- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Beha'alotcha
27
"Cushite." Kush (also mentioned in the Purim
Megila as one end of the Persian empire) is
usually the name for Ethiopia. Kush was the older
brother of Mitzrayim (Egypt) so that makes sense
geographically. Rashi says Tzipora was a
Midianite & not actually black-skinned; this is
rather a euphemism for her beauty (Kushit in
Gematriya equals Y’fat Mare’h; implying that just
as everyone acknowledges an Ethiopian as black,
so all would admit that Tzipora was beautiful.
Note that King Shaul was also called, "Cush ben
Yemini" (Tehilim 7:1) though he obviously was not
from Ethiopia. But it’s also possible that
Tzipora was indeed black, as there is a Midrash
that says Yitro bought her as a young girl from
the slave market, which had people from many
different countries. It’s also interesting to
note that Miriam’s punishment of tzara’at caused
her skin to turn "snow-white," perhaps
contrasting to the black skin of Tzipora, who may
have also been embarrassed by Miriam’s charge that she was neglected by Moshe.

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