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    She called him “Moses” – Yitro

    The Israelite leader was Moses. He was given this name when as a baby he was drawn out of the water where his baby crib had floated.

    Pharaoh’s daughter said, “It (the name Moshe/Moses) is because I drew him out of the water” – ki min hamayim meshitihu (Ex.2:10).

    There is a linguistic problem, however. “Moshe” is a present tense participle which literally means “the one who draws out”. It is not passive with the meaning “the one who was drawn out”.

    Strictly speaking the name indicates that Moses was the leader who would bring the people out of captivity, the leader who would redeem Israel from bondage and bring them to their allocated future.

    In his d’rashot the Lubavitcher Rebbe speaks of Moses embodying messianic qualities, a notion which emerges from Midrashic sources.

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