B"H
Tuesday, Tevet 21, 5785 / January 21, 2025
This week we read Parshat Va’eira, in the Book of Exodus (S’hmot). In the Parsha we read how G-d reprimands Moshe for complaining why G-d sent him to Pharaoh, as his speaking to Pharaoh not only didn’t help the Jewish people but made it worse for them. G-d tells Moshe that in the end he will see that his words will have their proper affect, and that Pharaoh will eventually let the people go.
We also read how time and again G-d sends Moshe and Aaron to command Pharaoh to set the Jewish people free and every time Pharaoh refuses to obey. G-d sends the Ten plagues upon the Egyptians and in the end, as we will read next week, Pharaoh chases the people out.
Q. G-d told Abraham many years earlier that his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years. Were the Jewish people in Egypt 400 years?
A. No. The 400 years began with the birth of Abraham’s son, Yitzchak. They were in Egypt 210 years.
Q. How do we know that they were not in Egypt for all of the 400 years?
A. Moshe was 80 when he took the Jewish people out of Egypt. His grandfather, Kehot, was one of the 70 people who came to Egypt together with Yaakov. Kehot lived 133 years. His son, Amram, Moshe’s father, lived 137 years. Moshe was 80 when he took the Jewish people out of Egypt. If we add up the years from when they came to Egypt, we don’t have 400. The 400 years began much earlier with the birth of Yitzchak. In Egypt they lived 210 years.
Q. How many of the 210 years in Egypt, were they enslaved?
A. 116 years. The enslavement began only after the last of Yaakov's children died. Yaakov's third son, Levi, died at the age of 137. He was 43 when he came to Egypt and lived there 94 years. If we deduct 94 from 210, we are left with 116. This is the total amount of years in which they were enslaved by the Egyptians. However, the harsh and “bitter” enslavement was 86 years. It began at the time when Miriam was born. She was named “Miriam,” which comes from the word “bitter.”
Q. In the Parsha we read, “G-d said to Moshe, say to Aaron, take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt over the rivers, over their streams and over their pools and over their ponds so that they will become blood." Why were the waters smitten through Aaron, not through Moshe?
A. Rabbi Tanchum says, "Because the waters of the Nile protected Moshe when his mother placed him in the river, he could not be the one to punish the water. This is the reason why the first two plagues, blood and frogs, which came from the water, were brought about by Aaron, not by Moshe.
Also, the third plague, lice, which came from the sand, was brought by Aaron, because the sand protected Moshe when he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand (Exodus 2:12).
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
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