daf bit: Sotah 12

[cellio]

The gemara talks at some length about the birth of Moshe and the events that follow. Today's daf expands upon his rescue from the river by Paro's daughter. When her handmaidens saw that she intended to rescue the child, they said to her: "Mistress, it is the custom of the world that when the king makes a decree, while others might not obey at least his children do, but you are transgressing your father's command!" Then the angel Gavriel came and beat them to the ground -- but not all of them; it is not customary for a king's daughter to be unattended, so he left her one. (12b)

(This page contains many tidbits that seem to form the basis for some midrashim I learned last year at Hebrew College, such as: when Moshe was born the whole house filled with light; when Paro's daughter rescued Moshe her arm lengthened until she could reach the basket and pull it to shore; and various bits on how the midwives thwarted Paro's decree to kill all the male children. It also contains the famous midrash about Amram divorcing his wife and Miriam persuading him to reconsider, resulting in the birth of Moshe.)

Comments

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Gavriel

Huh. Hadn't seen that spelling. What is it in the Hebrew? (I don't actually speak hebrew, so a transliteration would be very welcome...)

I have this side interest in angels, you see.