Emmett James - Dvar Torah

Parasha: Vaera

My parasha is Vaera.I’ll be concentrating on the first 7 plagues.

The purpose of the plagues were:

1. To get the Egyptians to know God,the supreme God

2. To get the Israelites out of Egypt

Allow me to take you through the first 7 plagues and share my take on it:

1. Blood:

This was against Hapi and Osiris.Moses raised his staff and struck the water of the Nile and turned it into blood.The Egyptians couldn’t drink the water and shows how he can provide it and that’s why he told Moses to change the water of the Nile into blood.Blood outside the body symbolises death.Nile seen as a God and source of life.Pharaoh didn’t allow the Isralites to drink the water or bath in it.

2.Frogs:

This was against Heqet the god of fertility.Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frogs came up on to the land.This was aimed at Heqet the God of fertility.

3.Gnats:

When Aaron stretched out his staff and all of the dust became gnats.This was the finger of God.

4.Flies:

Moses sent swarms of flies on Pharaoh and his officials into their homes.

5.Livestock:

This was against Apis the God of livestock.He sent a terrible plague to the pharaoh’s livestock,this harmed Apis,the God of livestock.He was like a sacred bull.

6.Boils:

Moses and Aaron took handfuls of soot from a furnace and then Moses tossed it into the air in the presence of Pharaoh.

7.Hail:

This plague causes destruction on a massive scale - it shattered every tree and flattened the barley soon to be harvested. In fact, everything that was not brought to shelter - humans or animals would die. It was also only in Goshen where the Hebrews lives that was spared from this plague.

A unique aspect of this phenomena was that God was performing a miracle within a miracle, using two opposites of nature to co-exist - hail together with “esh” which means fire in Hebrew. Why did God do this? To demonstrate that He was the only One true God and to give Pharaoh a warning - to give people especially Egyptians a chance to repent. It was also to teach and remind the Hebrews/Israelites that their God was the only try God and to worship His power and might.

If I look at how things are today and how we put so much importance on things, we could say there is a god of WiFi, a god of TV, a god of games and more.

God can send the plague of Wifi to take that away. God can take away electricity and most will be in darkness and cold.

The pattern we see in Pharaoh’s life is not different from the behaviour in today’s life.

When we experience the consequences of our evil or sinful nature,we may experience remorse or look for relief from suffering.

I’ve learned from the plagues that once the circumstance is alleviated,everything goes back to normal.

The important lesson I have learned from this and looking at our own lives,is that relief and remorse don’t always mean repentance.

Shabbat Shalom