וַתִ ּפְתַ ּח וגו' וְהִנֵּה נַעַר בֹּכֶה וַתַ ּחְמֹל עָלָיו וַתֹּאמֶר מִ יַּלְדֵי הָעִבְרִ ים זֶה (ב, ו)
And she opened... and, behold, there was a lad crying. And she had compassion on him and she said, “He is from the children of the Jews...” (2:6)
Crying for the Pain of Klal Yisroel:
Sefer Yashrish Yaakov learns this pasuk to be describing the greatness of Moshe Rabenu. Moshe lacked nothing. It made no difference to him if he slept in his house with his mother or if he was floating in the river. Wherever he was, he was still Moshe Rabenu. So he had no reason to cry! If so, why was he crying?
The answer is that he was not crying for himself, he was crying for Klal Yisroel! He felt the pain of the nation that was enslaved to Pharaoh, and this led him to cry. Therefore, Bisya was able to tell that he was a Jewish child, as he felt the pain of his brethren and cries for them.
Bnei Yisroel Arouse the Middah of Rachamim:
Sefer Lechem Shlomo relates the following explanation of this pasuk: The Zohar Hakadosh (174B) adds the words “m’yad” to this verse, so that it states that she “immediately had compassion on him.”
He explains by saying that the way Bisya knew that this was a Jewish child is because Jews are compassionate, merciful people, as the Gemara says (Beitzah 32B) that if an individual has rachmanus on others, it is a sign that he is a descendent of Avrohom Avinu. Furthermore, they arouse the trait of compassion in others as well. Accordingly, when she saw this baby, she felt herself becoming overcome with compassion, and she understand that it must be because this is a Jewish child.
