Parashat Vaera.

And G-d spoke unto Moses. He took him to task because he had spoken so censoriously when he said, (Exodus 5:22) “Wherefore hast thou done so evil to this people”.

And he said unto him, i am the Lord. Who am faithful to recompense with a full reward those who walk before Me. Nor have I sent you with no purpose in view (cf. 5:22), but to fulfil the promise which I made to the early patriarchs. In this sense we find that the phrase is to be explained in many passages: אני ה׳ signifies, I am the Lord, Who am faithful to exact punishment, when it is spoken in reference to a matter that demands punishment, as, for instance, (Leviticus 19:12) “And thou profanest the name of thy G-d; I am the Lord”; and when it is spoken in reference to observing the Divine commands, as in, (Leviticus 22:31) “Ye shall keep my commandments and do them; I am the Lord”, it signifies, “I am the Lord Who am faithful to give reward.”

And i appeared. to the patriarchs.

By the name of G-d almighty. I made certain promises to them and in the case of all of these I said unto them, “I am G-d Almighty”.

But by my name the Lord was i not known to them. It is not written here לא הודעתי [My name the Lord] I did not make known to them, but לא נודעתי [by My name, the Lord], was I not known [unto them], i. e. I was not recognised by them in My attribute of “keeping faith”, by reason of which My name is called ה׳, which denotes that I am certain to substantiate My promise, for, indeed, I made promises to them but did not fulfill them [during their lifetime].

. Then, ALSO, when I appeared unto them by the name of G-d Almighty I ESTABLISHED and set up MY COVENANT between Myself and them

To give them the land of Canaan. Of Abraham it is stated in the chapter that contains the commandment of the Circumcision, (Genesis 17:1, and 17:8) “[The Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him], I am G-d Almighty etc., and I will give to thee and to thy seed after thee the land of thy sojourning”. Of Isaac it is stated, (Genesis 26:3) “[The Lord appeared unto him and said], For unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will establish the oath which I sware unto Abraham, thy father”, and that oath here referred to which I sware to Abraham I uttered by the name of G-d Almighty. Of Jacob it is stated, (Genesis 35:9, 11, 12) “[And G-d appeared unto Jacob … and G-d said unto him], I am G-d Almighty; be fruitful and multiply, … the land which I gave [Abraham and Isaac to thee I will give it] etc.” So you see that I made certain vows to them and I have not yet fulfilled them.

. Since I established and set up My covenant it is incumbent upon Me to fulfil it; therefore, שמעתי את נאקת בני ישראל I HAVE HEARD THE GROANING OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL who groan (complain) אשר מצרים מעבדים אתם THAT THE EGYPTIANS ARE ENSLAVING THEM, ואזכר AND I REMEMBER that covenant which I have already made with them; because at the covenant “between the pieces” I said to him, (Genesis 15:14) “And also against that nation whom they shall serve will I pronounce judgment.”

שָׁמַעְתִּי אֶת נַאֲקַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. הַנּוֹאֲקִים,

אֲשֶׁר מִצְרַיִם מַעֲבִדִים אֹתָם וָאֶזְכֹּר. אוֹתוֹ הַבְּרִית. כִּי בִּבְרִית בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים אָמַרְתִּי לוֹ (בראשית טו,יד): "וְגַם אֶת הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר יַעֲבֹדוּ דָּן אָנֹכִי".

Therefore. i. e. in accordance with the tenor of that oath (cf. Exodus Rabbah 6)

Say unto the children of Israel, i am the Lord. Who am faithful in My promise

And i will bring you out. for so did I promise them: (Genesis 15:14) “and afterwards shall they go out with great substance”.

. means the encumbrance of the burdens of Egypt.

I have lifted up my hand. I have lifted it up to swear by My Throne.

But they hearkened not to Moses. they did not accept his words of comfort.

Through anguish. (lit. shortness) OF SPIRIT, If one is in anguish his breath comes in short gasps and he cannot draw long breaths. In a somewhat similar manner to this I heard this section expounded by Rabbi Baruch the son of Rabbi Eliezer, and he cited the following verse to me in proof of his explanation: (Jeremiah 16:21) “This once will I cause them to know My hand and My might, and they shall know that My Name is the Lord”. Rabbi Baruch said: we may learn from this text that when the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfils His words, even when it is a matter of punishment, He makes it known that His Name is the Lord; and, of course, this is all the more so, when He fulfils His words in a matter of bestowing reward., Our Rabbis explained it (this section) as having reference to what precedes it, that Moses said (5:22): “Wherefore hast thou done so evil [to this people]”. Whereupon G-d said to him, “Alas, for those that are gone (i. e. the patriarchs) and are no more to be found! I really have reason to deplore the death of the patriarchs. Many a time did I reveal Myself to them by the name ‘G-d Almighty’, and not once did they ask Me, What is Thy Name? (i. e. what is the name that describes Thy true essence); but thou hast at once said (Exodus 3:13) “[If they ask] ‘what is His name’, what shall I say unto them?!” (Exodus Rabbah 6:4; Sanhedrin 111a).

Also i set up. [MY COVENANT WITH THEM TO GIVE THEM THE LAND OF CANAAN], and yet when Abraham wished to bury Sarah he could not obtain a grave until he purchased one at a high price. So, too, in the case of Isaac, people strove with him for possession of the wells which he had dug. Similarly, of Jacob it is stated, (Genesis 33:19) “He purchased a parcel of field,” in which to pitch his tent. Yet none of them criticised My dealings with them, whilst you say “Wherefore hast Thou done so evil [to this people!]”, But this Midrashic exposition does not fit in with the text for several reasons. Firstly, because Scripture does not state “And they did not ask of Me regarding my Name, the Lord”. And if you say in refutation of my objection that they did not mean that ושמי ה' לא נודעתי actually signifies that they did not ask what is My Name, but it means “He did not tell them that this was His Name and yet they did not ask Him what it was”, then I reply that these words cannot mean that He did not tell them His name, for at the very first when He revealed Himself to Abraham at the Covenant “between the pieces” it is said, (Genesis 15:7) “I am the Lord (אני ה׳) who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees”. Further (secondly), how does the context run on to the statements which Scripture places after the above verses, viz., “And I have also heard etc.” and “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel etc.”? Therefore I say: let Scripture be explained in its literal sense so that each statement fits into its proper setting, but the Midrashic exposition may also be given, if you like, as it is said (Jeremiah 23:29) “Is not my word like as fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer which, by the force of its own blow, the rock at which it strikes shatters in pieces”.

וְגַם אֲנִי שָׁמַעְתִּי... לָכֵן אֱמוֹר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל. לְכָךְ אֲנִי אוֹמֵר יִתְיַשֵּׁב הַמִּקְרָא עַל פְּשׁוּטוֹ, דָּבָר דָּבוּר עַל אָפְנָיו, וְהַדְּרָשָׁה תִּדָּרֵשׁ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (ירמיהו כג,כט): "הֲלֹא כֹה דְבָרִי כָּאֵשׁ נְאֻם ה' וּכְפַטִּישׁ יְפוֹצֵץ סָלַע" – מִתְחַלֵּק לְכַמָּה נִצּוֹצוֹת.

How than shall Pharaoh hear me?. This is one of the ten inferences from minor to major which are found in the Bible (Genesis Rabbah 92:7).

Of uncircumcised lips. It really means obstructed as regards the lips. So, too, in respect to all forms derived from ערל I say that they signify obstructed. E. g. (Jeremiah 6:10) “their ear is עֲרֵלָה, stopped up so that it will not hear; (Jeremiah 9:25) “עַרְלִי in heart”, their hearts are closed so that they will not understand; (Habakkuk 2:16) “Drink thou, also וְהֵעָרֵל”, and become thou closed up (in thy senses) through intoxication caused by the cup of curse mentioned in that passage; the foreskin (ערלה) of the flesh is so called because the membrum is closed up and covered by it; (Leviticus 19:23) וערלתם ערלתו signifies, make for it (the tree) a closure (אוטם) and cover by means of an inhibition that will prove a barrier against eating it; (Leviticus 19:23 “Three years shall it be to you as ערלים”, it shall be closed up and covered and barred so that it many not be eaten.

And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron. because Moses had said, “I am of uncircumcised lips”. The Holy One, blessed be He, associated Aaron with him to be his mouth-piece and spokesman.

. signifies that HE GAVE THEM A CHARGE regarding them; viz., to deal with them in a gentle manner and to be patient with them (Exodus Rabbah 7:3)

. signifies that He charged them with regard to PHARAOH, KING OF EGYPT, viz., that they should show respect to him in all that they spoke. This is a Midrashic explanation (Exodus Rabbah 7:3; Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 2); but the real meaning is: He gave them a command with regard to Israel and with regard to His mission on which he had sent them to Pharaoh. And what the purport of this command was is explained in the second section from here (vv. 29, 31) after the order of genealogy set forth in the next passage. It properly should follow here, but because Scripture has mentioned Moses and Aaron here, it interrupts the narrative by interpolating the section beginning (v. 14), “These are the heads of their fathers’ houses”, in order to inform us how Moses and Aaron were born (who were their parents) and with whom they are connected by descent.

אֵלֶּה רָאשֵׁי בֵית אֲבוֹתָם. לְלַמְּדֵנוּ הֵיאַךְ נוֹלְדוּ מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן וּבְמִי נִתְיַחֲסוּ.

These are the heads of their fathers’ houses. Since it (Scripture) finds itself compelled to give the genealogy of the tribe of Levi as far as Moses and Aaron because of Moses and Aaron, it begins to give the genealogy of the tribes in the order of their birth commencing from Reuben. And in Pesikta Rabbati 7 (on Numbers 7:12) I have seen the statement, that because their father Jacob reproached these three tribes in the hour of his death Scripture again enumerates here their genealogy alone of all the tribes to indicate that they nevertheless were men of worth.

And the years of the life of levi were. etc., Why is the number of the years of Levi mentioned? In order to tell us how long the period of slavery lasted, because so long as even one of the sons of Jacob (lit. the tribes) remained alive there was no slavery imposed upon the Israelites, as it is said, (Exodus 1:6) “And Joseph died and all his brethren”, and afterwards it is stated (Exodus 1:8), “Now there arose a king” (who enslaved them); and Levi lived the longest of all of them (Seder Olam 3).

. … ושני חיי עמרם וגו׳ AND THE YEARS OF THE LIFE OF KOHATH WERE etc. … AND THE YEARS OF THE LIFE OF AMRAM WERE etc., From these numbers we may gather regarding the period of residence of the children of Israel, viz., four hundred years, of which Scripture speaks, that these four hundred years were not passed in Egypt alone, but that they date from the day of Isaac’s birth. You know that Kohath was one of those who went down to Egypt; now reckon all his years (133) although really we should not take into account the years he lived before he went down to Egypt, and the years of Amram, his son (137), and the eighty years of Moses, the latter’s son, which he had attained when the Israelites left Egypt, and you will not find them totaling to four hundred, and in this calculation many years of the sons’ ages are included in those of their fathers (i. e. in such a calculation one must deduct in each instance the father’s age when his son was born since this number is included in the total age of each of these persons) (cf. Rashi on Exodus 12:40)

Jochebed his aunt. The Targum has: his father’s sister; she was daughter of Levi (cf. Exodus 2:1) and sister of Kohath.

The sister of naashon. Hence they (the Rabbis) learned (i.e. from the fact that Scripture states who her brother was when it mentions her marriage to Aaron) that he who is about to take a wife should strictly investigate who her brothers are (Bava Batra 110a).

One of the daughters of putiel. of the family of Jethro (cf. Rashi on Exodus 4:18) who used to fatten (פטם) calves for idolatrous sacrifice, and of the family of Joseph who overcame (פטפט, who talked or argued with) his passion (Sotah 43a; Bava Batra 109b).

These are that Aaron and Moses. who are mentioned above where it states (v. 20) that Jochebed bore them to Amram. הוא אהרן ומשה There are some passages where Scripture mentions Aaron before Moses (as here) and other passages where it mentions Moses before Aaron; this is done in order to indicate that they were equal in all respects (more lit., that they weighed alike) (Mekhilta).

הוּא אַהֲרֹן וּמֹשֶׁה. יֵשׁ מְקוֹמוֹת שֶׁמַּקְדִּים אַהֲרֹן לְמֹשֶׁה, וְיֵשׁ מְקוֹמוֹת שֶׁמַּקְדִּים מֹשֶׁה לְאַהֲרֹן, לוֹמַר לְךָ שֶׁשְּׁקוּלִין כְּאֶחָד (מכילתא על שמות יב,ג).

. This is the same as בצבאותם with their hosts, all their hosts according to their tribes. Sometimes the word על is merely used in place of a single letter (ב as a prefix); e. g., (Genesis 27:40) “על חרבך shalt thou live” which is the same as בחרבך, by thy sword; (Ezekiel 33:26) “Ye stand על חרבכם” which is the same as בחרבכם, by your sword.

These are they who spake to Pharaoh. It was they who received the command to speak to Pharaoh (cf. v. 26), and it was they who carried it out by actually speaking to him (cf. e.g. Exodus 7:7).

These are Moses and Aaron. they remained always the same in carrying out their mission and in their integrity from beginning to end (cf. Megillah 11a).

. And it came to pass on the day that the Lord spoke unto Moses in the land of Egypt: [This is connected with the following verse]

And the Lord spake. This is the self-same command which was mentioned before, viz., (v. 11) “Go in, speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt”, but because it (Scripture) broke off the narrative in order to record their genealogy it now reverts to it and begins it anew.

I am the Lord. I am powerful enough to send you and to carry out the matter on which I have sent you.

And Moses said before the Lord. This is the statement which he made above, (v. 12), “Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me”. Scripture repeats it here, because it broke off the narrative for the reason already given. So is the method of the historian, just as a person who says, “let us return to the previous subject”.

. This signifies I have made thee a judge and castigator, to castigate him with plagues and pains.

[Aaron] shall be thy prophet. This must be understood as the Targum takes it: thy interpreter. Similarly, wherever this term of נבואה is mentioned it refers to a man who publicly proclaims and utters to the people words of reproof. It is of the same derivation as, (Isaiah 57:19) “utterance (ניב) of the lips”; (Proverbs 10:31) “it utters (ינוב) wisdom”; (I Samuel 10:13) “he made an end of proclaiming (התנבות)”, which is in the book of Samuel. In old French we call him predicar; English preacher.

Thou shalt speak. once, every separate message just as you have heard it from My mouth, and your brother Aaron shall express it in eloquent language and explain it in Pharaoh’s hearing.

And i will allow [Pharaoh’s heart] to harden. Since he has wickedly resisted Me, and it is manifest to Me that the heathen nations find no spiritual satisfaction in setting their whole heart to return to Me penitently, it is better that his heart should be hardened in order that My signs may be multiplied against him so that ye may recognise My divine power. Such, indeed, is the method of the Holy One, blessed be He: He brings punishment upon the nations so that Israel may hear of it and fear Him, as it is said, (Zephaniah 3:6, 3:7) “I have cut off nations, their corners are desolate etc. … I said: Surely thou wilt fear Me, thou wilt receive correction” (cf. Yevamot 63a). Nevertheless, in the case of the first five plagues it is not stated, “The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart” but “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 3).

. this must be translated literally, “hand”, (not “power”) I will lay My hand upon Egypt to smite them.

[וַיַּעַשׂ משֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה' אֹתָם. וְהֵיכָן צִוָּם? "בְּלֶכְתְּךָ לָשׁוּב מִצְרַיְמָה" וְגוֹמֵר (שמות ד,כא). דַּע (וכולי).]

A wonder. a sign to prove that there is power in Him who is sending you.

. means A SERPENT.

. The Targum renders this by בלחשיהון: with their secret spells. There is no other example of this word in the Bible. One may compare it to the first word in (Genesis 3:24) “the להט of the sword that turned round”, it appeared to turn round through some magic spell.

But Aaron’s staff swallowed. (It states that the staff swallowed), after it had again become a staff it swallowed all of them (Shabbat 97 a; Exodus Rabbah 9:7).

. This word should be translated in the Targum by יקיר (his heart is hard, an adjective) and not by אתיקר (his heart has become Hard, a verb, as is given in some editions of Onkelos) because it is an adjective, just as (Exodus 18:18) “the thing is too heavy (כָּבֵד) for thee”.

Lo, he goeth out unto the water. to ease himself. For he claimed to be a god and asserted that because of his divine power he did not need to ease himself; and therefore he used to rise early and go to the Nile and there eased himself in secret (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 14; Exodus Rabbah 9:8).

. means UNTIL NOW. A Midrashic explanation (taking this sentence to mean, “thou wilt not hearken until (עד) thou hearest the word “כה”) is: until thou hearest from me the announcement of the slaughter of the first-born, which I will begin with the words, (Exodus 11:4) “Thus (כה) saith the Lord, About midnight etc.”

And they shall be turned into blood. Because rain does not fall in Egypt but the Nile rises and irrigates the land and the Egyptians on this account worshipped the Nile, therefore G-d first smote their deity and afterwards smote them (Exodus Rabbah 9:9).

The egyptians shall weary themselves. in seeking a cure for the waters of the river that they may become fitted for drinking.

Say unto Aaron. Because the river had protected Moses when he was cast into it, therefore it was not smitten by him neither at the plague of blood nor at that of frogs, but it was smitten by Aaron (Exodus Rabbah 9:10).

Their streams. These are the flowing rivers, just like our rivers in France.

. These are canals which convey water being made by human agency and extending from the river bank into the fields. The waters of the Nile increase in volume and rise by way of these canals and so irrigate the fields.

. A collection of waters that neither spring up from beneath the ground nor flow along, but which remain in one spot. In old French they call it étang.

[there will be blood] throughout all the land of Egypt. also in their bathing establishments and in the baths in their houses.

. the water which happened to be BOTH IN vessels of WOOD AND in vessels of STONE.

Secret arts. magic formulas which they utter secretly and in a whisper. Our Rabbis stated that בלטיהם refers to the work of demons, בלהטיהם to witchcraft (Sanhedrin 67b; Exodus Rabbah 9:11).

And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. so that he said: You are doing this by witchcraft: “You are bringing straw to Afarayim”, a city that is full of straw; thus you bring sorcery to Egypt, a land that is full of sorcery (Menachot 85a; Exodus Rabbah 9:6-7).

[neither did he set his heart] to this also. to the wonder of the staff which was changed into a serpent and also not to that of the blood.

And there was completed. (the verb is singular) שבעת ימים the number of SEVEN DAYS during which the river did not return to its original condition. For each plague functioned a quarter of a month and for three quarters He warned and cautioned them (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 13; Exodus Rabbah 9:12).

. AND IF THOU BE A REFUSER. מאן, The word has the same meaning as ממאן, refusing, (the Piel participle) only the difference is that it is a description of a person having reference to the action he always does (i. e. it is an adjective and the full phrase would be איש מאן) similar to שָׁלֵו “a man at ease” (Job 16:12); שָׁקֵט “a man at ease” (Jeremiah 48:11); וְזָעֵף [‎סר] “a man displeased” (1 Kings 20:43), whilst מְמאֵן merely describes the person as refusing at some particular moment.

מָאֵן. כְּמוֹ מְמָאֵן, מְסָרֵב, אֶלָּא כִּנּוּי הָאָדָם עַל שֵׁם הַמִּפְעָל; כְּמוֹ "שָׁלֵו" (איוב טז,יב), "שָׁקֵט", "סָר וְזָעֵף" (מל"א כ,מג).

I will plague all thy boundaries. נוגף means smiting. So, too, wherever a form from the root נגף occurs, it does not necessarily denote killing but it may mean merely smiting. Similarly, (Exodus 21:22) “and if they hurt (ונגפו) a woman with child”, does not mean they kill (as the context shows); so, too, (Jeremiah 13:16) “and before your feet stumble (יתנגפו)” (i. e. hit against something); (Psalms 91:12) “lest thou dash (תגף) thy foot against a stone”; (Isaiah 8:14) ”and for a stone of stumbling (נגף)‎”.

And they shall go up. from the river

. first into thine house and afterwards, בבית עבדיך, into the house of thy servants; he took the first step in counselling evil against Israel, as it is stated (1:9) “He spake to his people, “[Behold, the children of Israel are more numerous and powerful than we]”, and with him, therefore, did punishment begin (cf. Sotah 11a and Exodus Rabbah 10:3).

And upon. (or in) THEE AND THY PEOPLE [SHALL THE FROGS COME], they made their way right into their bodies and crowed (Exodus Rabbah 10:3).

And the frogs. (lit. frog) CAME UP, Really there was only one frog, but when they struck at it, it was split into many swarms. This is a Midrashic explanation of the usage of the singular noun here (cf. Sanhedrin 67b; Exodus Rabbah 10:4). But as a literal explanation one must say that the swarm of the frogs is denoted by the singular form. Similar is, (v. 14) “and there was the כנם”, the swarm of insects, in old French pedulier; i. e. a swarm of lice. So, too, here, ותעל הצפרדע means: and there came up a grenouillière (old French) i. e. a swarm of frogs.

Glory over me. Similar is, (Isaiah 10:15) “Should the axe יתפאר against him that heweth therewith” i. e. should it boast, saying “I am greater than thou”; old French vanter. Therefore התפאר means pride yourself on showing your cleverness and on asking of me a difficult matter asserting that I shall be unable to do it.

For what period shall i entreat for thee. With reference to the entreaty which I shall make to-day regarding the destruction of the frogs, by what period do you wish that they should be destroyed, and you will see whether I can carry out my promise by the time which you will set me. If the text said מתי אעתיר (without ל), it would signify “when shall I pray?” but now that it is said למתי, it signifies I will pray to-day for you that the frogs should be destroyed by the time which you will set for me. Tell me, then, by what day you wish that they shall be destroyed. The words here, אעתיר and העתירו (v. 4) and העתרתי (v. 25) are Hiphil forms, and it does not say אֶעְתַּר and עִתְרוּ and וְעָתַרְתִּי (Kal forms) because wherever the root עתר is used it denotes to pray much (more lit. Rashi’s words signify “to multiply praying”, “to make much praying”), and just as one says אַרְבֶּה and הַרְבּוּ and וְהִרְבֵּתִי which all have the meaning of “causing an action to happen” (in this case, causing a thing to be much, our Hiphil conjugation), so one says אַעְתִּיר and הַעְתִּירוּ and וְהֵעְתַּרְתִּי “I increase”, “increase ye” and “I will increase” i. e. I will increase words. The passage which serves as evidence of the meaning of all these words is (Ezekiel 35:13) “וְהֵעְתַּרְתֶּם your words against Me”, which can only mean “Ye have multiplied” (being a transitive verb; cf. Rashi on Genesis 25:21).

אַעְתִּיר, הַעְתִּירוּ, וְהַעְתַּרְתִּי. וְלֹא נֶאֱמַר 'אֶעְתַּר', 'עִתְרוּ', 'וְעָתַרְתִּי'; מִפְּנֵי שֶׁכָּל לְשׁוֹן 'עֶתֶר', הַרְבּוֹת פֶּלֶל הוּא; וְכַאֲשֶׁר יֹאמַר 'הִרְבּוּ', 'אַרְבֶּה', 'וְהִרְבֵּיתִי' – לְשׁוֹן הִפְעִיל, כָּךְ יֹאמַר 'אַעְתִּיר', 'הַעְתִּירוּ', 'וְהַעְתַּרְתִּי דְּבָרִים'. וְאָב לְכֻלָּם: "וְהַעְתַּרְתֶּם עָלַי דִּבְרֵיכֶם" (יחזקאל לה,יג), הִרְבֵּיתֶם.

And he said, for to-morrow. He said: Pray to-day that they may be destroyed by to-morrow.

They went. … AND CRIED [UNTO THE LORD) immediately that they should be destroyed by to-morrow.

. means IN HEAPS, just as the Targum renders it, דגורין, which means גלין heaps (דגורא is the Targum of הגל in Genesis 31:46).

He allowed his heart to be hardened. The word הַכְבֵּד expresses doing something (the Hebrew infinitive but having a past meaning) just as, (Genesis 12:9) “going (הלוך) and journeying (ונסוע)”. So, too, (2 Kings 3:24) “and smiting (והכת) Moab”; (I Samuel 22:13) “and enquiring (ושאול) of G-d for him”; (1 Kings 20:37); “smiting (הכה) and wounding (ופצוע)”.

‎ כאשר דבר ה׳ as the Lord had spoken. And where had He said this? When He said, (Exodus 7:4) “Pharaoh will not hearken to you”.

Say unto Aaron. The dust did not deserve to be smitten by Moses because it had protected him when he slew the Egyptian, for “he hid him in the sand”; and it was therefore smitten by Aaron (Tanchuma; Exodus Rabbah 10:7).

. means the swarming was. In old French pedulier.

To bring forth gnats. to create them and to bring them forth from some other place (not from dust but to turn some other material into gnats).

But they could not. for the demon (through whose agency this was to be done) is powerless in the case of a creature smaller than a barley corn) (Sanhedrin 67b). Therefore they had to admit

This is the finger of G-d. This plague is not caused by sorcery: it is of the Omnipresent G-d!

As the Lord had spoken. when He said, (Exodus 7:4) “Pharaoh will not hearken unto you”.

. means I WILL INCITE AGAINST THEE. Another example is. (Deuteronomy 32:24) “I will incite (אשלח) the tooth of beasts against them”, where it signifies letting loose an animal against a person; old French inciter. English to incite.

. this means all kinds of wild beasts, serpents, and scorpions (a mixture [ערב] of noxious creatures) in a crowd (Exodus Rabbah 11:3), these played havoc with them. There is a reason given in the Midrash in the case of each plague why this particular one and why that: G-d came against them with the tactics of warlike operations as carried out by kings in orderly sequence: a government (monarch) who is besieging a city first destroys its water supply, then they blow the trumpets and sound an alarm in order to terrify and dismay them, thus [their water supply was turned into blood], the frogs croaked and made a noise etc. , just as you will find it stated in the Midrash of Rabbi Tanchuma 2:3:4.

. means I WILL SEPARATE. Similar is, (Exodus 9:4) “And the Lord will make a separation (והפלה)”; so, also, (Deuteronomy 30:11) “It is not נפלאת from thee״, that is, “it is not separated and set at a far distance from thee”.

In order that thou mayest know that i am the eternal in the midst of the earth. although My Shechina is in the heavens My command is fulfilled amongst mankind (as we might say, “My writ runs on earth also”).

And i will make a deliverance. which shall serve as a division BETWEEN MY PEOPLE AND THY PEOPLE.

. means the ground was being destroyed (the imperfect tense denotes what was then going on continuously), and so the Targum has אתחבלת ארעא (the participle) the ground was being ruined.

Sacrifice to your G-d in the land. in the place where you are, and do not go into the wilderness.

The abomination of the egyptians. This means: that which the Egyptians reverence (their idol), just as, (2 Kings 23:13) “and for Milcom the abomination (תועבת) of the children of Ammon”, but in relation to the Israelites it (Scripture) calls it תועבה. We may explain these words in another sense also: תועבת מצרים, The act of sacrifice which we practise is a hateful thing to the Egyptians seing that we sacrifice their god (sheep which were reverenced as gods in Egypt).

. This must be read in the intonation of a question (although there is no interrogative prefix הֲ) AND WILL THEY NOT STONE US?

. is the same as להתל (i. e. the infinitive may be used with or without ל prefixed).

And entreated the Lord. (the verb is the Kal), he concentrated his energies on prayer. So, too, if it had wished to use the term וַיַעְתִּיר (the Hiphil) it could have used it, and that would have signified, “and he increased words in prayer”. But when it uses an expression denoting “and he did something” (the Kal) it signifies “he prayed much (devoutly)”.

And he removed the swarm of animals. He merely removed them and they did not die as the frogs had died; for had they died, they (the Egyptians) could have made some use of their skins (Exodus Rabbah 11:3).

. means WILT KEEP HOLD OF THEM, as in, (Deuteronomy 25:11) “and layeth hold of him etc. (...והחזיקה ב)”.

‎הנה יד ה׳ הוֹיָה behold the hand of the Lord is. The verb הויה is in the present tense, for so one says in the feminine gender of the past היתה, “she was”, of the future, תהיה, “she will be” and of the present, הוֹיָה, the latter form being similar to עוֹשָׂה and רוֹצָה and רוֹעָה (Fem. part. sing. Kal of ל"ה verbs).

. means HE WILL SEPARATE.

Handfuls. (more lit., as much as will fill your fists), old French joincheiz; Engl, double-handfuls.

Soot of the furnace. the word פיח denotes a thing which is blown away (נפוח) from coals that have become extinguished after being burnt in a furnace; in old French oulvis.

. is derived from a root that signifies blowing, and it so called because the wind blows it about and scatters it abroad.

And let Moses threw it. Since anything which is thrown with force must be thrown with one hand only, there were here several miracles: one, that Moses’ closed fingers (קמץ) held as much as would fill his two fists and those of Aaron, and another, that this dust spread itself over the entire land of Egypt (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 14; Exodus Rabbah 11:8).

A boil breaking forth into blains. Render it as the Targum does: a boil growing blains, the idea is, that through it (the boil) blains burst out on them (on the people).

. has the meaning of “heat”. In the Mishnaic Hebrew there are many examples of its use; e. g., (Yoma 53b) “a hot (שחונה) year”.

Upon man and upon cattle. If you ask, “Whence did they obtain these cattle”? Has it not already been stated, (v. 6) “And all the cattle of Egypt died”? I reply that this judgment was decreed only against the cattle that were in the fields, as it is said, (v. 3) “[The hand of the Lord is] upon thy cattle which is in the field”, and everyone who feared the Lord took his cattle in-doors. So it is taught in the Mechilta in the comment on (Exodus 14:7) “And he took six hundred chosen chariots.”

[for i will this time send] all my plagues. We may gather from this that the plague on the first ripe ears outweighed all the previous plagues.

For now i might have stretched out my hand. etc., For had I so desired it, when My hand was upon thy cattle which I smote with pestilence I could have stretched it forth and smitten thee and thy people together with the cattle, ותכחד מן הארץ AND THOU WOULDST HAVE BEEN EXTERMINATED FROM THE EARTH, BUT (this word אבל corresponds to ואולם in the Hebrew text) בעבור זאת העמדתיך FOR THIS REASON I MADE THEE REMAIN [IN LIFE IN ORDER TO SHOW THEE MY POWER], etc.

. Understand this as the Targum does: THOU TREADEST DOWN MY PEOPLE. The word מסתולל is of the same derivation as מְסִלַּה which we render in the Targum by “a trodden path”: old French caucher. I have already explained at the end of Sedrah ויהי מקץ (see Rashi on Genesis 44:16) that in the case of every word (verb) whose first root letter is ס (or ש), when it is intended to express the idea of acting upon itself (our Hithpael conjugation) one puts the ת of the prefix (הִתְ or מִת or יִתְ etc.) between the root letters, just as in this case, and as in, (Ecclesiastes 12:5) “and the grasshopper shall drag itself along heavily (ויסתבל)” which is derived from סבל “to carry a load”; (Numbers 16:13) “that thou wouldst make thyself altogether a prince (השתרר תשתרר) over us”, of the same derivation as the word שר in (II Chronicles 32:21) “a prince (שר) and noble”; (Daniel 7:8) “I was considering (מסתכל)” from the root סכל, “to reflect on.”

. means AT THIS TIME (כָּעֵת not כְּעֵת) TO-MORROW, He scratched a mark on the wall, saying, “To-morrow when the sun-rays reach here the hail will descend” (Exodus Rabbah 12:2; cf. Rashi on Genesis 21:2).

. means [FROM THE DAY] WHEN IT WAS FOUNDED (נתיסדה). Every word (verb) the first root-letter of which is י, as יסד and ילד and ידע and יסר, when it is used in the Hithpael sense (Rashi means our Niphal which often is the reflexive of the Kal), a ו replaces this י; e. g., הוסדה here, from יסד; (Hosea 2:5) “her being born (הִוָלְדָּהּ)”; (Esther 2:22) “and it was known (ויודע)”; (Genesis 66:20) “and there was born (ויולד) to Joseph”; (Proverbs 29:19) A servant will not be corrected (יוסר) by words”.

. translate it as the Targum: SEND, GATHER. Similar examples of this sense are, (Isaiah 10:31) “The inhabitants of Gebim gather together (העיזו)”; (Jeremiah 6:1) “Gather together (העיזו), ye children of Benjamin”.

. The verb denotes “bringing into a place” so that the translation is: AND WHICH IS NOT GATHERED INTO THE HOUSE.

. means HE MADE THEM FLEE.

. signifies towards the heavens (i. e. על is the equivalent of אל). A Midrashic comment is that the Holy One, blessed be He, raised Moses high above the heavens see Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 15).

[and fire] flashing up amidst the hail. a miracle within a miracle! Fire and hail mingled, although hail is water! But in order to perform the will of their Creator they made peace one with the other (Exodus Rabbah 12:4).

And it is enough. let it suffice Him with what He has brought down already.

. This is the same as מן העיר [AS SOON AS I AM GONE OUT] FROM THE CITY. But he did not pray within the city because it was full of idols (Exodus Rabbah 12:5).

. means YE DO NOT YET FEAR. Wherever occurs in Scripture it signifies ״not yet”, and does not mean “before”. For example: (Genesis 19:4) טרם ישכבו, which the Targum renders by “whilst yet they had not lain down”; (Genesis 2:5) טרם יצמח which the Targum renders by “not yet sprung forth”. This, too, has the same meaning: I know that ye do not yet fear the Lord, and that as soon as there will be respite you will continue in your moral corruption.

And the flax and the barley נכתה. i. e. were broken; it has the same meaning as in, (2 Kings 23:29) “Pharaoh-Necho (נכה)”, which denotes Pharaoh the lame i. e. broken in so far as the power of his legs is concerned (cf. II Samuel 9:3); (Isaiah 16:7) “brocken (נכאים)”, and so too לא נכו (v. 32), “they were not broken”. It would not be correct to explain that it is connected in meaning with the word that signifies “smiting”, הכאה, for a נ cannot take the place of a ה that one may explain נֻכָּתָה as being equivalent to הֻכָּתָה, and נֻכּוּ to הֻכּוּ, but the נ is a root-letter in the verb, and the word נֻכּוּ is of the same grammatical form as the verb in, (Job. 33:21) “and all his bones are laid bare” שֻׁפּוּ (i. e. Pual of כי השערה אביב

For the barley was in the ear. it had produced its first ears and it stood on its stalks; these were therefore broken and fell. So, too, the flax had already grown and had become hard enough to stand in its capsules.

. means [THE BARLEY] STOOD IN RIPE STATE, similar in meaning to, (Song 6:11) “[to look at] the ripe plants (באבי] of the valley”.

. means FOR THEY WERE LATE in growing and they were still soft and able to resist the blow of anything hard. It is true that it is stated, (v. 25) “and every herb of the field did the hail smite”, but one must explain the real meaning of that verse as referring to herbs that stood on their stalks and were therefore liable to be broken by the hail. In the Midrash of Rabbi Tanchuma 2:2:16 some of our Rabbis differed in their explanation of this, and explained the words כי אפילת to signify that most remarkable wonders (פלאי פלאות) happened to them in that they were not smitten.

. means [RAIN] DID NOT REACH the earth (i. e. no fresh rain came down), that rain, too, which was alredy in the air at the moment when Moses was praying remained there and did not reach the ground. In a similar sense is “ותתך עלינו the curse and the oath”, a passage in the book of Ezra (really, Daniel 9:11), which signifies, “the curse and the oath have reached us”. But Menachem ben Seruk classified it in the same section as, (Ezekiel 22:22) “כהתוך כסף” which has the meaning of melting (pouring forth) metal. I agree with his opinion, because in the Targum we render ויצק, (Onkelos Exodus 38:5) “And he cast (metal)”, by ואתיך, and (Onkelos Exodus 38:27) לצקת, “to cast (metal)” by לאתכא, each of these Aramaic words being of the same root as our word נתך. Therefore לא נתך ארצה would mean: rain was not poured out to the ground.