tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3027817976851056094.post8387081803134132914..comments2023-06-11T05:08:09.273-04:00Comments on Olive Seedlings - שתילי זיתים: Shemos - The Heroism of the God-Fearing MidwivesLazerAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10463856909521693296noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3027817976851056094.post-609663751396716022014-02-12T14:40:31.405-05:002014-02-12T14:40:31.405-05:00A big Talmid Chacham once told me that he believes...A big Talmid Chacham once told me that he believes that the "No Machlokes in Metzius" rule seems not to apply to Midrashim, and that there is often two conflicting groups of Midrashim. The example he gave was one group of Midrashim that seem to identify Osnath bas Potifera as the daughter of Potifar & his wife, while others as the daughter of Dinah adopted by Potifar & wife. Potifar's wife "sensing" that Yosef's children would be through her is unlikely if Osnath was an adoptee, for example. (I'm aware that this seems to fly in the face of "Nima matza veHikpid" Gittin 6., but there are too many examples where it's impossible to reasonably square the 2 approaches.)<br />In which case, Shifra & Puah as Yocheved & Miriam identified by their Egyptian titles or their activities, or Shifra & Puah as non-Jewish palace appointees or anonymous Jewish women may not need to be melded.<br />Parenthetically, if the midwives were non-Jewish political appointees, is it possible they believed the propoganda that the Hebrew women "were skilled in childbirth, not like the Egyptian women", and since they never had the children on the birthstool, they weren't legally required to kill them, since it wasn't a 'late-term abortion' any more?Yisroelnoreply@blogger.com