ויט אהרן את ידו על מימי מצרים ותעל הצפרדע ותכס את ארץ מצרים
”Aharon stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frog ascended and covered the Land of Egypt.” (Shemos 8:2)
The Gemara (Sanhedrin 67b) discusses how the frogs covered the Land of Egypt. If the frogs scattered and covered all of Mitzrayim, why does the pasuk first use the singular form of tzefarde’a to describe them? Rabbi Akiva explained that at first there was only one frog, but then it spawned and spread throughout Mitzrayim.
How was this? How did one frog multiply into swarms of frogs? According to Rashi on the above pasuk, when the Egyptians hit the frog, it spread into swarms and swarms. The Gemara goes on to say that Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah was not pleased with Rabbi Akiva’s input, and asked him, “Akiva, why are you getting involved with the study of Aggadah (as opposed to halachah)? Stop what you’re saying and go learn the Masechtos of Negaim and Ohalos.” In other words, it is preferable for Rabbi Akiva to delve into the halachos of the impurity of leprosy and the impurity imparted in a tent, which are among the most difficult areas of halachah and within his field of expertise. And then, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah stated his opinion: At first there was one frog, which whistled to the other frogs, and thereafter they all arrived.
A few questions are in order. First, why do we have to know the nature of the frogs’ arrival? Does it make a difference to us if it spawned the others or if it signaled the others? Next, what troubled Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah about Rabbi Akiva’s explanation? What was so outlandish about Rabbi Akiva’s pshat that Rabbi Elazar felt the need to relegate him to other fields of study? In addition, why tell him to specifically study Negaim and Ohalos? And once mentioning these two masechtos, why mention Negaim before Ohalos, if Ohalos precedes Negaim in the order of the Mishnayos? Finally, why did this plague have to have an epicenter, where one frog was the source of all the others? Why not just bring, en masse, all the frogs at once, as was done by the fourth plague, makkas arov?
In Koheles Mordechai, Rav Mordechai Yohlin brings an explanation that deals with all of our questions, and helps us understand something basic about how Hashem runs the world. The Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 32:7) says that Hashem pushed off the beginning of the Flood for seven days (Bereishis 7:10), to give the people another opportunity to repent. In addition, when the rain first began to fall, it was, in the words of Rashi (v. 12), rain of mercy. This was in the hope that the people would repent and the precipitation would then remain gishmei berachah, blessed rain. Yet, due to the people’s stubborn refusal to change, the nature of the water changed — from blessed rain to a destructive deluge.
This is the middah of HaKodosh Boruch Hu, Who does not bring a calamity or punishment all at once but little by little, giving human beings an opportunity to change. We are first given what may be called a “love-tap,” whereby the intensity increases only if no change is effected.
This hanhagah, conduct, was evident in Mitzrayim and was the lesson Rabbi Akiva took from the one frog turning into many. Hashem did not simply and without warning send an overwhelming plague. First, the Egyptians were warned verbally (Shemos 7:27–29). When that warning went unheeded and did not elicit change, the nature of the warning was taken up a notch and went from verbal to visual. Hashem sent one large frog, which was visible to all, to demonstrate that the plague was about to begin.
This is akin to the Mishnah (Taanis 3:6) in which the Sages decreed a fast because two children were devoured by wolves on the other side of the Yarden. According to Rabbi Yose, the fast was not enacted because the wolves actually devoured the children, but simply because they had come to town and were seen there, a sure sign that it was time to repent.
Similarly, when the appearance of the one frog had no effect, the frog spawned a multitude of frogs, which swarmed the land. This was the opinion of Rabbi Akiva.
Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah argued, not with the lesson itself but with its source. In his opinion, there is no need to learn such lessons from this pasuk, as they can be found right in the masechtos of Negaim and Ohalos (as will be explained shortly) and not just through inference.
If someone committed the sin of lashon horah, he was struck with tzara’as, but not immediately on his body: first on his house and its parts, followed by his clothes. The Rambam (Hilchos Tumas Tzaraas 15:10) points out how this is not the normal way of the world, but a sign and a wonder for Bnei Yisroel to caution them against speaking lashon horah. If a man spoke lashon horah, the walls of his house would change; if he repented, the house would become tahor again. But if he persisted in his wickedness until the house was demolished, leather objects in his home upon which he would sit or lie would then be afflicted with tzara’as; if he did teshuvah, they would revert back to their original state of taharah. However, if he continued to sin until they had to be burned, the clothes he wore would begin to show signs of the affliction. Here, too, if he repented, they would become tahor once more. Yet if he stuck to his aveiros until his clothing had to be burned, then his skin itself would show signs of affliction, and he would become a metzora. At that point, writes the Rambam, he was publicly set apart from others.
We see from the laws of tzara’as that it is only after the initial baby steps of punishment are ignored that the big guns are brought to bear and the person himself becomes tamei with tzara’as.
The governing principle is the same as Rabbi Akiva saw in the plague of frogs. Hashem does not go all out against a person, but punishes, or perhaps more accurately, warns incrementally. The goal is not to cause harm and suffering but to rescue the person from a spiritually unhealthful lifestyle.
We see the same lesson from the Medrash (Rus Rabbah 2:10): “Ein Ba’al HaRachamim porei’a min hanefashos techillah.” Hashem does not punish the actual individual first, but the individual first experiences a financial loss. If he does not repent, only then does he experience pain or sickness.
And that is why Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah mentioned Negaim before Ohalos. In this case, first comes Maseches Negaim, which discusses afflictions that affect the home, clothing, and then the person himself — yet he is left alive. Only afterward come the punishments discussed in the Maseches Ohalos: the laws dealing with death and the contamination it brings.
Having argued that Rabbi Akiva’s lesson need not be derived from the pasuk regarding the one frog, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah offered an alternative but equally important lesson: of middah k’neged middah, measure for measure, reciprocal justice.
Who was the cause of all the plagues in Mitzrayim and to whom were they first directed?
The Gemara (Sotah 11a) tells us that Pharaoh was the architect of Egypt’s final solution, that he was the one to introduce it to his people. This is as we see in Parshas Shemos (1:9–10), “Vayomer el amo hinei am Bnei Yisrael rav ve’atzum mimenu havah nis’chakmah lo — He said to his people, ‘Behold! The people, the Children of Yisroel are more numerous and stronger than we. Come let us act wisely to it...’” Therefore, says the Gemara (quoted by Rashi, Shemos 7:28), Pharaoh was the first one punished at the plague of frogs. Hashem warned him that the frogs would first come to his house, his bedroom, and his bed, and only after would they proceed to the homes of his servants and the rest of the nation.
Pharaoh was the one who started it all; he was the one who said, “Do,” and they all came and did. Middah k’neged middah, when the frogs came hopping to harm the Egyptians, they came in much the same way as the Egyptians came to harm the Jews. The king-frog whistled, calling his reptilian brothers to action, just as Pharaoh called his people to action.
The lesson gained by awareness that Hashem punishes and rewards in accordance with the rule of middah k’neged middah is the understanding that everything — good or bad — happens by design. With one’s eyes opened to the truth of middah k’neged middah, every day can be a meaningful life lesson of Hashem’s control of the world, and an opportunity to develop morally and grow closer to Him. (R’ Avraham Bukspan, Classics and Beyond 2)
