From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2004
12:58 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas
Vaeira, 5764
Testing
By Rabbi
Joshua (correspondingly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
This week's
parsha begins the recording of the ten plagues that were brought upon the
Egyptians as a result of Pharaoh's refusal to release the Israelites from
bondage. We have mentioned in the past the kabbalistic notion that these plagues
corresponded to the ten statements with which God created the universe, and
explained it based on the theory that the entire process of the exodus from
Egypt constituted a kind of recreation of the universe (see Netvort to parshas
Bo, 5760, available at Torahheights.com). There is another notion, mentioned in
the Midrash Rabbah to parshas Bo (15:27), that the ten plagues corresponded to
the ten tests that Avrohom withstood. Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Lunshitz, author
of the popular commentary Keli Yakar, cites this midrash, in brief, in a
lesser-known work that he authored on the Torah, Sifsei Da'as, at the end of
parshas Vaeira. He then endeavors to explain the exact correspondence, plague by
plague. According to his reckoning, however, the plagues seemed to have been
tests imposed upon the Egyptians, just as the tests were challenges to Avrohom,
with the difference being that while Avrohom passed the tests, the Egyptians did
not. This explanation appears to be a bit strange, because why would there be
need to test the Egyptians in the same manner that Avrohom was tested?
A look at the text of the midrash seems to reveal that it
explains the ten plagues as being directed against Pharaoh in correspondence to
the ten trials of Avrohom as a punishment. God, notes the midrash, referred to
Israel as His firstborn (Shemos 4:22). This appellation came as a result of the
love God had for the Jewish people as a result of the ten tests that Avrohom
underwent and withstood. Since Pharaoh did not recognize how beloved they were,
he was afflicted by ten plagues to correspond with the ten tests of Avrohom
through which they attained their beloved status. Rabbi Yitzchak Ze'ev Yadler,
in his commentary to the Midrash Rabbah, Tiferes Zion, however, does not see
this correspondence as being indicative of a punishment. Rather, he writes, that
just as Avrohom sanctified God's name through the ten tests that he endured, so
too did God sanctify the Jewish people through the wonders of the ten plaques,
because through them they became His people, by recognizing His control over the
universe. Based on our explanation, in last week's Netvort, of the midrash,
cited by Rashi, concerning the donkey used by both Moshe and Avrohom, I believe
that we can understand the correspondence of the plagues to the trials of
Avrohom as being a message to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, as well as to the Jews.
The midrash, as we mentioned last week, says that the donkey upon which
Moshe saddled his wife and children to take them with him to Egypt was the same
donkey that was used by Avrohom at the akeida, and that will be used by the
moshiach when he comes to bring the final redemption. We explained, based on Rav
Kook, that one of the messages of the akeidah was that it is possible to infuse
enthusiasm into the worship of God, just as idol worshippers had done in their
service. This was what Moshe intended to teach the Jewish people, as well. The
akeidah was, according to most commentators to Avos, the final test of Avrohom,
and thus constituted the apex of his religious attainment. Therefore, when the
midrash in parshas Bo tells us that the ten plagues corresponded to the ten
tests of Avrohom, it can be explained, on one level, as meaning that the sum
message of the akeidah was also delivered by the plagues, as Rabbi Yadler
explains in a different way. This message, then, had meaning for both the Jewish
people and for Pharaoh and the Egyptians. In fact, another midrash, cited by
Rashi, teaches that the plagues destroyed the idols of Egypt. The Egyptians, who
were rampant idolaters, needed, then, to learn the lesson of the akeidah as
well, and perhaps this was one of the reasons why the plagues were brought in
correspondence to the ten trials of Avrohom.
Please address all correspondence to the
author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.
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