Rabbi's Sermons

Shabbat Shalom,

Parashat Vaera contains one of the most interesting passages of the Torah. From its four chapters, three of them detail seven of the ten plagues, which had affected Egypt, before the departure of the people of Israel, from slavery to freedom.

Most of us know the ten plagues from the Pesach´s Haggadah, that we read, as part of the Seder, during which we are almost always more occupied with food, rather than asking ourselves about the plagues themselves. So, there are very few who wonder about the essence of the plagues in Egypt, and especially, about their meaning. When my daughter was learning the story of the plagues in Egypt at school, she asked me, why were ten, and perhaps, the most important question: Why did God harden Pharaoh's heart over and over again? After all, if God is omnipotent, wouldn’t have been easier for the creator of the world, to persuade Pharaoh to let the people of Israel out of Egypt? And why should the Egyptian people suffer as well? I realized that her questions did not come from the need to learn the ten plagues by heart, but she had a real curiosity, so I decided to do a more in-depth study.

It is true, that God could have persuaded Pharaoh to let the people of Israel out of Egypt, when Aharon and Moshe faced him for the first time. However, probably that was not the purpose of the hard plagues inflicted upon, not only Pharaoh, but also the Egyptian people. The number of plagues is probably also important, not 2 or 5, but exactly 10, and were not from a natural origin, such as an earthquake, a flood or a meteorite that would fell from the sky, but the plagues had to be, just as they were.

In Israel, at the schools during Bible lessons, teachers tend to group the plagues into three groups of three plagues each. In each group, Moshe alerts Pharaoh, in the following way: The first plague is warned near the Nile River, the second plague is alerted to Pharaoh in his palace, and the third plague arrives without warning. The damage caused is always increasing, from financial damage to personal injury, to the last plague, the most difficult of all. But all these details learned in schools are purely technical and do not reflect the essence of the plagues themselves.

Moshe and Aharon had a doubled mission. Not only, did they have to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, but also, they had to teach the monotheistic concept to the greatest and most powerful nation in the world of ancient times. The Egyptians believed in a complete collection of gods, main and secondary Gods, and according to archaeologists, the main Egyptian temple at the time of the Exodus, was in the city of Heliopolis, where the Egyptians worshiped nine of their most important gods. In addition to the nine gods, of course, was Pharaoh himself, whom the Egyptians also believed was divine, and thus we reach ten gods.

When Moshe and Aharon announced to Pharaoh: "Thus Adonai the God of Israel has said, let my people go", Pharaoh naturally responded, "Who is this Adonai why do I have to listen to him?". For Pharaoh, this name was not on his list of gods, so he did not have to listen to it! The ten plagues were intended to demonstrate the inefficiency and absurdity of each of these Egyptian gods.

1. Hapi was the goddess of the Nile River. The Egyptians believed, that Hapi gave life and food to people because the Nile itself, was the source of the vital life of Egypt. The first plague was blood in the water of the Nile, that became a symbol of death of its goddess, a sign of God's supremacy over Hapi.

2. Sobek was the god of manhood, with a head of a crocodile, who could not avoid the second plague, of frogs, which invaded even pharaoh´s room.

3. Ra was the famous god, of the sun and earth, and, obviously, not strong enough to avoid the third plague, which attacked the earth, as described: “Say unto Aharon, ‘Stretch out thy rod and smite the dust of the land that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt” ^{Exodus 8:16}

4. The fourth plague was an invasion of venomous creatures, scorpions and snakes, as Rashi interprets: "The Egyptian god of destruction called Set in the form of a snake was impotent and unable to stop the plague"

5. The fifth plague was an epidemic illness, which hit the Egyptian cattle. The goddess Isis, whose image had horns, had been the goddess of fertility, and specifically, the protector of livestock. Even she, was helpless to protect her cattle that died.

6. Midrash Shemot Raba mentions, that the Egyptians were infected with leprosy that caused the meat to rot. This was the sixth plague, that came to prove the ineffectiveness of the goddess Nephitis, enchanted with embalming and preservation of the bodies.

7. The seventh plague was a devastating hailstorm. The goddess Tefnut, was the rain goddess, and the Egyptians who prayed to stop the destructive hail, quickly realized, that she had no power against the God of Israel.

8. Geb, the god of vegetation, was completely helpless in the face of the eighth, devastating plague, of the lobster, which destroyed much of the vegetation in Egypt.

9. During the ninth plague, the words "וְיָמֵשׁ, חֹשֶׁךְ", "darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which could be felt" is difficult to understand. How is it possible to feel darkness? Rashi, in an effort to explain it, imagined that it could be felt, as if the air became thick and black, so thick, that the Egyptians were trapped in the position they were in, when the plague struck. Something similar, perhaps, to what happened in Mexico City, when the smog was so intense that it practically could be felt. According to other commentators, they could not move, because the sun was gone and they had a tremendous fear. The Egyptian god of air: Shu, was unable to act against the power of this palpable darkness.

10. Pharaoh, the living God on earth, was the one to receive the most bitter plague of all, the death of his firstborn, and only then, decided to free the people of Israel, asking even Moshe and Aharon: "וּבֵרַכְתֶּם, גַּם-אֹתִי - "and bless me too” ^{Exodus 12:32}

All this, could explain the quantity and essence of the ten plagues in Egypt, but we could still ask ourselves, why was it so important to introduce the monotheistic concept in Egypt? After all, the Egyptians did not cease to be idolaters. The truth is, that the goal of proving the existence of a God, the Creator of the world, was actually aimed to the people of Israel! After 400 years of free life, and later slavery, the people of Israel had been too involved in the social and religious life of the Egyptian nation, and most of them had assimilated with the Egyptians. We can imagine how the people of Israel were so affected by the Egyptian gods, when we read about the incident of the Golden Calf, and how they were not ready for a monotheistic freedom and belief, later, when they reached to Sinai.

The ten plagues in Egypt came to teach the people of Israel a lesson in faith, in one God with only one tradition. Today we can learn from it, and maintain our tradition and our faith, studying, as we say in our prayers, “ללמוד וללמד” to study and to teach, as knowledge is our real freedom and strength.

Shabat Shalom!

Rabbi David Laor

January 24^th, 2025