Serah
Torah figure granted immortality and entrance into heaven alive.
Serach bat Asher is a figure from the Torah, listed as a daughter of Asher and one of the seventy members of Jacob's family who migrated to Egypt. She is the only woman mentioned in the genealogical lists, which is thought to reflect her extraordinary longevity due to a blessing from Jacob. She is also the subject of several legends.
Quick Facts
- Father
- Asher
- Grandfather
- Jacob
- Mentioned in
- Genesis 46:17
- Numbers 26:46
- 1 Chronicles 7:30
- Role in torah
- Only granddaughter listed among the 53 grandsons in the genealogical lists
- Legendary blessing
- May you live forever and never die
Facts from the source article.
In the Torah
Serach appears twice in the Torah. The first is in Genesis 46:17, which lists the Israelites who came to Egypt, naming Serach as the sister of Asher's sons. This same phrasing recurs in 1 Chronicles 7:30. The second mention is in Numbers 26:46. Her inclusion as the sole granddaughter among 53 grandsons suggests she held particular importance.
In Sefer HaYashar
According to Sefer haYashar, Asher married Hadurah, the widow of Malkiel, who had a daughter named Serach. Asher adopted Serach and brought her to Jacob's household. This account is cited in the Talmudic tractate Megillah to illustrate that an adopted child is legally considered the child of the adoptive parent. Serach is praised for her musical skill, beauty, and intellect.
In tradition
Several midrashim describe Serach. One says she was Asher's stepdaughter, three years old when Asher married her mother, and she won Jacob's affection through piety. The best-known midrash recounts that she informed Jacob that Joseph was alive by playing a harp and singing in rhyme that Joseph lived in Egypt with two sons. Jacob blessed her, saying, 'May you live forever and never die,' and she was eventually permitted to enter heaven alive. When Moses appeared to the elders, they consulted Serach to confirm he was the redeemer; she recognized him by the code phrase 'God has surely remembered,' passed down from Abraham. In Genesis 50:24, Joseph spoke the same words. A midrash says Moses asked Serach where Joseph's bones were hidden; she alone remembered the location, having witnessed Pharaoh entomb Joseph in a lead coffin cast into the Nile. According to Ecclesiastes Rabbah, Serach was the 'wise woman' who caused the death of Sheba son of Bichri.
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