Waxing and Waning and Women, Oh My!

Posted on January 16, 2025

By Hazzan Jenna Greenberg.

As the moon always waxes and wanes, it reached its fullness on the 15th of both Tevet and January this week. This got me thinking about how so many of our holidays fall during a full moon. It also got a congregant to share the following with me one morning after minyan this week: “Do you know what this full moon means?,” she asked me. “…THREE MONTHS UNTIL PESACH!!!” 

And here we are, in the middle of January, thinking about our spring festival. Crazy as it sounds, it’s actually quite appropriate considering where we are in our Torah reading cycle. This week, we begin the second book of the Torah, Shemot, with parashat Shemot. Whereas in English we call it Exodus, the Hebrew name of this book and parasha means Names. 

Our portion begins with a list of the names of the sons of Israel and their families who came to Egypt with Ya’akov back at the end of Breishit. As the Israelite families grew, the new king of Egypt decided that he didn’t want his people to be outnumbered. This Pharaoh enslaved them, in the hopes that this oppression would help contain their numbers, and yet the Israelites continued to grow. As the familiar story continues, in an effort to contain their growing numbers, Pharaoh spoke to the Egyptian midwives, specifically Shifra and Puah, telling them to kill the baby boys. 

But did they listen to their king? No, they defied him because they had Yirat Hashem, awe/fear of God within them. This phrase is the closest the Torah comes to having a word for religion. Our Eitz Chayim Chumash commentary explains further: “The case of the midwives suggests that the essence of religion is not belief in the existence of God…but belief that certain things are wrong because God has built standards of moral behavior into the universe…The midwives begin a pattern that is continued in the story of Moshe, whose life is repeatedly threatened by men and saved by women.” And these are stories we will read about over the next several weeks. As the Midrash Exodus Rabbah shares: “It was through righteous women that Israel was redeemed.”

How fitting that this weekend we celebrate Sisterhood Shabbat! It is a time for us to benefit from the many Beth El women of all ages creating a special Friday night dinner experience, a beautiful Shabbat morning service, sharing a varied tapestry of the female talents in our congregation. Then an incredible contingent of Beth El women will represent us all on their mission to Israel: B’not Beth El B’Yisrael. And not too long from now, we will all have an opportunity to attend the Sisterhood Art Festival, showcasing the artistry of Israeli and American Jewish women.

Yashar Koach to all of the incredible Beth El women involved in these upcoming programs! Just as the midwives were righteous women who helped to redeem all of Israel, YOU help our entire congregation to shine, you elevate us all!