This week’s Torah portion relays Moses’s miraculous rescue after being placed in the Nile by his mother, Yocheved, to try to save him from the evil decree issued by the Egyptian king, Pharaoh, to kill all the Jewish baby boys. The Torah says that Pharaoh’s daughter, Batya, went down to bathe in the Nile, saw a basket among the reeds and she took it (2:5). A famous Torah commentary, Rashi, comments that she stretched out her hand and her arm grew many cubits so that she could reach the basket.

Why would Batya stretch out her hand if she knew her arm was not long enough to reach the basket? Why would someone perform an act in futility? And why would God create such an astonishing miracle of Batya’s arm growing instead of something more subtle, like a wind blowing the basket closer to Batya, for example?

Lesson:

Batya could have easily made numerous excuses as to why it was not worth it to try to retrieve the basket. However, by extending her arm, she extended herself and her limitations. Often in life, we are confronted with different situations or opportunities that seem beyond our scope of what we can handle or accomplish. We have excuse after excuse as to why our efforts will result in failure – so what’s the point in trying?

Batya recognized something very beautiful: when we go beyond what we think we are capable of, we break through the very barriers that stand in our way of success. The actual act of extending ourselves allows for personal growth, allowing us to tap into reservoirs of potential that often times we did not know existed. When Batya extended her arm beyond what it was capable of, it resulted in growth. And by God allowing Batya to be successful in retrieving Moses’s basket, we can learn that when we push ourselves as far as we can go, God in turn will help ‘extend our hands’ even further.

Exercise: Take on something that you have wanted to do but have not because you thought it was too difficult. This could be connecting with an old friend after a fallout, learning something new, or taking on a new project. Know that by making the effort, you have already come out ahead, regardless of the outcome.