For Jews in Egypt being a slave was hard work. From sun up to sun down there was no rest and the slaves were not paid for their work.

The Egyptian King Pharoah made the slaves build his greatest cities; they had to make the bricks themselves, without straw.

Pharoah feared that even as slaves, the Jews might grow strong and overthrow them, so Pharaoh decreed that Jewish baby boys should be drowned in the Nile.

When he issued that order, a Jewish mother named Yocheved decided to try to save her newborn son, Moses. She made a little cradle-boat and hid him in the reeds on the banks of the Nile River.

Moses stayed in his cradle and every day his sister Miriam came to take care of him. One day they were discovered by the Princess, Pharaoh’s daughter.

The Princess took the baby to the palace and raised him as her own son. She also took Moses’ mother along to be the baby’s nurse.


haggadah Section: -- Exodus Story