Parsha Perspective – Opposites Attract
“The opposite of pain is not pleasure, it’s “no pain.”” – R’ Noach Weinberg z”l
When dealing with opposites, we often confuse pairs that go together with actual opposites, like in the above example. At the plague of Barad, the hail which combined two opposite forces – fire and ice, the Torah tells us that “those who feared the word of Hashem brought their servants and animals indoors.”
The opposite should be those “who did not fear the word of G-d.” But that’s not what the Torah says. The opposite given is, “whoever did not take the word of G-d to heart,” left his animals and servants in the field. Thus, the opposite of fearing the word of G-d is not ‘not fearing,’ G-d’s word, but ignoring it!
The word for fear, yirah, also means to see. When one thinks objectively and truthfully about the world, he is bound to see G-d and thus know that His word is reality. The opposite of this is one who refuses to see the Godliness in front of his nose.
Such a person condemns all he possesses to be wasted and lost, not because he doesn’t fear G-d, but on the contrary, because he fears G-d's word, yet refuses to acknowledge the reverence he should have for Him.
The two Torah portions of Vaera and Bo contain the story of the ten plagues which G-d unleashed on Pharaoh and his people both as a means to force them to send the Jews out, and to repay them in kind for the torment they meted out to the Jewish slaves under their dominion. How do we remember how many are in each Parsha?
The Hebrew alphabet contains numerical equivalents for each letter, and this ‘gematria’ is a part of the Mesorah, the tradition we have from Moshe at Sinai and handed down through the ages. The first two letters of the word, “va’era,” are the Hebrew letters vuv and aleph. Vuv’s numerical equivalent is 6, and aleph, the first letter of the Aleph Bais, has a numerical value of 1, for a total of 7. The first two (and only) letters of the next Parsha’s name, Bo, are Bais – 2, and Aleph – 1, for a total of 3. If you count them, you will find seven plagues in Parshas Va’era, which has a numerical component of 7, and three in Bo, with a numerical value of 3.
The perfection of this mnemonic, as well as other reputable “Bible Codes,” teaches us that everything in Creation was made with a purpose and plan, just as everything in history happened (and will happen) as the result of careful planning on the part of HaShem Yisbarach. We just have to trust Him. He knows what He’s doing.
