Shemos: Pulling & Drawing
The Torah relates that due to the Pharaoh's decrees against Jewish boys, baby Moses was placed in a basket on the Nile River and was taken in by the Pharaoh's daughter. It was the Pharaoh's daughter who eventually raised him and even gave the future Jewish savior his name. As the Bible relates, she called him Moshe, saying "I had drawn him [mishitihu] from the water" (Ex. 2:10). This verse tells us that the personal name Moshe is an inflection of the verb mishitihu, in the sense of “drawing/pulling.” In this essay, we will consider the name Moshe and the rare verb moshe in Biblical Hebrew, as well as its apparent synonyms moshech and shoev.
Although the given name Moshe appears in the Bible exactly 770 times (according to Even Shoshan’s concordance), the verb moshe and its various inflections (like mishitihu) appear only a few times. The only other clear examples of it are in the two passages wherein King David feels like he is drowning in his suffering, so he asks Hashem to “pull me out (yamsheini) of the multitude of water” (II Sam. 22:17, Ps. 18:17). Another possible example of this verb is when Isaiah foresees that during times of suffering, the Jewish People will look back to their historical salvations for comfort, “And he [Israel] will remember the bygone days of the one who pulls out (moshe) his nation” (Isa. 63:11). Radak in Sefer HaShorashim writes that some explain moshe in this verse as a verb derived from the same root that we are talking about. Although, most commentators (like Targum Rashi, Mahari Kara, Ibn Ezra, and Radak there) explain the word moshe as a proper noun (not a verb), referring to Moses, reading the verse as “…remember the bygone days of Moses [and] his nation.”
Either way, triliteralists (like Rabbi Yehuda Ibn Chayyuj, Rabbi Yonah Ibn Janach, and Rabbi David Kimchi) trace these terms to the triliteral root MEM-SHIN-HEY, while the biliteralist Menachem Ibn Saruk traces them to the two-letter root MEM-SHIN. Rashi (to Ex. 2:10) already addressed the question of from what root mishitihu derives, and he sided with the triliteralists on this one, explicitly rejecting Ibn Saruk. Interestingly, Ibn Janach and Kimchi see the word meshi (“silk”) as deriving from the same triliteral root as moshe, while Ibn Saruk traces meshi to its own triliteral root MEM-SHIN-YOD. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim (1740–1814) accounts for the connection between meshi and moshe by explaining that silk is a material that is “drawn from” the body of a silkworm.
Also following the triliteralists, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Ex. 2:10) sees the root MEM-SHIN-HEY as parallel to the root MEM-TZADI-HEY ("squeezing"), via the interchangeability of the letters SHIN and TZADI. He explains that both refer to applying pressure and extracting from liquid, with the former referring to "pulling/drawing" something from within the water, and the latter, to "drawing" liquid or juice from a solid (like a fruit).
The verb moshech occurs about 40 times in the Bible. As stated above, its primary meaning refers to the act of “drawing/pulling” something closer to oneself, but it can also refer more generally to “elongating,” “dragging,” or otherwise “leading” others. In one case, the act of “writing” is denoted with an inflection of moshech (Jud. 5:14) because when ink flows from the writer’s pen, it is akin to being “pulled” out from that writing instrument.
Now that we have learned that the verbs moshe and moshech both refer to “pulling/drawing,” it would seem that these two terms are perfect synonyms. However, various authorities have already attempted to show this not to be true, and offer ways of differentiating between these two closely-related terms. The earliest of these authorities is none other than Rashi’s grandson, Rabbi Shmuel ben Meir (1085–1158), also known as Rashbam. In his commentary to the Torah, Rashbam (to Ex. 2:10) writes that the verb moshe specifically refers to “drawing” something out from within water. Indeed, the words mishitihu and yamsheini in the Bible are both related to specifically “pulling” out of water. This explanation leaves open the possibility that moshech by contrast refers to “pulling/drawing” in a more general sense, and not specifically from the water.
Indeed, Rabbi David Chaim Chelouche (1920–2016) explicitly writes that the verb moshech is a more general term that refers to “removing an item from its place by bringing it closer to oneself,” while the verb moshe specifically means “taking something out of the water.” To use more technical terminology, moshech is a hypernym that includes moshe.
Although the way he defines them leaves a slight semantic difference between these two terms, Rabbi Chelouche argues that ultimately both of these terms derive from the same biliteral root MEM-SHIN (mash), which more generally refers to “moving/removing” something from its place.
Rabbi Pappenheim offers us another way of differentiating between moshe and moshech by tracing them to separate biliteral roots. He suggests a fascinating idea about triliteral roots that begin with the letter MEM, theorizing that with many such roots, the semantic core of the root actually consists of the two-letters after the MEM, with the letter MEM itself functioning as a way of flipping the meaning of the core two-letter root to its exact opposite. Examples abound:
- The two-letter root CHET-KUF (chok) means “engrave,” while MEM-CHET-KUF (machak) means the exact opposite: “erase.”
- The two-letter root LAMMED-TZADI (leitz) means “scorn/mockery,” while MEM-LAMMED-TZADI (meilitz) means “justification/defense.”
- The two-letter root AYIN-DALET (ad) means “connecting to an end-goal,” while MEM-AYIN-DALET (maad) means “slipping/tripping” (which sets one off-goal).
- The two-letter root REISH-DALET (rad) means “governing/ruling,” while MEM-REISH-DALET (marad) means “rebellion.”
- The two-letter root SHIN-LAMMED (shallal, shelilah) means “excluded from one’s domain,” while MEM-SHIN-LAMMED (moshel) means “included in one’s dominion.”
- The two-letter root NUN-AYIN (na, tenuah) means “movement,” while MEM-NUN-AYIN (monea) means “withholding/stopping.”
Given this rubric, Rabbi Pappenheim sees the core root of moshe as SHIN-HEY and the core root of moshech as SHIN-KAF. In other words, Rabbi Pappenheim sees the verb moshe as related to the bilateral root SHIN-HEY, which he further traces to the monoliteral root SHIN, meaning “equalize.” Words that he sees as deriving from this root include shaveh (“equal”), shav (“futile/vain,” something equally non-purposeful, no matter how one looks at it), nosheh (“loan,” because it creates an equation between the property of the lender and borrower), shaanan (“utter tranquility,” a uniform state of being), and shoah/shayit (“utter destruction,” also a uniform state of being). Accordingly, the verb moshe relates to these ideas as its polar opposite: when one “moves/removes/pulls” something, one effectively disrupts its prior uniformity and equilibrium by “shaking things up” and causing changes.
Similar, Rabbi Pappenheim traces the verb moshech to the biliteral root SHIN-KAF, which means “to be settled/positioned properly.” He explains that moshech denotes the exact opposite of this core meaning in that it represents an act that interrupts that well-groundedness to pull something away from its current place or situation.
Other words that Rabbi Pappenheim explains as deriving from this two-letter root include: shochen ("dwelling," one's place of domicile amongst others), shachen ("neighbor"), mashkon ("collateral," a borrower's item that is temporarily housed by the lender), keshoch/shechachah ("quelling/abating," by which one's anger and grievances have calmed down and one returns to one's normal state), shechem ("shoulder," a limb strategically positioned in place to connect the neck and upper arm), eshech ("testes," because they are positioned within the testicle sac), neshech ("biting", achieved by allowing one's teeth to come closer together, like they naturally want to, with some being bitten getting in between them). [It should be noted that Rabbi Pappenheim also recognizes a biliteral root MEM-SHIN, which he defines as “feeling/touching,” but he does not see that as the core etymon of moshe.]
Another theory out there is proposed by Shadal (to Ex. 2:10), who suggested that the name Moshe and even the words mishitihu and yamsheini are not actually of Hebrew origin, but are borrowed from the Egyptian language and were adopted as loanwords into Hebrew. This contrasts with meshech, which seems to be a native Hebrew word.
The verb shoev derives from the root SHIN-ALEPH-BET, which occurs approximately 20 times in the Bible. In almost all instances, it refers to the act of “drawing” water from a well. This task is accomplished by lowering a bucket into the subterranean wellspring, allowing that bucket to fill up with water, and then raising the bucket to bring it closer to oneself, so that one may use the waters that collected within it.
Later developments in Hebrew began to use the verb shoev for things unrelated to drawing water from a well: In Mishnaic Hebrew (Shabbat 2:4), the capillary action performed by a wick drawing up oil is termed shoev; in Talmudic Hebrew (Sotah 47a, Sanhedrin 107b, and Avodah Zarah 44a), a magnet is called an even shoevet (literally, "drawing stone"); and in Modern Hebrew, a vacuum cleaner is called a shoev avak (literally, “that which draws in dirt”).
Going back to the original Biblical use of the term shoev, exactly which stage of “drawing” water is denoted by the verb shoev is subject to some controversy. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Gen. 24:65, Deut. 28:22) understands that shoev specifically refers to when water is drawn into and fills the bucket. This understanding is also borne out by Targum Onkelos, who typically translates inflections of shoev into Aramaic as mamleh (a cognate of the Hebrew word mimaleh, meaning “filling”). However, Rabbi Yaakov Berger of Kiryat Sefer (in his unpublished Milon Leshon Mikra) infers from Nachmanides (to Gen. 24:17) that the core meaning of shoev is the act of “lowering” a bucket into a well to bring back water.
As elaborated upon in an earlier essay (“Drawing Water,” Jan. 2023), Rabbi Pappenheim traces the word shoev to the biliteral root SHIN-BET (“return”). He sees the core meaning of shoev as related to stopping the flow of water in a wellspring by capturing the water in a vessel.
Another Biblical Hebrew verb that means something along the lines of “drawing/pulling” is shoef. That term typically refers to “inhaling,” (Jer. 2:24, 14:6, Isa. 42:14, Ps. 119:131), which is a way of pulling air into one’s lungs. But that root also gave way to the concept of sheifah, which refers to a “higher yearning/desire” that one has internalized (Ecc. 1:5, Job 7:2, 36:20). Rabbi Hirsch actually connects the terms shoev and shoef via the interchangeability of the letters BET and PEH.
Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer (1866–1935) writes that although strictly-speaking shoev and shoef could be viewed as somewhat interchangeable, in practice shoev refers specifically to “drawing” water (at least in Biblical Hebrew), while shoef refers specifically to “drawing” air. Interestingly, the earliest source to draw a connection between shoev and shoef is Rabbi Menachem ben Shlomo’s Midrash Sechel Tov (to Gen. 24:11). That work notes the thematic similarity between internalizing a yearning (shoef) and filling up a container with water (shoev), but rejects the comparison on principle by noting that he only agrees to exegeses built on interchangeable letters in proper names, but not in regular content words.
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Many commentators who discussed Moses’ name have asked the following question: Why is he called Moshe, which means "he who is pulling/drawing," rather than Mashui, which would mean "he who was pulled [out of the water]"? Wasn’t Moses the one “who was pulled out” (passive) not the one “who is pulling” (active)?
Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Parchon (an early grammarian from the 12th century) in Machberet He-Aruch raises this question implicitly, asserting that Moses should have been called Mashui, with the one who performed the act of saving (i.e., Pharaoh’s daughter) being referred to as Moshe. However, Ibn Parchon does not explain why it was that Moses was ultimately named Moshe, and not Mashui.
In line with what we’ve seen so far, Rabbi Moshe Alshich (to Ex. 2:10) suggests that in naming him Moshe, the Pharaoh’s daughter meant to express how Moses possessed a magnetic charm that compelled her to leave the palace and specifically bathe in the river (see Ibn Ezra there), as though he pulled her towards the river. Similarly, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Ehrenreich (1863–1944) suggests that the name Moshe relates to Moses’ power to draw the people of Israel to follow him, akin to a "magnetic personality," or because he pulled the Israelites out of the impurities of Egypt by bringing them closer to Hashem. Fascinatingly, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kasher (1895–1983) in Torah Shleimah cites an unpublished Medieval manuscript that suggests that Hashem orchestrated her naming him Moshe because that name is the word Hashem spelled backwards.
Peirush HaTur(to Ex. 2:10) offers a more prosaic explanation in the name Rabbi Yosef Kimchi: Pharaoh's daughter simply was not fluent enough in Hebrew grammar to differentiate between poel (Moshe) and pual (Mashui), which is why she gave him a grammatically-inappropriate name. But Rabbi Kimchi adds that there was also an element of Divine providence in this unusual naming convention, because the name Moshe also hints at Moses' future role at “pulling out” the Jewish People from their exile in Egypt.
Other early commentators see the name Moshe as alluding to his future role in leading the Jews. More specifically, Peirush HaRokeach (to Ex. 2:10) suggests that Moses was named Moshe because he was destined to pull the Jewish People out of the water at the Splitting of the Sea. Similarly, the Tosafists (Moshav Zekanim to Ex. 2:10) claim that he was called Moshe because the Pharaoh's daughter prophesied about his role in drawing water from the rock for the Israelites in the wilderness. Midrash HaGadol (to Ex. 2:10) posits that Moshe signifies the idea that Moses pulled himself out of the waters, as it was his future merits that caused Pharaoh's daughter to save him.
Going in a slightly different direction, Chizkuni (to Ex. 2:10) implies that by giving him the name Moshe, Pharaoh's daughter prayed for Moses to grow up to be the one who liberates the Jewish people from their bondage, akin to how she rescued him from the water. A similar idea is advanced by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Ex. 2:10), who explains that she called him Moshe, instead of Mashui, for a pedagogical purpose: she wanted to raise the child to be ever-cognizant of the fact that his own life depended on the salvatory actions of the one who extracted him from the water, so that he too will act in a salvatory way to save others who are oppressed. She wanted him to have the courage to save others in their times of needs and extract them from their hellish situations, just like she saved him as a baby. The constant awareness that his life depended on someone saving him from water was meant to motivate him to do the same by saving others from their distressing situations. Ultimately, the name Moshe encompasses various interpretations, reflecting his destiny to lead, save, and liberate the Jewish People from adversity.
For more about the Pharaoh’s daughter naming Moshe, and various theories about what Moshe’s original Egyptian name might have been (Tomer, Mosh, Monius), check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew, published by Mosaica Press. My book is available online through Amazon and Feldheim, and at local Jewish bookstores.
