“The woman conceived and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was good and she hid him for three months.” (2:2) The Gemara (Sotah 12a) teaches: What does it mean that Yocheved saw that her baby –later named, Moshe–was “good”? It means the entire house filled with light. The Gemara states further: She saw that the Shechinah was with him. [Until here from the Gemara] Midrashim state that Haman was pleased when his lot fell on the month of Adar, for he knew that Moshe died in Adar. However, he did not know that Moshe also was born in Adar.
Why, asks, R’ Eliezer Dan Ralbag z”l (1832-1895; Yerushalayim), did Haman not know that Moshe was born in Adar? (It stands to reason that the same way that he had learned one fact about Moshe, he could have learned the second fact.) R’ Ralbag explains: Why did the house fill up with light when Moshe was born? And, what is the significance of the three months for which Yocheved hid Moshe?
The answer is that Moshe was born three months prematurely. The Gemara (Niddah 30b) states that as long as a baby is in the womb, a “candle” burns above his head. That “candle” is the light of the Shechinah that accompanies the baby as he learns Torah in the womb. When Moshe was born prematurely, his Neshamah complained to Hashem: “Why should I miss out on three more months of the Shechinah’s company?” Therefore, the Shechinah remained with him, and “the entire house filled with light.” This continued for three months, until the day Moshe was due to have been born. (What was that date? Not coincidentally, it was 7 Sivan, the date on which the Torah later would be given.) This explains Haman’s mistake. Haman knew that Moshe was born on 7 Adar. However, Haman thought that the seventh of Sivan, the day when the light of the Shechinah departed from Moshe, counted as his birth date, just like for any other baby that is born. We know otherwise–i.e., that Moshe’s birthday is 7 Adar–because Moshe told us so (see Devarim 31:2 and Rashi z”l there).
(Damesek Eliezer)
