ו: וַתַּ֥הַר הָאִשָּׁ֖ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֹתוֹ֙ כִּי־ט֣וֹב ה֔וּא וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה יְרָחִֽים׃
6: The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was good so she hid him for three months.
Rashi asks a question on the words כי טוב הוא asking what it mean and he says that when moshe was born the whole house was filled with light.
Are there any other interpretations of what כי טוב הוא could mean? Why does moshe being good lead to יוכבד hiding him?
The Daat Zkenim says that he was fully developed all the way down to the fingertips. This is a miracle because he was born premature. Yocheved risked her life to save her child because he was fully developed. I think it is important to state this and this is a good reason because you can ask, it says he was born early and you might assume that if they say he was born early then he would’ve not been healthy and so he would have died anyways why even try to save him. This shows that there was a reason to save him.
ReplyDeleteWhat does כי טוב הוא mean? Rashbam explains that you can’t simply assume that only since he was good, she decided to hide him. Rather Rashbam goes on to say that every mother loves their child no matter what and would therefore hide them. So טוב must mean something else. Rashbam brings in a pasuk that contains similar language: ״וירא אלוקים...״. In this context, Hashem checked on the world he created and saw it was “good”, meaning it is perfect(good) and there is nothing for him to change. This can be related to Moshe too. Since he was born early, Yocheved wanted to make sure he would survive. If he would die, she wouldn’t bother hiding him. So, when Yocheved realized he was fully developed and healthy(good) she therefore decides to hide him.
ReplyDeleteI really like this answer because it isn’t so far fetch. It makes sense that Yocheved would have to check to see if Moshe was fully developed and healthy because there was a risk when giving birth early, and there was a huge possibility that he wouldn’t have survived. Also, I think it is Important that Rashbam addressed the issue that mothers don’t just hide their children because their good, rather all mothers have mercy and love their children!
Ayelet Schochet
What does כי טוב הוא mean?
ReplyDeleteThe Eben Ezra thinks it means that his appearance was good. I would personally give the same answer because it’s the simplest way to explain through Pshat. And, it was said by another פרשן that babies cannot be named or congratulated for any other purpose, because they do not yet have any accomplishments. This also makes sense, how can we say that in infant is good other than appearance, when they haven’t done anything yet?
What does Ki Tov Hu mean?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Rabbi Meir, when it says “Ki Tov Hu” in the Pasuk it is translating to say that “his name was Tov.” Moshe’s birth name was Tov because Moshe does not receive the name Moshe until Bat Pharaoh finds him in the Nile and takes him out. I really like this answer because though saying his birth name is Tov is a little far stretched with the literal translation of the Pasuk(he was good, so she hid him), it really makes sense with the order of the Pesukim. If Moshe only received that name when Bat Pharoah rescues him from the Nile, then he needed to be called something before this happened, so saying his birth name was Tov and was called that until he was rescued from the Nile makes sense.
https://rebyehoshua.org/2013/01/05/ki-tov-hu-shemot-5773/
Why does the Pasuk say ״כי טוב הוא״? The 1st century CE Jewish historian, Josephus, explains that it is because Mosheh was beautiful. We know this because when Bat Pharaoh brought baby Mosheh to her father, Pharaoh, as a possible heir to the thrown, it is due to Moses’ “godly appearance and nobility of mind.” Additionally, Mosheh was mature beyond his young age, and it is said that Yocheved had a painless pregnancy with Mosheh.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Josephus, that it is very possible that Pharaoh wanted Mosheh to be the heir of the thrown because he was beautiful and godly looking, but I don’t think that this has to be the only reason. It could be that Pharaoh wanted Mosheh to be the heir because he was smart, a good person, and maybe it was just that it was Hashems plan.
http://thegemara.com/when-moses-was-born-the-house-was-filled-with-light/
Ramban says that it doesn’t make sense to say that Yocheved hid Moshe because he was a beautiful baby. Didn’t all mothers love their babies and think they were beautiful? How is Moshe special that it says ״כי טוב הוא״? The answer the ramban gives is that she saw an unusual goodness in him and thought that maybe he would be saved. Therefore, when the time came that she was unable to hide him any longer she took a basket and put him in the river. But this does not explain why Yocheved thought he was special enough to be saved. Well, the chachamim say that when he was born the house was the house filled with light. They also say that Miriam had a nevuah that her mother, Yocheved, would have a baby that would save the Jewish people. This explains why Yocheved thought that Moshe was special enough to be saved. If a baby is born and the house is filled with light you know there is something special about him. Also, since Miriam prophesied that he would save the Jewish people he obviously wouldn’t die as a baby.
ReplyDeleteI think this answer makes a lot of sense. I like how it brings specific reasons for why Yocheved thought he was special enough to be saved. I also think that this answer is very practical. Ramban says straight out that to say Moshe is saved because he’s cute, doesn’t make sense. I like this about the ramban’s answer. I like it when commentaries give practical and obvious reasons when they are disproving other commentators. Overall I think this is a very ‘good’ answer (no pun intended).
Source: https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.2.2?lang=bi&with=Ramban&lang2=en
The Chizkuni gives two answers on what the word Tov can mean in this case. His first answer is that when Yocheved saw that Moshe was born after only six months, she made sure to examin the baby in detail, to be sure that he was fully developed (just like those of a baby after a nine month pregnancy). Yocheved realizes that Moshe was healthy and would survive the critical months ahead of him. When she was asked about the baby, she would say that she had already listened to Pharaoh's decrees and had thrown him into the Nile. A different interpretation on the word טוב is a hint that Moshe had been born without a brit milah. It’s a custom to recite the line: הודו לה' כי טוב, “praise the Lord for He is good,” during when a baby gets a brit milah, as a reminder that Moshe did not need to be circumcised. I thought that the Chuzkuni’s second answer, (that Moshe was born with a brit milah) teaches us a very important lesson. When I was reading the Chizkuni’s answer my first thought was “wow this is such a huge example how really no one is like Moshe and he really was the closest person to Hashem”. Then it occured to me, that every person is born with their own strengths and their own place in the world. If the world was filled with a million Moshes then Moshe wouldn’t be special and we wouldn’t be asking this question. Hashem gives us the tools to be the best person that WE can be and our goal in life should be to be the best version of yourself.
ReplyDeleteIn shmot it says that Moshe was a “good baby” and that’s why they were able to hide him for three months. Masechet Sota says that Yocheved was actually pregnant for three months before her and Amram separated. Rav yehuda says that this language is used to show the hekesh of her giving birth to her becoming pregnant. Since she felt no pain getting pregnant, so to she did it feel pain when she gave birth. It also says that Tov was the name that was given to Moshe by his parents when he was born. And the other opinion in the Gemara is that he was born with a bris already and these things make him “good”.
ReplyDeleteOne idea I really liked that the Gemara said was that Moshe was not actually a premature baby, rather he was concieved 3 months before Amram and Yocheved split. And this is why they were able to hide him for 3 months. Since the Egyptians were thinking 9 months from when they got back together. This also makes a lot more sense because in these days it is hard for a premature baby to survive, so kal vechomer it was even more unlikely in those days for a premature baby to survive.
The שד״ל comments on this story saying that any מפרש who says that ״כי…טוב הוא״ means that Moshe was a good or cute baby is wrong. He does not understand how anyone could say a baby is good-babies have no accomplishments of their own so they aren’t good or bad. He also says that Rashbam’s פרוש saying that Moshe was born after 6 months and a day is דרש because there is no way to know that. שד״ל believes that the פסוק does not need any further explanation than the פשט-Moshe didn’t cry or scream, so Yocheved was able to hide him because no one would hear him.
ReplyDeleteI like this answer better than all other answers. I enjoy פשט teachings more than other teachings, and this is as פשט as it gets. This answer is also what I thought when I read this.