Of all of the people found in Tanakh, the one whom I have always wanted to meet is a rather elusive character. We don’t know much about her from the Torah itself, but what we do know is enough to have sparked imaginations for centuries. She has her first appearance in this week’s Torah reading in a sentence that is easy to overlook. 

Among the list of all of Jacob’s family who descend into Egypt during the famine are both “his sons and his sons’ sons…his daughters and his sons’ daughters” (Exodus 46:7). Of these elusive daughters and granddaughters, the only granddaughter actually mentioned by name is Asher’s daughter Serach (Exodus 46:17). 

For a woman to be mentioned by name in a list like this indicates her importance. Yet, the Torah doesn’t record a single deed, thought, or famous child of Serach. Neither is this the only mention of this enigmatic woman. Her name appears again in the census of the Israelites that was taken in the desert after they escaped from Egypt (Numbers 26:46).

From these two brief mentions of her name in these lists, the Rabbis came to believe that Serach bat Asher traveled with her family into Egypt and then out again hundreds of years later. The Rabbis explain that Serach’s long life is either a blessing or a curse (depending on the inflection you give the words) from Jacob. After returning from Egypt and discovering that their brother Joseph was alive and well, Joseph’s brothers weren’t sure how to break the news to their father. After all, he had spent years mourning his favorite son and he was not in the best of health. Afraid that the shock of the news might kill him, the brothers came up with a plan. They asked 6-year-old Serach, Asher’s daughter, to sing a special song to her grandfather. As she sang the chorus “Joseph is alive,” Jacob replied “you should live so long.” (Midrash Avot, p. 45)

What else did this remarkable woman do during her long life? She served as both witness to all of the events that befell the Israelite people and as a living source of memory to help guide the people. When Moses came before the Israelites and promised to finally lead them out of Egypt, the Israelites were understandably skeptical. 

How could they be sure that this man who stood before them was truly the leader that would help bring about their redemption? 

According to tradition, there was a secret code by which the true leader would be revealed. Jacob knew this code, taught it to Joseph and his brothers, and Asher taught the secret to his daughter, Serach. As soon as the people heard Moses speak, they turned to Serach to find out whether this was the man in whom they should believe. Only once Serach reassured the people that Moses had said the code words did the people agree to follow him. (Shemot Rabbah 5:13)

Without Serach, we might never have been able to leave Egypt. Serach’s grandfather, Joseph, made us promise to bury his bones not in Egypt, but in the Promised Land. But when the time came to leave Egypt, Moses did not know where to find Joseph’s bones. Of all the Israelites in Egypt, only Serach bat Asher knew where to find Joseph’s bones. She told Moses that Joseph’s bones had been buried in a metal coffin and sunk into the Nile River. She walked him to the river’s edge and pointed out the exact spot where they had been sunk. Moses then called out to Joseph that the people were leaving, at which point the coffin rose out of the water as if it were as light as a reed, and Moses was able to carry Joseph’s bones with him out of Egypt. (B. Sota 13a, Deut. Rabba 11:7, Tanhuma Beshallach 2)

Yet, as remarkable as these accounts of Serach’s deeds are, it seems to me that someone who has lived such a miraculously long life (so long that there are those who say that she is immortal and lives among us still) would have even more stories to share with me over dinner. As intrigued as I am by what we know of Serach, I am even more curious about what we don’t know.

I may never get to have dinner with Serach. I may never learn all of her stories and secrets. But, there are people all around us whose life stories might just be as amazing as Serach’s. People whose stories we can take the time to get to know. We just need to be willing to ask and listen.