The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shifrah, and the other, Puah. (Shemos 1:15)
Shifrah – this is Yocheved, who would improve [the physical state of ] the newborn.
Puah – this is Miriam, who would make cooing noises and speak and make sounds to the newborn, as women do to soothe a crying baby. (Rashi)
The midwives mentioned in this pasuk are Yocheved, who was Moshe Rabbeinu’s mother, and Miriam Hanevi’ah, who was his sister.
Yocheved was the most outstanding and distinguished woman of her generation. She was 123 years old, she was the daughter of Levi, she was among the seventy souls that originally descended to Egypt with Yaakov Avinu. And Miriam was an established prophetess. They were great people, so why didn’t the Torah mention them by their regular, honorable names? Why did they have to be called something else?
Not only that, but the names they were given seem rather plain. They describe what they did in the course of their work as ordinary midwives. How do these names express their astounding courage and bravery in saving the Jewish nation’s children?
Actually, these names show their true greatness, better than anything else could.
Let’s say a baby is in the hospital, in serious condition. The doctors and nurses are standing around him, working hard to save his life. If at this moment you would see a woman speaking sweetly to the child and cooing to him, you would know for sure that this is his mother. The professionals trying to save his life are busy with important tasks. They don’t have time for small matters like that. Only the mother, because she loves her child so much, pays attention even to the smallest details.
So it was with Yocheved and Miriam. They risked their lives to disobey Pharaoh’s order and save the Jewish children from death. But that alone did not demonstrate that they are like mothers to these children. That alone would not cause them to become the matriarchs of the Jewish people’s Kohanim, Leviyim and kings.
But in the midst of that terrible situation, when Jewish children were being slaughtered and thrown into the Nile, they cared even about the little things to which the names Shifrah and Puah allude. They made sweet, soothing noises to the babies, they took care of all the little things the babies needed, even the things that were not crucial. This was a sign that they were true mothers to the House of Israel, so they merited establishing the Houses of Kehunah, Leviyah and Malchus.
There is a story about R. Shlomo Heiman zt”l, one of the great roshei yeshivah of the past generation. He taught Torah, and his Rebbetzin occupied herself with acts of tzedakah and chesed, especially with marrying off poor orphans.
Once they were about to go to the wedding of an orphan girl. The Rebbetzin had taken care of everything the bride needed, from A to Z, including the wedding itself. R. Heiman asked her, “Did you buy flowers for the kallah?” The Rebbetzin replied, “I didn’t think it was really so necessary, especially since everything is being paid for from the tzedakah money that I collected.” R. Heiman told her, “No, go quick and buy flowers for the kallah.”
Simply speaking, R. Heiman wanted to make sure that the bride won’t feel different from other brides. But on a deeper level, he was saying that a mother would not have her own daughter get married without flowers. And they should treat this young woman as their own daughter, for it is written:
I am a father to paupers.
This is why the names Shifrah and Puah express the wondrous greatness of Yocheved and Miriam, even better than their own names could have.
1 Iyov 29:16.
