Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera And also i myself have heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the egyptians enslave and i do remember my covenant. (shemot 6:5)   And I appeared to Abraham – Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Moshe: 'Alas for those who are gone and no more to be found! For how many times did I reveal Myself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name of El Shaddai, and they did not question my...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera If you refuse to let them go, Then I will plague your whole country with frogs. The Nile shall swarm with frogs… The frogs shall come up on you and on your people And on all your courtiers. (Shemot 7:27-29)   On you and on your people – this is to say, they shall come even upon your bodies. This is why Pharaoh did not command the magicians to remove the frogs, for usually the magicians...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera Take your staff and stretch forth your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their canals, over their ponds, and over all their bodies of water, and they will become blood, and there will be blood throughout the entire land of Egypt, even in wood and in stone. (Shemot 7:19)     Say to Aaron: Since the Nile protected Moses when he was cast into it, it therefore was not smitten by him,...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera And there was hail, and fire flaming within the hail, very heavy, the likes of which  had never been throughout the entire land of Egypt since it had become a nation. (Shemot 9:24)   within the hail – Our rabbis did not interpret within as in betokh Bneu Yisrael , where its meaning is like the word bein – "between" – marking a division between two things. Rather it is like kol asher...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera 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, ND ALL THE WATER THAT WAS IN THE NILE TURNED TO BLOOD. (Shemot 7:20)   and all the water that was in the Nile turned to blood – Eichhorn and others following him believe that the blood and all the other plagues were natural phenomena that reoccur annually...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera …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)  ...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parshat Vaera EACH MAN THREW FORTH HIS STAFF, AND THEY TURNED INTO SERPENTS. AND AARON'S STAFF SWALLOWED THEIR STAFFS. (Shemot 7:12)   Take your staff and throw it forth before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent . What is the Difference Between a Serpent and a Snake ? …the tanin is a large and especially dangerous snake, as it is said, their wine is the wrath of taninim (Devarim 32:34), this implies that its...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Click here to receive the weekly parsha by email each week. Parashat Vaera AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, "EARLY IN THE MORNING PRESENT YOURSELF TO PHARAOH, AS HE IS COMING OUT TO THE WATER, AND SAY TO HIM, 'THUS SAYS THE LORD: LET MY PEOPLE GO THAT THEY MAY WORSHIP ME.'" (Shemot 8: 16)   And the Lord said to Moses, "Early in the morning present yourself to Pharaoh, as he is coming out to the water…" – Why was he coming out to the water?...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Vaera GOD SAID TO MOSHE: SAY TO AHARON: STRETCH OUT YOUR HAND WITH YOUR STAFF, OVER THE TRIBUTARIES, OVER THE NILE CANALS AND OVER THE PONDS, MAKE THE FROGS ASCEND UPON THE LAND OF EGYPT! AHARON STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND OVER THE WATERS OF EGYPT, THE FROG HORDE ASCENDED AND COVERED THE LAND OF EGYPT.                                                                                                                                                  (Shemot 8:1,2)   Subjugation of the Subjugators Why did He bring upon the Egyptians the frogs? Because they had subjugated the Israelites, ordering them "Bring us...

Shabbat Shalom The weekly parsha commentary – parshat (link to original page) Parashat Vaera The Lord said to Moshe and Aharon, "When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, 'Produce your marvel' you shall say to Aharon, 'Take your rod and cast it down before Pharaoh.' It shall turn into a serpent." So Moshe and Aharon came before Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded: Aharon cast down his rod in the presence of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and it turned into a serpent. Then Pharaoh, for his part, summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and the...