Weekly Parsha

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Vaeira

Exodus 6:2 - 9:35 

This is the message of Parshat Va’eira. Va’eira means “And I revealed Myself.” The root of Va’eira is the word re’iyah, meaning “sight.” Va’eira refers to something that can be seen directly. This theme is continued throughout the Torah reading, which describes seven of the ten plagues open miracles which had a twofold purpose, as the Torah states: 

“I will display My power,… I will bring forth My hosts from Egypt…. And Egypt will know that I am G‑d.”

These plagues made the whole world conscious of G‑d’s presence. Even the Egyptians whose ruler had proudly boasted: “I do not know G‑d,” became aware of Him and acknowledged: “This is the finger of G‑d!”

Here begins the story of the Ten Plagues which G-d put upon the Egyptians not only to effect the release of the Jewish people from bondage, but to show the world that He is the G-d of all creation and history. The first nine plagues are divisible into three groups: 1) the water turning to blood, frogs, lice 2) wild beasts, pestilence/epidemic, boils 3) hail, locust, and darkness.

These were punishments measure for measure for afflicting the Jewish people with slavery: 1) The first of each group reduced Egyptians in their own land to the insecurity of strangers. 2) The second of each group robbed them of pride, possessions and a sense of superiority. 3) The third in each group imposed physical suffering.

The Plague of Blood:

"And the Lord said to Moshe, say to Aharon: Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, their rivers and their pools, and over every gathering of their water, that they may become blood; throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone" (Exodus 7:19).

Why is Aharon (Moses' brother) and not Moses commanded to initiate this plague?

Aharon, rather than Moses, was chosen to initiate the plague of blood because the water had protected Moses when he was cast into it as an infant in a basket. It would, therefore, not be proper for Moses to smite the water which helped save him.

How can this be?

Water is an inanimate object which does not have free will. When something floats in water and does not sink, it would not occur to us to give thanks to the water for its buoyancy. Nevertheless, we learn from this verse that if a person derives pleasure from an object, he should show his gratitude by being careful not to cause harm or damage to the object, even though it would not suffer pain.

As the Talmud (Bava Kama 92b) states: "If you drank water from a well, do not throw stones at it".

Although this advice is basically meant as a metaphor for people who have given you something, the literal meaning should not be ignored.

Since this is true concerning inanimate objects, all the more so we must show gratitude towards people who have shown us kindness. Unfortunately, there is a saying "No good deed goes unpunished".

People often times not only don't show gratitude, but they return indifference or bad for good. We must make it one of our personal goals in life to always think "who has helped me and who can I thank today?".

Let your attitude be gratitude. Not only will you be happier, but so will those around you -- especially your friends and family.

A good marriage is a contest of generosity!

Shabbat Shalom

R. Tank

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Rabbi Tank is a professor at American Jewish College where he teaches classes on Talmud, Jewish History and Contemporary Jewish Law. Rabbi Tank is dedicated to finding modern usefulness and meaning in ancient wisdom texts and he is happy to provide spiritual, cultural, social and educational programming for communities around the world. 

Rabbi Tank was educated in Chabad Yeshivas in New York and Miami. He has got a Degree in Biblical Archeology from Bar Ilan University and a Harvard Degree in Judaic Studies. He got his Bachelor's in Business Administration and he also earned a degree in International Economic Development from the University of Oxford. 

Rabbi Tank works with active involvement in peace negotiations and humanitarian relief operations an he is a Member of the National White House Faith Leaders, an Executive Office of the President of the United States.

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