Adapted from a shiur given by the Tolner Rebbe shlita, Vaeschanan 5779
לע"נ האשה החשובה מרת אסתר בת הרה"ח ר' זאב ע"ה נלב"ע י"ד סיון תשפ"ה נתרם ע"י בנה ידידינו הנגיד הנכבד רבי זאב מאשקאוויטש שליט"א
אוֹ הֲנִסָּה אֱלֹהִים לָּבוֹא לָּקַחַת לוֹ גוֹי מִקֶּרֶּב גּוֹי בְּמַסֹּת בְּאֹּתֹּת וּבְּמוֹפְּתִים וּבְמִלְּחָּמָּה וּבְּיָּד חֲזָּקָּה וּבִזְּרוֹעַ נְּטוּיָּה וּבְּמוֹרָּאִים גְּּדֹּלִים כְּכֹּל אֲשֶּר עָּשָּה לָּכֶּם יְּהֹּוָּה אֱלֹהֵיכֶּם בְּמִצְּרַיִם לְּעֵינֶּיךָ
-- Or has any god ever performed miracles to come to take for himself a nation from amidst a nation, with challenges, with signs, and with wonders, and with war, and with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm, and with greatly awesome deeds, such as everything that Hashem, your God, did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Rashi explains With war – At the Sea [of Reeds]. By contrast, the Ibn Ezra maintains that it was actually in Egypt, “possibly with killing the firstborn and the judgments executed on the gods of Egypt.”
Waging War on Their Behalf in Egypt
As proof for asserting that With war refers to the Sea, Rashi cites from the possuk stated at the splitting of the Sea, For Hashem is waging war on their behalf in Egypt. Yet there, Rashi cites two explanations: The first, that "במצרים" does not mean in Egypt, but rather, against Egyptians [in the sea]. In an alternative explanation, however, he says that it actually does mean in [the Land of] Egypt, for just as these Egyptians were being stricken at the Sea, so were those who remained in Egypt being stricken. Why does Rashi here ignore this second explanation, and insist that it refers only to the Sea?
Q1
With a Strong Hand Refers to the Plague
Since all the other phrases mentioned in our possuk, before and after this phrase, refer to miracles in Egypt itself, it seems strange to explain only the phrase, and with war as referring to the Sea!
Q2
The Signs, the Wonders and the Strong Hand
Furthermore, there is a similar possuk in next weeks Parshah, The great tests that your eyes saw, and the signs, the wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched hand... yet, unlike our possuk, and with war is not mentioned. Why?
Q3
Has a People Heard the Voice of God Speaking From the Fire
Our Possuk is in the middle of the following Pesukim: For inquire now regarding the early days that preceded you, from the day when Hashem created man on the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of heaven: Has there been anything like this great thing or has anything like it been heard? Has a people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire as you have heard, and survived? Or has any god ever performed miracles to...
