FROM THE DESK OF THE ROSH HAYESHIVA
(Rabbi Dr. Stuart Grant)

Parshat Va'erah
THE NINE PLAGUES

In this weeks Parshah we begin to enumerate the plagues that strike Egypt . However, after a careful analysis of the text, one discovers that there are really only nine coercive plagues and one punishment plague. One also discovers that the coercive plagues themselves begin and end in a most logical way.

In the previous Parshah of Shemot G-d is very clear about what will happen to the Egyptians if they do not free the Hebrews. In chapter four verse twenty-three G-d tells Moshe to inform Pharaoh that if Pharaoh does not free the Hebrews to worship G-d then, “behold I will kill your son, your first born”. From here we can surmise that the plague of the first born was really a punishment for Egyptian refusal to free the Hebrews. If this be the case then the first and last plagues used to convince Pharaoh to free his slaves were blood and darkness.

At this time in history Egypt is an agricultural society. As a result Egypt 's two most important natural resources are sunlight and water. Egypt goes so far as to make gods out of these resources. Egyptians worship the Nile which is the source of their water and worship the sun which is the source of their light. To prove that the G-d of the Hebrews is the true G-d of nature the Almighty begins his attack with blood by literally bleeding the Nile to death and ends His attack with darkness by blotting out and killing the sun.

Unfortunately for the Egyptians they still do not free the Hebrews, and G-d strikes them as he promised with the punishment of death to their first born. Only then do the Egyptians free the Hebrews. We gain liberty, the Egyptians experience ruin and G-d begins a new chapter in man's struggle for freedom and equality.