What makes a person brave? Ask most kids, and they'll describe a superhero — someone with a cape, maybe some special powers. But Parshas Shemos for kids offers a radically different picture of courage. It's a mother placing her baby in a basket. It's a young girl hiding behind bushes, watching and waiting. It's a grown man who sees suffering and refuses to look away.
These are the heroes your children need to meet — and they're waiting right there in the Parsha.
Parshas Shemos opens with the Yidden thriving in Mitzrayim. Families are growing. Babies are everywhere — the Torah tells us that Jewish mothers were having multiple children at once. Life should have felt blessed.
But then everything shifts. A new Pharaoh rises to power, and he doesn't remember Yosef or anything he did for Mitzrayim. This Pharaoh looks at the growing Jewish families and sees a threat. His response? Crush them with backbreaking labor — building from morning until night.
Here's a thought worth sharing with your kids: Pharaoh wasn't afraid of Jewish armies. He was afraid of Jewish families. The very thing that made the Yidden strong — their homes, their children, their togetherness — was what Pharaoh tried to destroy. That's a powerful reminder that a Jewish home is never "just" a home. It's the foundation of everything.
Pharaoh's cruelty didn't stop with forced labor. He issued a terrifying decree: every Jewish baby boy was to be thrown into the river. And he gave this order directly to Yocheved and Miriam — known by their other names, Shifrah and Puah — the Jewish midwives who helped mothers during childbirth.
Think about what Pharaoh was asking. He was the most powerful man in the world. Saying no to him could cost you your life. And yet — Yocheved and Miriam refused. They didn't listen to Pharaoh. They listened to Hashem.
This is one of the most important lessons in Parshas Shemos for kids: real bravery doesn't always look dramatic. Sometimes it's quiet. Sometimes it's simply doing what's right when doing what's wrong would be so much easier. Chazal teach us that in the merit of these righteous women, the Jewish people were saved. Two women. No armies, no weapons — just the courage to say no.
When Yocheved gave birth to a baby boy, she knew the danger. Pharaoh's soldiers were searching everywhere. So she came up with a plan that required something extraordinary — Bitachon, complete trust in Hashem.
She placed her baby in a waterproof basket and set him gently into the river. Then she told her daughter Miriam to hide nearby and watch. Imagine being Miriam — a young girl, crouching behind the reeds, heart pounding, watching her tiny brother float away. She didn't know what would happen. But she stayed. She watched. She waited.
And then — Pharaoh's own daughter, Princess Basya, came to the river. She heard a baby crying, stretched out her arm, and pulled the basket in. She looked at this Jewish baby and decided to save him. She named him Moshe.
When Moshe wouldn't stop crying, Miriam stepped forward with a suggestion: "I know a Jewish woman who can nurse this baby." And she brought her own mother, Yocheved, to care for Moshe. The very baby Pharaoh wanted to destroy was now being raised in Pharaoh's own palace — and nursed by his own mother.
There's something beautiful here for your children to absorb: Hashem's plans are bigger than any Pharaoh's decrees. Every person in this story played their part — Yocheved with her Bitachon, Miriam with her watchfulness, even Basya with her compassion. No one could see the full picture, but each one did what they could.
Years later, Moshe is no longer a baby in a basket. He's grown up in the luxury of Pharaoh's palace. He could have stayed comfortable. But when Moshe went out and saw his fellow Yidden — exhausted, broken, working endlessly — he didn't turn away.
The Torah tells us Moshe felt their pain. He didn't just notice it. He carried it with him.
This is where Parshas Shemos for kids connects directly to your child's daily life. Empathy doesn't begin with grand gestures. It begins with noticing. A friend struggling at lunch. A sibling having a hard day. A parent who looks tired. Moshe Rabbeinu — the greatest leader in Jewish history — began his path by simply caring about the people around him.
After leaving Mitzrayim, Moshe became a shepherd in Midian. One day, a single sheep wandered off. Moshe didn't shrug and let it go. He followed the little sheep — because every single one mattered to him.
And that's when he saw it: a bush on fire, burning brightly, yet not consumed by the flames. Moshe stepped closer. And from within the bush, he heard the voice of Hashem.
Hashem told Moshe: Go back to Mitzrayim. Tell Pharaoh to let the Yidden go.
Think about what Hashem was watching for. He didn't call out to someone sitting at home. He called out to the man who chased after one lost sheep. The man who noticed other people's suffering. The man who couldn't walk past pain without stopping.
That's the kind of person Hashem chose to lead the Jewish people — not the strongest or the loudest, but the one who cared the most.
The stories in this Parsha aren't ancient history collecting dust. They're alive — and they're full of practical lessons your children can carry with them right now.
Notice someone who needs help. Just like Moshe noticed the Yidden working so hard, encourage your child to look around — at home, in school, on the playground. Who might be having a tough day? A small act of Chessed can change someone's whole afternoon.
Practice quiet bravery. Talk with your kids about Yocheved and Miriam. Being brave doesn't mean being loud. Sometimes it means doing the right thing even when it's scary, even when no one is watching. Ask your child: "When was a time you did something brave that no one else saw?"
Trust that Hashem has a plan. Yocheved placed Moshe in the water without knowing what would happen next. That's Bitachon in action. Help your child name a time they were worried about something — and then it turned out okay. Building that awareness strengthens Emunah from a young age.
Care about the "one lost sheep." Moshe didn't overlook a single animal. Teach your kids that every person matters. If they see a classmate sitting alone or someone who looks left out, that's their moment to be like Moshe — to step toward the person, not away.
Parshas Shemos is packed with people who seemed small in the moment — a baby in a basket, a girl behind the bushes, midwives defying an empire. None of them had power the way the world measures it. But each of them changed Jewish history forever.
Your children might be little. But the Torah they absorb now — the courage, the empathy, the trust in Hashem — shapes who they'll become. And that's anything but small.