Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, of blessed memory, offers an interesting insight into the source of the name of Moshe Rabbeinu. We know that in the holy Hebrew language the name of something portrays its essence. The name of a man has great significance, as his personality is embodied within his name.
Our Sages tell us that Moshe Rabbeinu had ten names. Each name described some aspect of his personality, and each name was representative of great spiritual capabilities. From all of these names, which is the one that G-d selected in the Torah to call his prophet, his faithful servant? Specifically the name Moshe, which was given to him by Batya the daughter of Pharaoh, “Ki min hamayim meshisihu — Because I drew him out of the water” (Shemos 2:10). How could it be that the savior of the Jewish people carried a name given to him by a non-Jewish woman which was intended to commemorate a specific act of hers? Even though Moshe was completely passive and did not do anything to merit this name, it is the name that was recorded for posterity.
Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz answers this puzzling question with an enlightening answer. This act of Pharaoh’s daughter was one of extraordinary kindness and self-sacrifice. There was a decree from her wicked father to cast every Jewish child into the Nile, yet upon seeing this helpless child in the water, she risked her own life because of her great compassion and mercy.
Moshe Rabbeinu was the recipient of this great kindness, the recipient of compassion and self-sacrifice. Therefore, these very virtues became part and parcel of his personality. One who is on the receiving end of such great compassion and self-sacrifice naturally acquires these traits. It was the daughter of Pharaoh who instilled these virtues in Moshe, these qualities which Moshe needed to become the leader of the Jewish people. Moshe was given the name which commemorates her act of extraordinary benevolence.
Rav Chaim says, in a similar vein, that parents who shower their helpless infant with love, care, and kindness will inject these virtues into their child. It is, perhaps, for this reason that humans are born so totally helpless — in order that they may be the recipients of kindness and love. So, too, when a husband constantly pours warmth, devotion, and kindness into his wife, he fills her with these virtues. Her natural instinctive reaction will be, eventually, to respond in kind.
Excerpt from “Two Halves Of A Whole” by Rabbi Yirmiyohu & Tehilla Abramov. Available at www.jewishfamily.org
