Shemot 5783
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בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְותָיו וְצִוָּנוּ לַעֲסוק בְּדִבְרֵי תורָה:

Blessing for Torah Study

Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh Ha'Olam Asher Kideshanu Bemitzvotav Vetzivanu La'asok Bedivrei Torah

Blessed are you Adonai, our God, Sovereign of Eternity, who has made us holy through Your mitzvot (sacred callings) and called upon us to immerse ourselves in the words of Torah.

שמות ב׳:א׳-ד׳

(א) וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִ֖ישׁ מִבֵּ֣ית לֵוִ֑י וַיִּקַּ֖ח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִֽי׃(ב) וַתַּ֥הַר הָאִשָּׁ֖ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֹתוֹ֙ כִּי־ט֣וֹב ה֔וּא וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה יְרָחִֽים׃(ג) וְלֹא־יָכְלָ֣ה עוֹד֮ הַצְּפִינוֹ֒ וַתִּֽקַּֽח־לוֹ֙ תֵּ֣בַת גֹּ֔מֶא וַתַּחְמְרָ֥הֿ בַחֵמָ֖ר וּבַזָּ֑פֶת וַתָּ֤שֶׂם בָּהּ֙ אֶת־הַיֶּ֔לֶד וַתָּ֥שֶׂם בַּסּ֖וּף עַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיְאֹֽר׃(ד) וַתֵּתַצַּ֥ב אֲחֹת֖וֹ מֵרָחֹ֑ק לְדֵעָ֕ה מַה־יֵּעָשֶׂ֖ה לֽוֹ׃

Exodus 2:1-4

(1) A certain member of the house of Levi went and took [into his household as his wife] a woman of Levi.(2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months.(3) When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.(4) And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him.

בראשית ו׳:י״ד-ט״ז

(יד) עֲשֵׂ֤ה לְךָ֙ תֵּבַ֣ת עֲצֵי־גֹ֔פֶר קִנִּ֖ים תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֣ה אֶת־הַתֵּבָ֑ה וְכָֽפַרְתָּ֥ אֹתָ֛הּ מִבַּ֥יִת וּמִח֖וּץ בַּכֹּֽפֶר׃(טו) וְזֶ֕ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֖ה אֹתָ֑הּ שְׁלֹ֧שׁ מֵא֣וֹת אַמָּ֗ה אֹ֚רֶךְ הַתֵּבָ֔ה חֲמִשִּׁ֤ים אַמָּה֙ רׇחְבָּ֔הּ וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים אַמָּ֖ה קוֹמָתָֽהּ׃(טז) צֹ֣הַר ׀ תַּֽעֲשֶׂ֣ה לַתֵּבָ֗ה וְאֶל־אַמָּה֙ תְּכַלֶּ֣נָּה מִלְמַ֔עְלָה וּפֶ֥תַח הַתֵּבָ֖ה בְּצִדָּ֣הּ תָּשִׂ֑ים תַּחְתִּיִּ֛ם שְׁנִיִּ֥ם וּשְׁלִשִׁ֖ים תַּֽעֲשֶֽׂהָ׃

Genesis 6:14-16

(14) Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make it an ark with compartments, and cover it inside and out with pitch.(15) This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.(16) Make an opening for daylight in the ark, and terminate it within a cubit of the top. Put the entrance to the ark in its side; make it with bottom, second, and third decks.

Nahum Sarna
The receptacle is called a tevah, a term that, in this sense, appears elsewhere in the Bible only as the ark in which Noah and his family were saved from the waters of the Flood. Its use here underscores both the vulnerability of its occupant and its being under divine protection. Evocation of the Flood narrative also suggests, once again, that the birth of Moses signals a new era in history.
Nahum Sarna
The term suggests a boxlike craft made to float on the water but without rudder or sail or any other navigational aid. It does not use the services of a crew. The use of tevah is intended to emphasize that the fate of the occupants is to be determined solely by the will of God and not to be attributed by the skill of man.
Rabbi Shefa Gold
Our blessing, the possibility of liberation, is born at the time of greatest travail. Moses is born within us at a moment of despair when we have been beaten down, constricted, forced into the narrowest possible definition of self. That seed of truth and vitality is hidden away and then placed in a teva, an “ark.”
As with Noah’s ark, the hope for a new world, a new kind of consciousness, is set afloat.
Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld
On all other nights, my mother would teach us hope as a discipline, a choice, an obligation. I remember coming to her upset about a situation that felt desperate to me at the time. “Imagine,” she said, “just think how the Israelites felt standing at the Sea with the Egyptian army closing in behind them! If they had hope, so can you!” At the seder, my mother would... remind us that not all hope has to be quite so hard-earned. Sometimes it is just a gift—unbidden, unwilled, unexpected. Like the way your breath catches at the glimpse of a young crocus pushing up through the snow, or the way the heart softens at the sight of a stream melting in early spring.

קדושת לוי, בראשית, נח א׳

ואיתא בכתבי האר"י ז"ל שעל זה נענש נח על שלא היה מוכיח הרשעים שבדורו והוצרך לגלגל במשה ומשה היה מתקן שהיה מוכיח תמיד כל ישראל.

Kedushat Levi, Genesis, Noach 1

Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (1740–1809)

According to the writings of Rabbi Isaac Luria, Noah was punished for not ‎rebuking the evildoers in his generation; therefore he needed to be reincarnated into Moses, and Moses repaired [the problem] by constantly rebuking the Israelites for their ‎shortcomings.

Questions for discussion: What is the significance of invoking the term teva/ark here for Moses wicker basket? What parallels are there between this story of Moses and the story of Noah? What implications do these notions of teva/ark have for us today?
RK
Rabbi Nathan Kamesar