Parsha Pizzazz – VaEira
Sssssssnakes!!
Many years passed since Moshe grew up in Paraoh's palace. Moshe was now an old man. He saw that even though HaShem had sent him to free the Jews from their slavery in Egypt, things only seemed to be getting worse and worse. He didn't understand what was going on, and he asked HaShem, "Why are you doing this to the Jews? Things are worse than ever!"
HaShem didn't appreciate that Moshe was complaining. HaShem scolded him:
"Moshe! Don't you trust that I know what I am doing? You doubt me -- but I have shown you far greater miracles than I ever showed Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, and they never questioned My ways! Now the time has come for me to fulfill My promise to your forefathers. I have heard the cries of My people, and I can be trusted to free them from their slavery and suffering."
Then HaShem began to prepare Moshe for his next encounter with Paraoh.
"Moshe, don't be surprised when Paraoh doesn't believe you when you say that I have appointed you as the leader of the Jews, to take them out of Egypt. When he demands proof, you will show him the miraculous signs I have given you."
Sure enough, when Moshe and Aharon went to Paraoh and said, "HaShem commands you to let the Jewish people go!" Paraoh mocked him: "Sure he did! Prove it to me!"
So Aharon showed Paraoh the first sign: He threw his stick onto the ground and it turned into a slithering SNAKE!
"Ha! You call that a miracle?" Paraoh scoffed. "My magicians can do that silly trick too!"
Paraoh's magicians came and threw sticks to the ground and -- presto! -- they turned into snakes! And then -- poof! -- the magicians turned the snakes back into sticks.
Just then, HaShem caused something to happen that no magician could dream of doing: Aharon's snake turned back into a stick... and then his stick swallowed up all of the magicians' sticks!
That wiped the smug smile right off of Paraoh's face.
But he still didn't listen to Moshe and Aharon's message. He was hard-hearted and very stubborn, and he refused not let the Jews out of the land of Egypt.
The First Plague: Blood!
It was time for Moshe and Aharon to give Paraoh a serious warning:
"Listen, Paraoh! You have been ignoring us until now. But if you still refuse to listen to us and let the Jewish people go, HaShem will send a terrible plague to punish you. HaShem will turn the water of the Nile River into blood!"
Paraoh said, "Oh yeah? See if I care! Let's see Him go ahead and try it!"
So Aharon, standing by the Nile, raised up his stick and stretched it out over the water... and the water in the Nile -- and in all of the canals, lakes, and everywhere else in all of Egypt -- turned into blood! Even the Egyptians' bathtubs filled up with blood instead of water. Eeeeewwww!
Since all of the fish of the Nile died in it, the blood was unbelievably disgusting and smelly! The Egyptians couldn't even stand to go near it -- let alone drink it!
But in the land of Goshen, where all the Jews lived, there was still clear, pure water. So the Egyptians came to Goshen to get water from the Jews. But when a Jewish person would hand over a cup of water to an Egyptian, the water would turn to blood.
Then the Egyptians thought of a new idea: "We'll share the same cup with a Jew and then we'll be able to finally drink some water!"
But that idea backfired... When the Jewish person drank, he got a refreshing sip of cool water. But when the Egyptian drank from the same cup, it became -- you guessed it -- blood.
"I can't believe it! This is terrible! Hmm... how about if we buy your water?"
That idea worked! Only when the Egyptians paid the Jewish people for their water, did it remain water.
For the seven days of the plague of blood, Egyptians bought water from the Jews in Goshen. As you can imagine, all the money the Jews earned that week was very much appreciated!
You would think that after all of this, Paraoh would give in. But he didn't! He asked his magicians to turn some water into blood, and his magicians were indeed able to do it.
Once again, Paraoh said, "Forget it! I'm never going to let the Jews go!"
