ב"ה עש"ק פר' וארא, מברכים חודש שבט "יום התוועדות" שנת "פדות", שנת "פדותינו", שנת "פרצת"
Dear Alumni Sheyichyu!
Sholom U’Brocho!
Mazel Tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Leibel Ceitlin on the opsherenish of his son. Mazel tov to Rabbi and Mrs. Mendel Greenwald on the birth of their son. May they bring them up lTOveCHuMAA”T mitoch harchovo, and to be true chayolim! (If anyone is aware of any mazeltov’s that I am missing please let me know). Thank you very much, as always, for the feedback, it is much appreciated!
I didn’t manage to do anything yesterday, so I just want to share a vort today.
This week we learn about the various makos with which the Eibishter plagued the Egyptians, leading up to yetzias Mitzrayim. We know that all of the makos were not merely to enable our liberation–that could have been accomplished in much less time and with much less fuss–nor were they merely a means to punish Mitzrayim. Rather, the purpose of the ten makos was to destroy the mindset of the Egyptians and their worship of nature and worldliness. For this the makos had to be brought in a systematic manner, to systemically eradicate the false world-view of Mitzrayim and to bring about the וידעו מצרים כי אני ה'.
This goal was achieved collectively, each individual plague played its part in bringing this about. Yet, we find something unique about one of the makos in the Parsha of this week, - the mako of shchin, of boils. By this plague the Torah tells us something singular, that we find neither by the plagues that preceded it nor by those that followed:
The Torah tells us, following the mako of שחין, that ולא יכלו החרטומים לעמוד לפני משה כי היה שחין בחרטומים ובכל מצרים
What was so unique about this plague that prevented the sorcerers from being able to stand before Moshe? The Ramban explains that the fact that they were covered with boils made them embarrassed to show themselves publicly, and they therefore stayed away from the palace and could not stand in front of Moshe. But this answer seems difficult. While it is undoubtedly embarrassing to be covered in boils (and the Rogatchover, in Tzofnas Paaneach al haTorah refers us to the gemoro in Gitin where we can see this), it is also embarrassing to be covered with lice. And, unquestionably, someone who has frogs in his belly croaking loudly will be ashamed to be in the presence of others. In addition, the possuk specifies that they could not stand in front of Moshe because the shchin was in the chartumim and in all of Mitzrayim. But, according to above explanation, the fact that the rest of Mitzrayim was afflicted by the shchin has no bearing on their inability to stand there?
[When I was in Cheder, if I remember correctly, they taught us that the boils on the bottom of their feet made it impossible to stand. But the last question (and others) would be on this explanation as well].
The Rebbe explains that their inability to stand is describing their being completely overwhelmed by this plague to the point of being totally lost and losing their standing (as if to say לא מצא ידיהם ורגליהם).
What was unique about this mako to bring about such results? We find that the first makos the chartumim were able to duplicate, and thus reach the erroneous conclusion that they were performed by witchcraft. After the third plague they had to concede that אצבע אלקים היא, - that these wonders could only be performed by a higher power, by Hashem. So they reasoned, we’re here in the world, we have our abilities and our powers. But there is clearly a G-d in heaven who is greater than us, and who’s powers are far superior to ours.
