Moses in Rabbinic Literature - Pharaoh's Daughter

Pharaoh's Daughter

Then God sent a fierce heat upon Egypt, and Pharaoh's daughter Bithiah, who was afflicted with leprosy, went to bathe in the river. Hearing a child cry, she beheld a casket in the reeds . She caused it to be brought to her, and on touching it was cured of her leprosy. For this reason she was kindly disposed toward the child. When she opened the casket she was astonished at his beauty, and saw the Shekinah with him. Noticing that the child was circumcised, she knew that the parents must have been Hebrews.

Gabriel struck Moses, so as to make him cry and arouse the pity of the princess. She wished to save the child; but as her maids told her she must not transgress her father's commands, she set him down again. Then Gabriel threw all her maids down; and God filled Bithiah with compassion, and caused the child to find favor in her eyes. Thereupon she took the child up, saved him, and loved him much. This was on the sixth day of the month of Sivan; according to another version, on Nisan 21.

When the soothsayers told Pharaoh that the redeemer of Israel had been born and thrown into the water, the cruel edict ordering that the children be thrown into the river was repealed. Thus the casting away of Moses saved Israel from further persecution. According to another version, 600,000 children had already been thrown into the river, but all were saved because of Moses.