“And E-lohim spoke to Moshe saying to him, I am Hashem.” (Shemot, 6:2) After Moshe Rabeynu assailed God, may He be blessed, He responded by rebuking him, and this is why the Torah says vai’daber, “and E-lohim spoke to Moshe” which is a harsher way of speaking than vayomer (and he said). The name “E-lohim” also teaches of this (judgment), so immediately after it says, “and He said to him.” This is like one who became angry at his friend, yet he loves him, so when he sees his friend astonished and frightened, he then hints to him that all his anger was only outward and momentary. Thus it is here with the formulation “and He said to him, I am Hashem,” for saying denotes softness, meaning that He said to him softly that He is not really angry, God forbid. This is also why it says “I am Hashem,” for the name Havaya (the Tetragrammaton) is filled with compassion, and the strong rebuke was only outward and temporary, so do not be afraid.

“And E-lohim spoke to Moshe … And I appeared ….” (Shemot, 6:2–6) Meaning that after Moshe Rabeynu asked the Holy One, blessed be He, “as it is in Your power to redeem Israel immediately, so why must you cause havoc with the plagues?” To this, God told Moshe to go to Israel, and that they would not listen to him. And the Holy One, blessed be He, showed him that the birrur (clarification) for Israel was not complete and the time had not yet come for the final redemption. This is why it is said afterwards, “These are the heads of their father’s houses,” and related their lineage. All together there were found forty-five leaders of the thousands of Israel. He showed him that these forty-five leaders also needed to undergo further birrurim until even the last one, Pinchas, who seemed to be the most purified one of all, meriting the brit shalom (the covenant of peace), also needed to undergo further birrur. This is hinted at in the calligraphic tradition of writing a broken vav in brit shalom (vav ketiya). This Parsha shows how it is crucial for all great men of Israel to proceed with great fear of heaven, and this is (Devarim, 10:12), “what⁶, in Hebrew, numerically equivalent to 45. does Hashem ask of you if not to fear Him,” hinting at the forty-five kinds of fear.

footnotes: ⁶ What, or mah

“Go, speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt,” (Shemot, 6:11) It is written in the Midrash (Tanchuma, Vaeira, 2), “The saying goes, there is no profit in acacia wood, only in thorns.” What could this enigmatic saying mean? Pharaoh did not listen to Moshe, nor did the children of Israel, as the verse says, “they did not listen …” The children of Israel are the acacia. Saying “there is no profit in acacia wood,” is as if to say, though Israel is like a good tree with strong roots, the real profit is in the thorny tree, Pharaoh’s oppression. Before the slavery was harsh, Israel did not listen to Moshe. Pharaoh’s insolence and obstinacy served to cause Israel to listen to Moshe, and from this we can recognize the advantage of Pharaoh over the children of Israel.

The seven plagues in this week’s Parsha correspond to the verse (Mishlei, 6:16), “these six does God hate, and seven are an abomination to His soul.”⁷. King Shlomo’s intention was to make an order of the sins, so therefore he started with small sins, and then after the serious ones. Yet here, when the Egyptians were punished for all these sins saturated into their hearts, they were first punished for the serious ones. The plague of blood corresponded to “spreading discord among brothers,” as the attribute that does the most to keep us far from God is anger. Lust may bring you away from God, but anger brings you away the farthest. “A false witness who ‘blows’ lies” was the plague of frogs, for the Egyptians would devise all kinds of lies about Israel, and the term “blows lies” means that they would take a small matter and blow it up into a great one. In Israel, the law is that if you see another sinning, and there are no other witnesses, it is forbidden for you to tell, as in the incident of Tuvia sinning (Pesachim, 113b). When there are no witnesses in a case, it is proof that God does not want to publicize the sin but rather hide it in this world. Therefore it is forbidden to publicize it. Yet the Egyptians would publicize everything, so the plague of frogs came upon them who also would croak and howl so loudly that the Egyptians could not hear their own voices. The plague of lice corresponds to “legs hastening to do evil.’ With Israel it is said (Yesahya, 1:21), “righteousness lodges in it.” This means that they would delay the judgment, not carrying it out immediately. Even when they knew that the judgment was correct, still they would put it aside overnight (“lodges”) as perhaps someone would come forth with evidence for acquittal. The Egyptians acted in the opposite way. They would race with each other to harm Israel, yet God in His mercy guarded them and even those who raced to hurt them could not. The plague of lice corresponded to this, small creatures who make rapid movements, yet with all their rapidity they effect very little. “A heart which devises evil imaginations” was the plague of wild beasts, since they would devise plans to harm Israel, so the plague of wild beasts was a mixture of different beasts like the mixture of all their evil plans. This is why it says, “and I will divide the land of Goshen … and there will be no wild beasts there” God will make it clear that among Israel there is no mixture of evil thoughts. The plague of pestilence corresponds to “hands shedding clean blood.” The plague of boils corresponds to “a lying tongue,” in that they had the impunity to spread lies, so therefore they were shamed, as it said, “the magicians of Egypt could not stand before Moshe.” With “arrogant eyes” they boasted of what a good influence they were, and they got hail. Rain is the paradigm of good influence in the world, but all that came to arrogant Egypt was hail. Therefore it was Moshe Rabeynu’s very action that brought about the hail as he was clean from arrogance, as it is written (Bamidbar, 12:3), “and the humility of the man Moshe was greater than all other men …”.

footnotes: ⁷ From here we know that all punishment in the world, even among the Gentiles, such as when one leader is deposed and another gains power, it is all rooted in the evil attributes mentioned in the verse, “six does God hate … a proud look, a lying tongue and hand…” see there. Tashlum