…AND HE RAISED THE STAFF AND

STRUCK THE WATER THAT WAS IN THE NILE BEFORE

THE EYES OF PHARAOH AND BEFORE THE EYES OF HIS SERVANTS, AND ALL THE WATER THAT

WAS IN THE NILE TURNED TO BLOOD.

AND THE FISH THAT WERE IN THE NILE DIED, AND THE NILE BECAME PUTRID; THE EGYPTIANS COULD NOT

DRINK WATER FROM THE NILE, AND THERE WAS BLOOD THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE LAND OF EGYPT.

(Shemot 7:20-21)

Say to Aaron, 'Take your

staff and… they will become blood:

Say to Aaron Since the Nile protected Moses when he was cast into it,

it therefore was not smitten by him, neither with blood nor with frogs, but was

smitten by Aaron.

(Rashi Shemot 7:19, Judaica Press translation)

 and there was blood

throughout the entire land of Egypt – This was the plague of famine that was

one of the four punishments, for when God changed the Nile to blood it became disgusting and useless,

and there was no food or water, because it is not a land watered by rain and no

country can survive without water. This plague came to shame Pharaoh for his

kingship and his decree regarding the infant boys [of the Israelites, who were

to be thrown into the Nile]. That is to say: "You mixed the blood

of innocents into the waters of your Nile and I

shall turn your water to blood. You thought to reduce the numbers of the

Israelites, who are fruitful and multiply like the fishes, and

I shall decree that the fish die. You treated the Israelites with disgust, for

it says, and they were disgusted by the Israelites – you shall be

disgusted by your darling Nile that

waters your land when its waters become putrid."

(R.

Yitzhak Shmuel Reggio, Shemot 7:21)

Free Choice and Faith – the Land as the Gift of the Inheritance

Shlomo Fox

When

reading the parasha, we wonder why God strengthened

Pharaoh's heart and deprived him of freedom of choice and how is it to be

explained that Pharaoh was not convinced to send out the Israelites until the

killing of the first-born.

Study of the Exodus story shows that Pharaoh was not alone in his stiff-neckedness. According to parashat Shemot,

Moses did not believe either, even though he witnessed God's revelation in the

burning bush; was his heart also hardened? As we see later, the people also did

not listen and did not believe that they would be redeemed.

The previous parasha ends with Moses' words:

So

Moses returned to the Lord and said, "O Lord! Why have You

harmed this people? Why have You sent me? Since I have

come to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has harmed

this people, and You have not saved Your people" (Shemot

5:22-23).

These

words continue Moses' complaint to God following the revelation of the burning

bush:

Moses

heed my voice, but they will say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you' " (Shemot 4:1).

In

response, God gives him two signs, and then adds a third: "blood."

Moses remains unconvinced and continues to refuse his mission, saying:

Moses

But he said, "I beseech You, O Lord, send now [Your message] with whom You would send."

This

finally causes God to answer:

And

heart. (Shemot 4:10-14)

Parashat Ve'Era opens with God's saying [amira]

to Moses:

And

and with a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land." (Shemot 6:1)

Immediately, God moves over to speech [dibbur] : God spoke[diber]

to Moses, and He said to him, "I am the Lord." Following the midrash, Rashi explains: "God

spoke to Moses – He called him to account since he [Moses] had

spoken harshly by saying, ‘Why have You harmed this people?'" (Judaica Press translation). Rashi adds that the coda of the verse, I am the Lord

means: "[I am] faithful to recompense all those who walk before Me. I did

not send you [to Pharaoh] except to fulfill My words,

which I spoke to the early fathers. In this sense, we find that it is

interpreted in many places [in Scripture] as "I am the Lord,"

should understand the phrase, I am the Lord as referring to God's anger

at Moses' lack of faith.

God continues and explains the reason for and

manner of the redemption:

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to

YHWH, I did not become known to them. And also, I established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings

in which they sojourned. And also, I heard the moans of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians are holding in bondage,

children of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will take you out

of [their] shortness of breath and because of [their] hard labor. (Shemot

6:3-9)

Despite God's words, the people were not

prepared for redemption and did not hearken to Moses. The hardened heart is not

unique to Pharaoh and Moses – it can also be found amongst the people. Moses

continues and infers: But Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, "Behold,

the children of Israel

closed lips?" (6:12).

Referring to this, the midrash (Sifri Bamidbar 105)

states: "Rabbi Eliezer ben

Azaria said: Moses made a request of God in four

places, and his pleas were answered. For example, it says: But Moses spoke

children of Israel

did not hearken to me." (6:12). Do not learn it [as if it is written] saying,

but he told Him: ‘Answer me whether or not you will redeem them,' until the

Holy One blessed be He answered him: Now you shall see what I shall do to

Pharaoh (6:1). This midrash explains Moses' words as

being a demand that God tell him whether or not He intends to redeem Israel.

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 111a) finds fault with Moses' behavior:

We learned: R. Elazer

said in the name of R. Yosi: Once I entered Alexandria, Egypt. There I found an old man, who said to me: "Come

and I will show you what my fathers did to your fathers; they drowned some of

them in the sea; some they slew by the sword; some they crushed at the

construction sites".

Our Rabbi Moses was punished on this

account, for it says: It has been worse for this people since I came to Pharaoh

to speak in Your name (Shemot 5). The Holy One, Blessed Be He said to him:

Woe for those lost and not recovered! How many times did I reveal myself to

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Shaddai, and they did

not question Me or ask Me What is Your name?

I said to Abraham: Rise, walk through the

land, through its length and its breadth for I will give it to you (Bereishit

13). He sought a place to bury

Sarah, and did not find one before purchasing it at great expense, 400 silver

shekels, yet he did not doubt Me.

I told Isaac: Dwell in this land and I shall

be with you and bless you (Bereishit 26). His servants sought water to drink, but did not find it until they

entered a quarrel, as is written: The shepherds of Gerar

quarreled with the shepherds of Isaac saying, "The water is ours" (Bereishit

26) yet he did not question Me.

I said to Jacob: The land upon which you

lie, I will give to you (Bereishit 28). He wished to set up his tent, but did not find a place until he paid

one hundred ksita, yet he did not question, he did

not ask What is Your name?

However, at the start you asked: What is Your name? And now you say You have

not saved Your people (Shemot 5). Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh –

you shall see the war against Pharaoh, but you will not see the war against

the thirty-one kings [i.e., the conquest of the Land].

Another midrash

(Shemot Rabbah 5:23)

emphasizes the point: "From here you learn that it was then that Moses was

sentenced not to enter the Land." These midrashim explain that the reason why Moses did not

enter the land was not the incident at Mei Meriva, but rather because of his lack of faith at the

first stage of the redemption.

We find that Moses found it difficult to

believe, and he asks what is Your name? The people

do not listen because of their weariness and hard work, leading Moses to ask and

how will Pharaoh listen to me? Indeed, due to the Lord having made his

heart heavy and hardened, Pharaoh does not listen. It seems that each of these

is – in its own way – just an excuse based upon "hardening of the heart."

Perhaps it could be said that in order to

develop belief in the Creator such "excuses" must be excised from our

thinking, and we must take responsibility for our actions as free people who

have left Egypt.

In the words of R. Moshe Haim Efrayim,

the Ba'al Shem Tov's

grandson and author of Degel Mahane Efrayim: We must

remove the "Egyptian" from within the Jew.

The Land was Given as a Gift and an Inheritance

The fifth formulation of redemption is: I will bring you to the land,

an inheritance; I am the Lord.' " (Shemot 6:8).

The midrash explain the verse:

And

you. "And it will

its merit… as He swore to you and to your forefathers – it is all by your

merit and the merit of your forefathers and I will give it to you – do not see

it as an inheritance from your forefathers, but rather as if it were now given

to you as a gift." (Mekhilta DeRaShBI,

13:11).

This

rather than "the inheritance of the forefathers."

The

double formulation of "gift" and "heritage" invites much

attention, for instance in the Jerusalem Talmud (Bava Batra 8:2):

R. Yohanan explains: Since it was given to them as a gift, he

returned and gave it to them as an inheritance. That is to say: the Land of Israel can be acquired in two ways: as an

inheritance, and as a gift. Later, the Talmud compares inheriting the Land to

inheriting the Torah.

Rabbi

Kasher (Torah Sheleimah Va'Era 52) interprets R. Yohanan's dictum as it appears

in Kaftor Va'Ferah

(R. Ashtori Ha'Parhi 1280 Provence, died in Eretz Yisrael 1355). He claims that the verse cited in the

Jerusalem Talmud is actually formed out of two verses, one from our parasha (Shemot 6:8), and the other from Ezekiel (33:34): Son of man, the dwellers of these ruins on the soil of Israel

land has [surely] been given to us for an inheritance.

The

continuation of the prophet's message, which emphasizes that inheritance of the

land is dependent upon our behavior, is important for our discussion: Therefore,

land?

The Rebbe from Slonim (Netivot

Shalom pg. 57) explains the difference between "gift" and "inheritance":

An inheritance does not depend upon the inheritors' status or deeds, while a

gift is dependent upon his behavior. There are two levels in the service of

God: That of inheritance – which every Jew enjoys even if he does not toil to

achieve it, but which lacks the aspect of a "good eye" and it

gives him no pleasure, and that of gift, which is given only to those

who prove themselves worthy of receiving it. It is given to those who toil and

weary themselves to achieve a feeling of holy pleasure and then he who gives

with a good eye is the one who gives, and his reward

is very great – he merits experiencing the highest pleasure.

The Sabbath is also given with these two

aspects. Thus, the liturgy reads, "The Lord your God did not give

it to the nations of the earth, and our King did not bequeath it as an inheritance

to the idolaters… for He lovingly gave it to His people." At its

higher level, the Sabbath reflects the World-to-Come and it is the gift stored

up in the Lord's treasure-house (Shabbat 10b).

The Torah is also given with these two

aspects, as an inheritance – Moses commanded us the Torah, an inheritance

(Devarim 33),

and also He gave it to Moses (Shemot 31). Similarly, we bless He who "gives

the Torah."

The Sabbath is given both as an inheritance

and as a gift. It requires of us appropriate behavior; the Torah was also given

to us as an inheritance and as a gift and requires observance – similarly, the

Land was given as an inheritance and as a gift and it also requires appropriate

behavior of us, lest – God forbid – the land vomits out its inhabitants (Vayikra 18:28).

At the beginning of this article, surprise

was expressed at how God seemingly robbed Pharaoh of his free will by hardening

and weighing down his heart. However, Moses also found it difficult to believe.

Apparently, the people, later called a stiff-necked people,

did not believe in their redemption, and so we thought that the message of the

Exodus involves contemplation of the way free will is used.

The story of the Exodus shows that freedom of

choice does exist at times. Sometimes our behavior can be explained in terms of

external factors such as divine coercion, but other times man is aware of his

own freedom to choose. People are judged by their willed struggles.

From there we went on to discuss the

significance of the acquisition of the land and we saw that it has two

foundations: by virtue of inheritance and by virtue of a gift. Here again

humans are judged by their actions. When and how the land

shall be inherited. There exists a parallel between inheritance of the

land and inheritance of the Torah and of the Sabbath.

It seems that free will is like education;

sometimes it seems like education involves coercion. The Exodus from Egypt

was also achieved with a strong arm; the strong arm would not be applied

only to Pharaoh but even against Israel,

as the Prophet Ezekiel (20:32-37) states:

But

what enters your mind shall not come about, what you say, "Let us be like

the nations, like the families of the lands, to serve wood and stone." As

I live, says the Lord God, surely with a strong hand and with an outstretched

arm and with poured out fury, will I reign over you. And I shall take you out

of the peoples, and I shall gather you from the lands in which you were

scattered, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with poured out

fury. And I shall bring you to the wilderness of the peoples, and I shall

contend with you there face to face. As I contended with your forefathers in he

wilderness of the land

of Egypt, so will I contend with you, says the Lord

God. And I shall cause you to pass under the rod, and I shall bring you into

the transmission of the covenant.

We must accept the fact that we

are not judged by explanations, but rather by our actions!

Shlomo Fox teaches at the Hebrew Union College, at Beit

Shmuel and at Kolot. He

serves as educational director for Beit Morasha's IDF project.

And when you go, you

shall not go empty handed – Liberation with Reconciliation

For an Israelite, the word

Egyptian had the bitterest associations. It would not have been remarkable had

the Jew hated the Egyptian as the enslaver of his ancestors and would have

reserved the right not to accord him the generous treatment enjoined by the

Torah with regard to the stranger… But the Torah records that the Egyptians

and the Jews parted friends, the former, liberally furnishing them with gifts

as the latter themselves had been bidden, in the case of sending away their own

Hebrew servants… .Consequently "thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian, thou wert a stranger in his

land." But since the Egyptians could not be expected to offer gifts of

their own initiative, Israel was bidden to spur them to do it and say to

them: Let us part friends and we'll take with us a parting gift.

(R. Benno

Jacob, as quoted in N. Leibowitz: Studies in Shemot [Aryeh Newman, trans.]

pp. 190)

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