When I was in 9th grade in Yeshivas Ohr Elchonon Chabad in Los Angeles, California, I had a very special Rebbi, Rabbi Chanan Back, may he live long. He was very devoted to his students and truly made us feel special while pushing us to reach our potential. If a boy asked a good question in his class, Rabbi Back would literally jump with excitement. And he would reward the questioner with a stack of wafers during recess. This was considered a major achievement. Not because of the wafers themselves, but because of the recognition. Plus, he never had to discipline the class. If kids got out of hand, he would stop and give the individuals a stern look, and that would be the end of it.
A few months ago, I received a letter in the mail from Rabbi Back. He wrote that when I was in 9th grade, I asked a shtarke kasha (strong question) when learning Parshat Va’eira. And that he hadn’t had an answer to the question at the time. And that every year since then, when teaching Parshat Va’eira, he would repeat my question. Recently, he had come across an answer to the question in a peirush on the Haggadah which he had photocopied and was sending to me.
This article is based on that question and the answer given by Rabbi Yehudah Leib Rabinovitz – Yadler in his Haggadah “Imrei Yehudah” (Jerusalem 2015).
Why the Sorcerers Could Not Produce Lice
At first the sorcerers of Pharaoh were able to mimic the miracles performed by Moshe and Aharon. They turned their staffs into snakes (which were gobbled up). They turned water into blood, and they produced frogs. But when it came to the plague of lice, the verse says, “The sorcerers with their spells tried to produce lice, but they could not.” As such they were forced to admit to Pharaoh that this plague was “the finger of G-d.”
No Power Over Small Objects
Rashi explains that the reason they could not produce lice is because lice are smaller than a barleycorn and that demons don’t have power on objects smaller than a barleycorn. The Ben Ish Chai explains that there is no object smaller than a barleycorn that is a source of impurity. Specifically, a human bone is an impure object which can render something else impure even if it’s as small as a barleycorn. But if it’s smaller than that, it cannot render it impure. As such, we see that the forces of impurity have no power over very small objects. Demons, which are associated with impure forces, can therefore not even transport such items.
No Magic When Off the Ground
The Da’at Zekeinim says the issue of the sorcerers was that they were not standing on the ground. The Talmud tells a story of how Shimon ben Shetach had his students capture 80 witches in Ashkelon. When the students lifted the witches off the floor, they were unable to practice their witchcraft. The reason for this is that when a sorcerer is on the ground, he can influence the angels of the earth to do his bidding. When they are in the air (or otherwise not touching the ground), however, they have no power to influence these angels and can therefore not perform any magic.
Since the plague of lice turned the earth of Egypt into lice, the sorcerers were standing on lice instead of the earth. This prevented them from performing magic and creating lice.
The Shtark Kasha / Strong Question
Here is the question: According to Rashi, we understand why the sorcerers admitted to Pharaoh that this plague was the “finger of G-d” since Moshe accomplished what they could not – creating an object smaller than a barley corn. But according to the Da’at Zekeinim, why did they have to admit it? They could have explained to Pharaoh that they were temporarily unable to accomplish this feat because they couldn’t stand on the floor, and that when the plague would end they would gladly create lice. In other words, perhaps Moshe was a sorcerer just like them, and he was able to create lice because at that time his feet were touching the floor. As such, apparently, there was no proof that this plague was the finger of G-d.
The Answer: Magic in Ancient Egypt
The answer is based on understanding of how magic worked in those times. Ancient Egypt was a place where sorcery was commonplace. As the Talmud says that ten portions of magic came to the world, and Egypt took nine of them. Even the schoolchildren could perform black magic. As such, Pharaoh's sorcerers were able to replicate some of the plagues to a certain degree.
The answer to the above question lies in the different expressions that the verse uses regarding the magic that these sorcerers practiced.
Difference between Lateihem and Lahateihem
Regarding the magic practiced by Pharaoh's sorcerers, the verse sometimes uses the word בְּלָטֵיהֶם (belateihem) and sometimes it uses the word בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶם – (belahateihem). Specifically, concerning the staffs turning into snakes, it says, בְּלַהֲטֵיהֶם , whereas concerning the blood, frogs, and lice, it says בְּלָטֵיהֶם .
Rashi explains that לָטֵיהֶם refers to magic performed with the assistance of demons (ma’aseh shedim), and לַהֲטֵיהֶם refers to magic performed with sorcery (ma’asei keshafim). This is because לָטֵיהֶם comes from the word לָט which means secrecy as demons work in secret. Whereas לַהֲטֵיהֶם means something that seems to happen on its own, as is the case with sorcery.
Water Ruins Magical Items
Why did the sorcerers use sorcery for turning their staffs into snakes but demons in the following plagues? The answer to this is based on the Talmud that says that when something created by magic touches water, it disappears or reverts to whatever object it was before the spell was cast on it. The Ben Ish Chai explains that water can dispel the spirit of impurity such as when one washes negel vasser or goes to the mikvah. As such, water reverses the superficial spell placed on an object that made it seem like something else, since these spells are rooted in impurity.
Thus, the sorcerers could not use magic to create blood out of water or to get frogs to come out of the water since the water would have canceled this out. They therefore employed demons to accomplish these feats. In the case of the staffs, they did not need to resort to demons as they simply used their magic to transform the staffs into snakes, there being no water to ruin this feat.
Demons Transport
According to the Talmud, demons cannot create anything new. Instead, they transport objects from one place to another. (Unless the item is smaller than a barleycorn in which case, they cannot.) The items they transport are real items and as such, they remain unchanged when touched by water, just like any other regular object.
The Lice Conundrum
When trying to replicate the plague of lice, the sorcerers were stuck. They could not perform magic because their feet were not touching the ground (see above). They could not harness the demons to transport the lice since lice are smaller than a barleycorn. This led them to admit to Pharaoh that the finger of G-d caused the plague.
Moshe’s Lice Were Real
They could not claim that Moshe had employed magic because lice (or any object) created through magic is not real, which is why it reverts to its former state when it touches water (see above). If the lice of this plague were not real, they would not have created a barrier between the sorcerers and the ground, and the sorcerers would not have been prevented from performing their magic tricks.
May We Harness the Powers of Purity and Eradicate the Forces of Impurity!
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom UMevorach!
Copyright 2024 by Rabbi Aryeh Citron
