ON THE PARSHA
          Parshas Va'eira

          by Dovid Lipman, Jerusalem


The World Of The Supernatural

     (8:2) "And the frog came up..." To explain the use of the
singular, Rashi quotes a Midrash that there was at first only
one large frog, and the Egyptians struck at it, and it spewed
forth streams of regular frogs. Why did Hashem do this? The
simple answer is that He wanted to teach the Egyptians the
lesson of "cut your losses", so they would draw a parallel to
their own refusal to let the Jews go. Alternatively, however,
it seems to show an interesting aspect of the "science" of a
miracle. This frog was a new creation - a "miracle" frog. It
was created by the force of Hashem's command that Egypt be
attacked by frogs. Instead of the usual atoms and molecules,
this frog consisted of "d'var Hashem", the command of Hashem.
Perhaps, the blows of the Egyptians actually caused the frog
bleed, but the drops of blood, separated from the frog, by the
power of d'var Hashem became new frogs, because matter created
by Hashem's command to be frogs cannot be detached blood. So
the lesson was especially potent - the word of Hashem is
irresistible.

Note: Most weeks, it takes some effort to find "The World of
the Supernatural" in the parsha, but Va'eira seems to be pretty
much ALL supernatural stuff!

A Time To Laugh

     (7:7) "...and Aharon was eighty-three years old..." The
age-old custom to bless people with life "until 120 years" has
long disturbed me. It seems to be based on Moshe's life span,
considered a limit for our times. But how can it be a limit,
when Aharon died in the same year as did Moshe, and was three
years older than him? Shouldn't we be saying "until a hundred
and twenty-three?"

Worthy Of Note

     (7:10) "...and it became a snake." The Da'as Zekainim
explains that this was a message to Par'o, that he was like a
stick becoming a snake. Perhaps one meaning of this is found
in the famous pasuk (Koheles 7:29) "Hashem made men straight,
but they sought many plans." This is a general condemnation
of policies which are dishonest or deceptive - one must be
straight, as one was created, and not become a twisted snake.

From the Gemara

     (6:7) Berachos 28a - R' Nechemiah holds one must say in
the blessing on bread, "Motzi", not "HaMotzi", for the latter
implies something not yet done (like the prediction of the
"taking out", not yet taking place. The disagreeing Rabbis
explain, it means "Later, when the redemption is complete,
you will KNOW that Hashem took (past) you out of Egypt."
     (6:6-7) Yerushalmi Pesachim 68b - Where do we learn that
four cups should be drunk on Pesach night? One said, from the
four languages of redemption, "taking out", "saving",
"redemption", and "taking to be Hashem's nation". One said,
parallel to the four kingdoms that were given power over the
Jews. One said, parallel to the four mentions of "cups" in
Tanach in relation to punishing the wicked (found in Yirmiyah
and Tehillim).
     (7:28) Pesachim 53b - Chananya, Mishael, and Azaryah
understood that they should give their lives for Hashem from
the frogs' actions. They jumped into burning ovens for Him,
how much more so human beings who were given his Mitzvos!

Rare And Unusual Words

     (7:14) "Mai'ain" The word for "refusal" is normally
assumed to be a separate word with its own root. But the
gemara (beg. Kidd.) treats it as a conjugation of "ain",
which means "not", with the letter "yud" dropped. (The
gemara proves from this that the "yud" of the word "ain"
is not absolutely necessary, and can be interpreted to be
teaching new laws.)