Yitro 5780
Question: Why are the boys referred to only as children of ציפורה and not of משה?
Approach: Whilst we sometimes find children linked specifically to the mother, we normally find it when the father is previously known (e.g the children of יעקב). In this case, we have heard of the birth of גרשם previously, but the birth of אליעזר is only hinted to. We see that, whatever the explanation, ציפורה “saved the day” with the ברית מילה, and here it transpires that she went back to מדין whilst משה was in Egypt. As such, it seems that the attribution of parenthood goes to the person who raised the child, rather than based purely on biology. This is similar to how we explained שרה suggesting that her raising the child of הגר would be her “building”.
Approach: Whilst we sometimes find children linked specifically to the mother, we normally find it when the father is previously known (e.g the children of יעקב). In this case, we have heard of the birth of גרשם previously, but the birth of אליעזר is only hinted to. We see that, whatever the explanation, ציפורה “saved the day” with the ברית מילה, and here it transpires that she went back to מדין whilst משה was in Egypt. As such, it seems that the attribution of parenthood goes to the person who raised the child, rather than based purely on biology. This is similar to how we explained שרה suggesting that her raising the child of הגר would be her “building”.
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