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Chassidut on the Torah |
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The week of VaEira, 5762 Overview Va'era (Exodus 6:2-9:35) opens with G-d instructing Moshe to tell the Jews His promise to free them, but the Jews were not receptive due to their disappointment and harsh slavery. Listed next is the lineage of some Jewish families, mostly that of Moshe and Aharon. G-d told Moshe to perform a sign before Pharaoh: Aharon threw down Moshe's staff which turned into a serpent. When Pharaoh's magicians turned their staffs into snakes, Moshe's staff swallowed their staffs. The first plague: all water in Egypt turned to blood. Pharaoh's magicians also turned water to blood, and Pharaoh hardened his heart. The water remained blood for seven days. Next, the plague of frogs-Frogs were everywhere! This too the magicians duplicated. Pharaoh agreed to let the Jews go worship, but once the plague ended, Pharaoh rescinded. The magicians could not, however, duplicate the third plague of lice. Even they were awed by G-d's power, but Pharaoh was obstinate. After were the plagues of wild beasts, an epidemic on livestock, boils, and hail. The plagues didn't harm the Jews. Each time Pharaoh made conditions and concessions, but with the plague's conclusion, the promises evaporated. Insights Surprising as it may be, there are some Rabbinic opinions that say that Jews and Egyptians alike were smitten with the first three plagues: blood, fogs, and lice. Ibn Ezra bases his opinion on the verse introducing the fourth plague (8/18), "I will miraculously set apart the Goshen area, where My people remain." He points out that since 'setting apart Goshen' was not mentioned with the first three plagues, these three affected everyone! Only in the fourth plague of wild animals and those that followed (these being more dangerous and difficult), was a separation made between Jew and Egyptian. The Radbaz argues against this point, forbidding belief in such an idea. His reason is simple. The purpose of the plagues was to force Pharaoh to release the Jewish people. If the Jewish people were also being affected by the plagues, how could the plague influence Pharaoh? Trying to understand the Ibn Ezra, we can see that the first three plagues really were different. Unlike the later plagues that were actual punishments of the Egyptians, the purpose of the first three was to topple the Egyptian spiritual foundations. For instance, Rashi cites the Midrash (7/17), that the plague of blood was against the Nile, the Egyptian's deity. Also, the second plague, frogs, is connected to the Nile, from which the frogs emerged. [The Midrash asks, 'why didn't Moshe bring on the plague of frogs by smiting the Nile?' (See verse 8/2 that it was Aharon who did so.) This is because the Nile protected Moshe as a baby when he was hidden in the basket, and it was not appropriate for him to initiate a plague against it]. As for lice, the Torah itself shows how Pharaoh's sorcerers were unable to reproduce the plague, proving that the plagues were an act of G-d, not of magic produced by Moshe and Aharon. Since these first plagues were not a punishment of the Egyptians but rather strikes against their beliefs, it makes no difference if Goshen was affected or not. In fact, to enforce this point, it was imperative for the Nile to be affected wherever it was, even in the land of Goshen. Similarly for the lice, by necessity they had to be in all of Egypt to demonstrate its being the finger of G-d and not a humanly wrought act. What lesson can we learn from the above? The Rebbe suggests the following: The word for the fourth plague was 'arov', or 'mixture' referring to G-d's banding together wild animals to attack the Egyptians. (The RaMaK says that it refers to 'mixing' day and night because there were so many birds of prey in the sky, you could not tell if it was light or dark). We can understand the word arov in a different way. The future of the Jewish people depends on their being separate and unique from the other nations. It is a Divine imperative that this sanctity be protected. When G-d Himself breaks down the natural boundaries of the world, it is important that the separation of Jews from the other nations be intensified. This is the meaning of the verse above, "I will miraculously set apart". This separation affected all of the Jewish people, even those who did not want to leave Egypt, showing how important such a separation is to everyone regardless of his or her spiritual level. By maintaining our separation as Jews regardless of how much society wants us to forget, especially in times like these when boundary after boundary is under attack, we will guarantee that there will be no barrier between ourselves and G-d. Ultimately this will help every Jew return to his or her roots and bring Moshiach, immediately. Shabbat Shalom, Shaul |
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Ascent of Safed
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