January 9, 2026 – Dr. Susanna Kokkonen
Shemot 5786 (2025)
Exodus 1:1-6:1; Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23.
Shemot, the name of this Torah portion refers to the name of the Book of Exodus in Hebrew “names.” The book starts with all the names (shemot) of the sons of Jacob who came to Egypt years ago. In fact, this is where the problematic condition of the Hebrews in Egypt lied. Years had passed by and there was a new ruler in the land who no longer remembered Joseph. At the height of his power, Joseph had been next to Pharaoh only. He had done much good for the land of Egypt. But time had passed by and no one remembered the story of Joseph and his goodness. This state of forgetfulness is the beginning of what is told in our Torah portion.
“Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.” (Exodus 1:8 NIV)
Women
Many have argued that the book of Exodus is a story of women who were exceptionally brave.
There were the Hebrew mid-wives who feared God more than they feared the Pharaoh.
“The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,
“When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.” (Exodus 1:15-17 NIV)
There was a child’s mother who trusted the waters of Nile to carry her precious child.
“But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.” (Exodus 2: 2.3 NIV)
There was the daughter of Pharaoh who wanted to rescue a Hebrew child, the only person in Egypt who could go against her father’s decree.
“Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.
She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.” (Exodus 2:5-6 NIV)
There was Moses’ sister Miriam, who was brave enough to talk to the Princess, suggesting that the child’s own mother nurse him.
“Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”
“Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.” (Exodus 2:7-8 NIV)
Blessings
God blessed each one of these women in unusual ways.
Hebrew mid-wives were blessed by God -because they obeyed Him- with their own households.
Moses’s mother got to keep her child before he went to the palace to be with the Princess.
Miriam became a prophetess.
Pharaoh’s daughter, it is suggested in the Bible, was called Bithiah, which means daughter of God. She also got to name the greatest leader Israel has ever had.
“When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:10 NIV)
Some parts of the Scripture suggest that she may have left Egypt with the Hebrews.
“These were the children of Pharaoh’s daughter Bithiah, whom Mered had married.” (1. Chr. 4:18 NIV)
Journeys
The story has another interesting turn.
Eventually, growing up Moses knew he was a Hebrew. Out of curiosity or pity, he went to see what was happening to the Hebrews in hard labor. He ended up killing a man and had to flee from Egypt. This was Moses’ first journey. At the desert where he was hiding, he helped some shepherd girls. He was invited and came to live with their family. There he found his wife.
“Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” (Exodus 2:21-22 NIV)
She was later to join him on the journey out from Egypt toward the Promised Land.
In the New Testament Moses’ act is described too.
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” (Hebrews 11:24-25 NIV)
The Hebrews’ journey from exile to home was spoken about by prophet Isaiah:
“And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 27: 13 NIV)
Courageous Princesses – stories at the Holocaust Garden of Hope
Princess Alice
Princess Alice in her childhood was diagnosed as deaf but learnt lip-reading by the age of eight. She married Prince Andrew of Greece in 1903. During WWII she was living in Greece.
The Greek royal family knew a Jewish family. Due to the German occupation, Princess Alice offered the widow Rachel Cohen and her children a hiding place in her own residence. When the police came to search and look for Jews in the palace Princess Alice was easily pretending to not to understand what they were saying.
Sofka Skipwith (Dolgorouky), (1907-1974) was a Russian princess from an illustrious background. By the beginning of WWII, she was living in exile in London.
In June 1940, when the Nazis invaded France, she was in Paris and was arrested by the Germans as an enemy national. She ended up in the Vittel camp.
Alongside the French resistance and other prisoners, she managed to get fake documents to some Jewish youth. She managed to get a list of names into a toothpaste bottle sent to the resistance; names were of Jews holding visas to Latin American countries, and she was counting on them being helped. In an act of courage, she also smuggled a baby out of Vittel.
May this Torah Portion encourage us, women, to act as true royalty and to be remembered for our courage.
*For an explanation of the terms see the first The Torah Portion Blog.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Genesis 1:3 NIV
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Psalm 119:105 NIV
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.
Isaiah 60:1 NIV
…let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 NIV
Torah Scrolls were attacked and desecrated during the Holocaust. The enduring images of the Kristallnacht (November 9-10,1938) are those of synagogues on fire and Torah Scrolls burning. Some of these desecrated Torah Scrolls disappeared, others were buried. Some were lovingly rescued and are on display in museums in various locations.
