Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Musar for Sotah 24:5

ותשלח את אמתה ותקחה ר' יהודה ור' נחמיה חד אמר ידה וחד אמר שפחתה מ"ד ידה דכתיב אמתה ומ"ד שפחתה מדלא כתיב ידה

And sent her handmaid to fetch it<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. II, 5. ');"><sup>2</sup></span> — R. Judah and R. Nehemiah [differ in their interpretation]; one said that the word means 'her hand' and the other said that it means 'her handmaid'. He who said that it means 'her hand' did so because it is written ammathah;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The text could be read either as amathah 'her maid' or 'ammathah 'her arm'. The Targum of Onkelos renders by 'her arm'. ');"><sup>7</sup></span>

Shenei Luchot HaBerit

We have explained on several occasion that the שר העולם, the angel to whom G–d has entrusted the proper allocation of the food- supply in our world, is called Mattatron, or נער. Moses' function too, was to provide for the needs of his people. He is already referred to as נער when the daughter of Pharaoh found him, although normally he should only have been referred to as ילד (Exodus 2,6). Our commentators have said that Moses' voice was like that of a נער. The very name משה is also an acronym for מטטרון שר הפנים. On Exodus 24,1: ואל משה אמר עלה אל ה' our sages comment that Moses' name was Mattatron, just like the name of his teacher. When the Torah commenced the Book of Leviticus with the words ויקרא, this is a choice expression for all those who are מושפעים, direct recipients of G–d's favor. This is another dimension of Proverbs 9,1-3 which we discussed on page 739, i.e. נערותיה תקרא, that Moses called out to Aaron and his sons, etc. The latter were also comparable to angels, as pointed out by Malachi 2,7 that the priest is an angel of the Lord. Every time the Torah refers to a girl as נערה, the word is spelled without the feminine ending, i.e. it is written נער, although we read it as נערה. The description of Moses as נער then is an allusion to his function being similar to that of Mattatron.
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