We read in Parashat Shemot of the successful attempt made by Yochebed, the mother of Moshe Rabbenu, to rescue her beloved infant. After Pharaoh decreed that all newborn boys among Beneh Yisrael should be killed, Yochebed delivered a baby, and hid him from the Egyptian authorities for three months. Then, seeing that she could no longer hide him, she placed the baby in a basket and put the basket in the river. It was discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter, who opened the basket and saw a child crying. She exclaimed, “This is from the children of the Hebrews!” (2:6). Pharaoh’s daughter took the baby, brought him home, and raised him as her child. She named him “Moshe.”

The question arises as to how the princess realized that this infant was Jewish. Immediately upon seeing him, she declared that this was an Israelite child. Why?

The commentators also address a different question, regarding the syntax of this verse. The Torah tells, “Va’tiftach Ta’tir’ehu Et Ha’yeled, Ve’hineh Na’ar Bocheh” – “She opened it and saw the child, and behold, there was a lad crying.” Moshe is first called “Ha’yeled” – “the child,” but then referred to as a “Na’ar” – “lad.” Clearly, as Moshe was but three months old, the term “Yeled” is far more appropriate for him than “Na’ar,” a term that usually denotes a grown child. Why does the Torah here speak of a “Na’ar” crying, if Moshe was a small baby?

An innovative reading of this verse was suggested by the Ba’al Ha’turim (Rabbenu Yaakob Ben Asher, Germany-Spain, 1269-1340). He notes that the words “Na’ar Bocheh” in Gematria equal the phrase “Zeh Aharon Ha’kohen” – “This is Aharon the Kohen.” According to the Ba’al Ha’turim, it wasn’t Moshe who was crying. His older brother, Aharon, was standing along the riverbank to watch what would happen to Moshe, and he was crying out of fear and compassion for his baby brother. When Pharaoh’s daughter opened the basket, she saw an infant – and she also heard a “Na’ar,” the infant’s older brother, crying from a distance, worrying about what would happen to the baby.

This perhaps explains why the princess immediately determined that the infant must belong to Am Yisrael – because this is a uniquely Jewish trait, crying for one another, caring about one other, feeling each other’s pain, and shouldering each other’s burden.

In the Book of Yehezkel (34:31), the prophet turns to Beneh Yisrael and says, “Adam Atem” – “You are people.” The Gemara in Masechet Yebamot (61a) interprets this to mean that “Atem Keruyim Adam” – only the Jewish people are defined as “Adam,” whereas other nations are not. This classification of Jews as “Adam,” the Gemara explains, is relevant for a certain Halacha regarding the laws of impurity. But this enigmatic Talmudic teaching has, over the years, been used by anti-Semites as “evidence” of the Jews’ contempt for gentiles. They claimed that the Talmud teaches Jews to view other peoples as subhuman species – despite the fact that numerous other sources in Torah literature make it very clear that to the contrary, all human beings are created in the divine image and demand our respect and concern. The Rabbis struggled to explain the meaning of the Talmudic teaching that the term “Adam” is reserved for the Jewish People.

Rav Meir Shapiro of Lublin (1887-1933) offered a compelling, and especially meaningful, interpretation. He asserted that the Gemara here distinguishes not between “Adam” and animals, but rather between “Adam” and the other Hebrew term used in reference to human beings – “Ish.” The difference between the words “Adam” and “Ish,” Rav Shapiro noted, is that the word “Ish” has a plural form – “Anashim,” whereas the word “Adam” has no plural form. The Gemara teaches that Jews are called “Adam” because we comprise a single entity. We are all parts of one organic whole. We are not “plural,” because we are members of a single nation. No other nation is bound together in mutual love, care and concern like the Jewish Nation. When one Jew is in pain, or is in trouble, Jews around the world cry. This is one of the unique aspects of the Jewish experience – being an “Adam,” part of an organic entity, where everybody is interconnected and unconditionally devoted to one another.

This is how Pharaoh’s daughter knew that the infant she found belonged to Beneh Yisrael – because she saw somebody crying for him, worrying about him, concerned about him.

When our Jewish brothers and sisters across the world are in crisis, we must all feel their pain. We shoulder their burden of sorrow with them, and we commit ourselves to doing everything we can to help them, to support them, to encourage them, and to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

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