Why does the Torah refer to Yocheved as Shifrah, and Miriam as Pu'ah?
Rashi: Because Yocheved would make the baby look beautiful (Meshaperes), 1 while Miriam 2 would coo (Po'ah) 3 to it.
Hadar Zekenim: The name Shifrah hints that Bnei Yisrael multiplied ("Paru v'Ravu") in their days; and Miriam is called 'Pu'ah' because she saw (Tzafsah) with Ru'ach ha'Kodesh that her mother will give birth to a son who will save Yisrael.
Oznayim la'Torah: Pharaoh decided to assign them these new names. Refer to 1:17:1:1**.
How could two midwives possibly suffice for all of Yisrael?
Seforno: Shifrah and Pu'ah were the midwives of the Jews who lived in the [capital] city of Egypt; but of course, there were many more midwives who served the Jews who lived in other towns. 1
Da'as Zekenim (to 1:20): They truthfully told Pharaoh that Benos Yisrael are like Chayos, and they do not need midwives. Refer to 1:20:1:2.
Moshav Zekenim (to 1:17): Shifrah and Pu'ah were the head midwives. There were other midwives under them.
What caused Pharaoh to instigate this extreme decree (to kill the male babies - 1:16)?
Targum Yonasan: Following a dream that he had, 1 his astrologers (Yeinis and Yemb'ris, disciples of Bil'am) informed him that a son was about to be born to the Jews who would destroy the whole of Egypt.
Targum Yonasan: In which the whole of Egypt was placed in one scale, and a little lamb in the other, and the latter weighed down the former.
Why did Pharaoh's decree to kill the babies come only following the decree of forced labor?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 15, p. 73): After subjugating our bodies with forced labor, the Egyptians extended their control even over our children; this was even more inward and personal 1 than our own servitude.
Maharal: To illustrate, the seeds of a fruit are its innermost part, even more than the fruit itself.
Why did the decree to kill the babies (like the decree of forced labor) come in three stages (found in 1:15, 1:22, Rashi to 1:22)?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 15, p. 73): Such an intense decree had to be issued three times, in order to fully strengthen it. Pharaoh first acted only via the midwives; then he killed the babies outright in the Nile; finally he decreed even upon his own nation. 1
Maharal (ibid, end Ch. 15): Although this last stage was not directed against Yisrael alone, it shows how deeply all of the Egyptians hated Yisrael.
Why is "Meyaledos" written missing a 'Vav'?
Da'as Zekenim, Hadar Zekenim: This teaches that there was really only one midwife (Shifrah), because Pu'ah would merely coo at the baby after he was born.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "Meyaledos - meaning Molidos." What does this explain?
Gur Aryeh: "Molidos" is an active verb - causing (i.e. facilitating) a woman to give birth. 1
Rashi uses the verb "Molidos," the Hif'il (causative) form of the verb Yud-Lamed-Dalet. (CS)
Rashi writes: "... Only that sometimes the verb is in Kal (simple) form, and sometimes in Kaved (intensive) form." How can we tell the difference?
Gur Aryeh: An intensive verb 1 will have a Dagesh in the middle letter of the root (in this case the letter Lamed).
The Pasuk uses the verb "Meyaledos," the Pi'el (intensive) form of the verb Yud-Lamed-Dalet. The three intensive verb forms include Pi'el, Pu'al, and Hispa'el. (CS)
Rashi writes: "Shifrah - this was Yocheved... Pu'ah was Miriam..." (According to another opinion in Sotah 11b, Pu'ah was Elisheva, [future] wife of Aharon.) Why interpret this way?
Gur Aryeh #1: We will learn that Hashem rewarded the midwives with the "houses" of Kohanim, Leviyim and royalty (see Rashi to 1:21). We do not know of any women named Shifrah and Pu'ah who founded such dynasties - only of Yocheved and Miriam. 1
Gur Aryeh #2: The Pasuk presents the midwives in sequence as "first" and "second." They must have been related in some way. 2 Yocheved was objectively first, as she was the mother; her daughter (or daughter-in-law) was secondary to her. The only mother-daughter pair that we know of in this generation was Yocheved and Miriam.
Gur Aryeh: As a rule, the text of the Torah does not come to make the facts ambiguous, but rather to clarify (Rashi to Bereishis 10:25).
Gur Aryeh: We infer this from the Gemara (Sotah 11b), which tells us their relationship even before telling us their names - "it was a woman and her daughter... it was a daughter-in-law and her mother-in-law."
Rashi writes: "Shifrah was Yocheved... Pu'ah was Miriam...." If so, why doesn't the Pasuk tell us their proper names?
Gur Aryeh: The Torah does not tell us the names of Moshe's siblings, or even of his father and mother, until after Moshe is born. Moshe had been designated to bring the Redemption, ever since Creation. Had he not been born to Amram and Yocheved, he would have born to someone else. We should not view Moshe's parents as the specific cause that such a child as Moshe was born. 1
