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In this week's Torah portion, Parashat Shemot, we encounter one of the greatest examples of compassion found in the entire Torah. The source of this compassion seems a rather unlikely one. I am referring to the story of baby Moshe, when he is found floating in a basket on the Nile river. Who is it that discovers and rescues this blessed and holy child? It is the very daughter of Pharaoh, who himself decreed that this baby, along with all other male Hebrew children, was to be put to death.
And yet, as the Torah tells us of Pharaoh's daughter in the book of Exodus, chapter 2, verses 5-6, "She saw the basket among the reeds and she sent her maidservant and she took it. She opened it and saw him, the boy, and behold, a child was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrew boys."
Even though Pharaoh's daughter clearly knew that this baby had been condemned to death specifically by her own father, she still found compassion in her heart to save him. She could not bear to allow an innocent child to go unsaved before her very eyes.
Where did this compassion come from? Did the Pharaoh's daughter resist all of her father's wicked decrees? Was she always looking out for the needy and the oppressed? Apparently not, though we do not know the answer to this question for certain. What we do know - what we can perceive from the Torah - is that in this moment, at least, Pharaoh's daughter allowed her compassion to dictate her behavior.
There is a lesson here for all of us to learn. Imagine if all of our actions were controlled primarily by our sense of compassion. Would not this world be a far better place? Let us listen to our compassionate inclinations and strive to be a help for all of our fellow human beings, just as did the daughter of Pharaoh.
Shabbat Shalom.
Cantor Zachary Konigsberg
[email protected]
917-696-0749
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