proof that these afflictions were motivated by My love for that people.