Parashat Va’era

Torah Sparks

Parashat Va’era
Exodus 6:2 – 9:35

In our Torah portion the process toward the liberation of the Israelites from Pharaoh’s cruel oppression begins in earnest. The famous Ten Plagues start taking place.

As this process unfolds we find a recurrent pattern in the struggle between Moses and Aaron against Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron seek to persuade Pharaoh by creating some kind of miraculous event, such as turning their rod into a snake. This miracle is supposed to impress Pharaoh and make him listen to their demands. Pharoah then summons his magicians and bids them to do the same thing. They also succeed in turning their staves into snakes. So Pharaoh dismisses the Hebrew leaders.

This happens again and again. Moses and Aaron turn the waters of the Nile into blood. So Pharaoh’s magicians do the same. Moses and Aaron infest Egypt with a plague of frogs. So Pharaoh’s magicians respond by creating frogs, as well.

But, by now, we should be perceiving the folly of this approach. When the Egyptians suffer because they cannot find potable water, wouldn’t a responsible leader summon his aides to find a way to restore the waters to potability? Yet, instead, Pharaoh has his wizards create more blood and more misery for his people. And the same thing happens with the frogs. If the plague is that there are too many frogs infesting the land, why doesn’t Pharaoh recruit his aides to make them disappear? Instead they make more of them!

We could shake our heads at such foolishness. But it is a cautionary tale we would do well to learn from. Too often, when we engage in a struggle with an opponent, whether an individual or a group of people, we get sucked into responding to the noxious acts of our enemy with the same kinds of acts. Instead of making things better, we, in the name of fighting the enemy, create worse conditions for ourselves.

The temptation to fall into the same wrongful acts that our enemies are guilty of is real. To ignore this is to engage in what our Torah portion calls “hardness of heart.” Let us be on guard against such a plague.

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein

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