Yocheved

The Torah then lists and counts Jacob’s family – children and grandchildren – noting that they totaled 70 people. The 70th and youngest in this census was Levi’s daughter Yocheved, whom we will meet later as the mother of Moses.

כָּל הַנֶּפֶשׁ לְבֵית יַעֲקֹב הַבָּאָה מִצְרַיְמָה שִׁבְעִים: (בראשית מו:כז)

The total of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt was 70 persons. Genesis 46:27

By descending into the Egyptian exile, the Jewish people began the process of elevating and transforming the 70 nations of the world. Yocheved’s birth just before Jacob’s family entered Egypt brought their number to 70, thus enabling Jacob to begin the mission of refining the 70 nations.

The process of transforming the world is twofold: first, we must cure the world of its opposition to holiness, and then, we must transform it into holiness. The former is the “masculine,” assertive approach, whereas the latter is the “feminine,” nurturing approach.

Thus, the commandments entrusted to women – ensuring that the family is nourished in accordance with the Torah’s laws, ensuring the safety and spiritual warmth of the home (as exemplified by kindling the Sabbath candles), and sanctifying marital life – are all ways of transforming the mundane aspects of ordinary human life into expressions of holiness.1

FOOTNOTES
1.	Likutei Sichot, vol. 20, pp. 218 ff. 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe Translated and Adapted by Moshe Wisnefsky