BS”D

BLOOD’S BLIGHT: PARSHAT VA’EIRAH          

Shira Smiles shiur – 2021/5781

Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein

This adaptation is being written l’iluy nishmat Harav Yehuda ben Dov Ber Kelemer zt”l

While the introduction to the exodus and redemption of Bnei Yisroel from Egypt began in Parshat Shemot, the actual process of redemption begins in Parshat Va'eirah with the first seven of the ten plagues. Each of the plagues has tremendous symbolic significance, for Hashem’s stated purpose is not only to redeem Bnei Yisroel, but also teach both Mitzrayim and Bnei Yisroel to know Hashem, and in the process to enrich Bnei Yisroel. This process begins with the very first plague, Blood. When Aharon, in Moshe’s stead, hit the Nile with the staff, the Nile and all the waters in all of Egypt were transformed into blood. Only the waters of Bnei Yisroel remained water.

Why was it necessary to begin this process by striking the Nile and, as an important corollary, why transform the water specifically to blood? Further, we can certainly understand that Hashem wanted Bnei Yisroel to know unequivocally that Hashem was the One True God, but why do the Egyptians also need to be taught this, especially since most will die either through the plagues or when they drowned in the sea? And yet Pharaoh himself, instead of taking action, goes into his house and doesn’t call on Moshe to remove the plague as he does with the other plagues.

The medrash paints an interesting picture for us concerning this plague. The medrash tells us that if a Jew and an Egyptian were taking water from the same bowl or even drinking water from the same cup, the Jew would get water while the Egyptian would continue to get blood. Only by paying the Jew for water would the Egyptian again gain access to water. And only when Hashem deemed that the agreed upon price was sufficient to cover the suffering that particular Egyptian caused would Hashem transform the blood to water. Thus Bnei Yisroel got rich from the Egyptians.

In order to accomplish Hashem’s stated goals, it was important to start by destroying the belief in the primary god of Egypt, the Nile, notes Rabbi Mintzberg in Ben Melech. Rabbi Kluger develops this idea more fully in Bni Bechori Yisroel. The Nile, writes Rabbi Kluger, was the backbone of the entire Egyptian culture. Since the Nile irrigated their land regularly, the Egyptians felt themselves to be completely self sufficient. They had no need to pray. They felt in total control of their destiny, and Pharaoh thought of himself as the god who created the Nile.

Hashem wants a connection with mankind. In fact, if we go back to the story of creation, although plants were created in potential, they did not sprout and grow until Adam was created and could pray to Hashem for rain. It is Hashem Who brings abundance, whether through the Nile or through rain. When Moshe Rabbenu was leading Bnei Yisroel to the Land, he told them that this land is not like Mitzrayim. In Eretz Yisroel, you will need to rely on Hakodosh Boruch Hu and pray to Him for sustenance. In this respect, the Nile represented the antithesis of tefillah. Bnei Yisroel were so steeped in the culture of Egypt that the message that they were not in control but that Hashem was had to be taught to them. Each of the plagues was meant to drive this point home, as Hashem said, “Bezot teidah/Through this you will know...”

The plagues were meant to act both as a plague for the Egyptians/venogaf Hashem bemitrayim nagof while still being a means of healing for Bnei Yisroel/verafo (Isaiah 19:22), writes Rav Moshe Shapiro in Mima’amakim. Rav Shapiro explains based on the mystical sources, that the ten plagues represented a recreation of the world, each plague representing one of the utterances of creation. Each plague, then, was meant to bring the Egyptians to a recognition of the Creator represented by this particular utterance of creation. Since the Egyptians refused to accept Hashem, the original utterances became plagues for them.

In contrast, continues Rav Shapiro, for Bnei Yisroel who were destined to accept those other Ten Utterances of the Torah that also paralleled the creation and reflected the recreation of the world under a new paradigm, these plagues would become blessings from He Who created both plagues and blessings.

Therefore, it was necessary to strike first at the god of Egypt, the Nile, and at the super god, Pharaoh, who fashioned himself as the creator of the Nile, writes Rabbi Mordechai Druck. Hashem proved to Pharaoh that he controlled nothing, although, because his palace was unaffected by the plague, he felt he was still in charge of his home. Therefore, when Pharaoh turned and entered his house, he felt no compassion for his suffering countrymen and refused to pray for them. 

Pharaoh refused to recognize God even earlier, continues the Dorash Mordechai. Pharaoh had trained animals to attack anyone who approached him in the palace, yet they did not attack Moshe and Aharon as they approached the throne. Even after six plagues, when Moshe and Aharon warned the Egyptians about the coming hail, those who “feared God” brought their livestock into the shelter of their homes, a precaution Pharaoh refused to take. Pharaoh witnesses the evidence of Hashem’s existence and immanence in the world, but he refuses to see.

This self inflicted blindness is not limited to ancient times, continues Rabbi Druck. In the last Arab uprising against Israel over 800 rockets were launched against the State of Israel. Miraculously, no Israelis were killed. Those who “feared Hashem” recognized Hashem’s hand in guiding the rockets toward open fields or empty playgrounds; those who refused to recognized Hashem attributed the failure of these rockets to human error in their launching or just plain luck. Do we see God’s hand directing events both big and small? Do we turn to Him in prayer, or do we turn to the false security of our homes, government, or jobs? Do you believe in the “nature” of the universe and its cycles? If we do not turn to Hashem, are we any better than Pharaoh?

We look at things from a human perspective, writes Rabbi Scheinerman in Ohel Moshe. In the world as we perceive it, it is impossible for two contradictory items to exist in the same reality. Nature does not permit blood and water to coexist in the same container. Yet both can exist together in the supernatural reality of the Creator. In God’s reality both coexist, both the human perspective sees only his personal reality. The Egyptian saw blood; the Jew saw water. Hashem created not only the one unified world, but an individual, unique world for each of us. If we both see the sun, it is because it is shining in both our worlds. The same sea can drown the Egyptians while transporting Bnei Yisroel across. While in man’s reality, two opposites cannot exist simultaneously, in God’s world, they can and do. That they cannot is a product of the western mentality. Therefore, God can give His personal oversight/hashgacha pratis to each of us in individual worlds that overlap, for Hashem is Hashem Elokhecha/your (singular) personal God, adds Rabbi Wolbe.

Rabbi Wolbe uses examples from nature to show us how different realities can coexist in one world. Within the same tree, birds build their nests in the top branches, foxes dig out dens in the trunk, and insects bore for sap. Just as the needs of each were met within the same entity, so could a Jew and an Egyptian obtain different liquids from the same bowl, for Hashem created the world for each individual. When we recognize Hashem’s personal involvement in each of my needs, that Hashem created [my] world specifically for me, we begin to feel tremendous gratitude to our Creator.

Our first belief must be in the existence of Hashem. But we must also believe that Hashem is our personal God. This thought leads us to realize that indeed the world was created for me, that Hashem gave me my unique combination of strengths and weaknesses so that I can impact the world, that I have a mission only I can accomplish. I must believe in myself as well as in Hakodosh Boruch Hu, albeit in different ways, writes Reb Tzadok. We must realize our own importance. As Rabbi Leibowitz explains Hashgacha Protis/Hashem’s involvement in our personal lives gives meaning to our lives and provides a path to introspection and spiritual growth, as everything that happens to us, both big and small, has been orchestrated specifically for our personal benefit.

What is our mission? Since no two people are alike, neither with identical looks nor talents, each of us must work with what Hashem has given us to perfect our world. As Rav Naftali Horowitz writes in You, by making us each different, Hashem created a world where we learn to live with others, to be patient and compassionate, and perfect a world Hashem has purposely left incomplete so that we could experience the joy of accomplishment. [As we say the verse in Kiddush, “Hashem rested from all the work Elokhim created la’asot/to [continue] working.” CKS]

Now we understand Hashem’s afflicting the Nile as the first plague, but why use the medium of blood? The Hegyonah shel Torah, Rav Benzion Peror, approaches this discussion on two levels, First, Hashem was repaying the Egyptians measure for measure for treating Jewish blood lightly, for “blood is the life source.” The medrash relates that Pharaoh himself bathed in Jewish blood. But damim translates not just as bloods, but also as money. So, in order to avenge the spilled Jewish dam/blood, the Egyptians had to pay damim/money to atone for the blood. Therefore, every Egyptian forced to pay for his water according to how much blood he extracted from the Jews, adds Rabbi Schwadron.  

Since there is a relationship between money and blood, and since Hashem is extremely exacting in His interactions with humans, Pharaoh was not punished with blood in his own house, writes Rabbi Druck citing the Meshech Chochmah. After all, Pharaoh must have incurred some expenses while Moshe was being raised in the palace. By not having to pay to exchange the dam/blood to water with damim/money, Pharaoh was now being repaid for those expenditures.

Although blood is the highlight of the first plague, blood is still significant in the final plague, the Death of the Firstborn, writes Rabbi Kluger. As we read every year in the Haggadah, “Bedomayich chayi, bedomayich chayi/Through your blood you shall live, through your blood you shall live.” We were saved from death in that plague through the merit of our observance of two “bloods,” the most obvious one being the blood of the sheep we painted on our doorposts signaling Hashem to pass over our homes, and also the blood of circumcision to ratify our covenant and connection with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Both of these mitzvoth involve self sacrifice, a willingness to subsume our passions and desires, our life force, to His will.

Rabbi Kluger continues and explains that the blood of the Pesach sacrifice on our doorposts symbolized our intellectual faith, while the blood of circumcision symbolized our desire to elevate our physical and emotional capacities o Hashem’s service.

The Tolna Rebbe adds yet another dimension to the plague of blood. The Torah tells us that the fish in the Nile died and created a stench in all of Egypt. Why was this significant? Because fish represent unlimited copulation, unbridled sexual passion. Having been steeped in the depraved culture of Mitzrayim for so many years, Bnei Yisroel was drawn to this behavior, but the death of the fish signified the death, or at least the major weakening, of this particular depravity, one they later cited in the desert as having missed: “We remember the fish we freely ate in Mitzrayim, [unencumbered by the Torah laws of sexual purity].”

We see that this first plague represented all three major transgression; idol worship, murder, and sexual immorality. With this first plague, continues the Tolna Rebbe, the Egyptians would begin their transition to a belief in God and Bnei Yisroel would sever their connection to the culture of the Egyptians. Bnei Yisroel were already drinking the water of kindness rather than cruelty and were separated from the immoral culture and bloodthirstiness of Egypt. It is for this reason, that our redemption began with blood, that only at the Pesach Seder is there an emphasis on the wine being red wine for all the rituals of the Seder.

What a contrast between a Jewish leader and the Egyptian leader [and so many leaders who base their leadership on flexing and retaining power]. Pharaoh goes into his private home, sees he has water, and turns a blind eye to the suffering of his citizens. In contrast, Moshe goes out specifically to experience and help in the pain of his brethren, points out Rav Yisroel Meir Druck. This is an underlying theme not only of the plagues but of all Jewish history: A Jew feels the pain of his fellow Jew as if it is his own pain. [In this we emulate Hashem Who is with us in our pain and hardship. CKS]

This first plague, while bringing knowledge of and faith in Hashem to the forefront, also teaches us that each of us has a personal relationship with Hashem that attests to the value of every individual while still infusing us with care and love for each other. It incorporates Creation with Recreation at Sinai, and with the final Recreation, may it be soon in our day.