Rabbi Eliezer asked: What is the basis of the controversy between Rabbis Eliezer and Akiva? Is there a basis to their difference of opinion beyond a simple play on the words in Psalms? Some of the commentators suggest that the controversy between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva has to do with the source of each of the plagues. In medieval thought, there are four basic elements from which the world is created: air, fire, water, and earth. Each plague was created from these four basic elements. When Rabbi Eliezer says each plague is really four plagues, this is what he is referring to. Rabbi Akiva, on the other hand, is of the opinion that the plagues were constructed not only from the four elements, but also from a fifth spiritual element: Koach HaMichaber, “the power of the divine author.” The word Michaber, “author,” can also be translated as “the one who causes the elements to combine.” The elements are separate from one another. God is the cause of synergy, a working together of the different elements of creation. By uniting, the combined elements of the universe become greater than sum of the separate parts of creation. The universe is made up of elements, but God is the one that causes them to become united. Rabbi Akiva, always a mystic at heart, understands that it takes more than physical elements for the universe to become a tangible existence.