​Parashat Va’era 5785, 2025:"The Earth is Hashem’s"

Rabbi David Etengoff

ה' יעזור וירחם על אחינו כל בני ישראל בארץ ישראל ובכל חלקי הארץ
 
The Eser Makkot (10 Plagues) are the highlight of both our parasha and Parashat Bo. Their miraculous Nature-changing power stirs our religious imagination and demonstrates Hashem’s omnipotence writ large. The Torah teaches us that the overarching purpose of the makkot was in order that “… the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth My hand over Egypt, and I will take the children of Israel out of their midst…” (Sefer Shemot 7:5, this and all Tanach translations, The Judaica Press Complete Tanach)
 
While each plague profoundly affected every aspect of Egyptian society, barad (hail) alone elicited such an admission from Pharaoh: “I have sinned this time (chatati hapa’am). The Lord is the righteous One (Hashem HaTzaddik), and I and my people are the guilty ones.’” (9:27) Pharoah’s words contain three separate ideas: recognition of his personal sin, acknowledgment of Hashem’s righteousness, and assertion of his and the Egyptian people’s guilt for acting cruelly toward our nascent nation.
 
Why did Pharaoh make this proclamation regarding this particular plague? Midrash Tanchuma Buber provides us with an intriguing insight:

[Let us learn the reason for Pharaoh’s behavior based upon the manner in which most people would act:] If someone desires to go to war against his fellow man, and be victorious against him, he attacks him in an unexpected [and stealthy manner]. He then kills him and takes every possession his enemy has. Yet, the Holy One blessed be He acted in an entirely different fashion toward Pharaoh and proclaimed to him: “And now, send, gather in your livestock and all that you have in the field; any man or beast that is found in the field and not brought into the house the hail shall fall on them, and they will die.” (9:19) [It was precisely as a result of Hashem’s warning that Pharaoh,] following his experience of the [forewarned] barad, exclaimed, “The Lord is the righteous One.” (Parashat Va’era 20, translation and brackets my own)
 
According to this passage, Pharaoh was completely overwhelmed by Hashem’s merciful warning regarding the mortal danger barad would entail. Nonetheless, because of his arrogance, Pharaoh ignored Hashem’s adjuration, and his people suffered untold death and destruction. When he ultimately recognized the dire consequences of his behavior, however, Pharaoh had little choice but to proclaim, “The Lord is the righteous One.”
 
The Kli Yakar (Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz, 1550-1619) takes a different approach regarding barad. In response to the question, “Why was this plague so pivotal to Hashem’s plan?” he emphasizes that the hail was accompanied by thunder: “… the Lord gave forth thunder and hail…” (9:23). For the Kli Yakar, thunder played an essential role in Pharaoh’s recognition of the Master of the Universe:
​
The Plague of Hail and the thunder that accompanied it, came upon Pharaoh as a result of his refusal to listen to Hashem’s voice with the proper majesty (“b’hadar”) to which it was due. Therefore, Hashem forced him to hear thunder that was at once awe-inspiring and frightening. As a result, here, and here alone, he confessed to his sin and declared, “the Lord is the righteous One, and I and my people are the guilty ones,” since [until this point,] he had denied Hashem’s existence and verbally proclaimed His non-existence… Consequently, he was punished through the sound of thunder… [Once, however, Pharaoh confessed his sin, Moshe declared,] “The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, in order that you know that the earth is the Lord’s.” (9:29, Kli Yakar translation, brackets and underlining my own)
 
The concluding Hebrew phrase in 9:29, “l’ma’an taida ki l’Hashem ha’aretz—in order that you know that the earth is the Lord’s,” finds its parallel in Dovid HaMelech’s celebrated pasuk in Sefer Tehillim: “L’Dovid mizmor l’Hashem ha’aretz u’mloah, tavel v’yoshvei vah—Of David, a song. The earth and the fulness thereof are the Lord’s; the world and those who dwell therein.” (24:1)  In his Commentary on Sefer Tehillim on this pasuk, Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) zatzal opines that, since “the earth and the fulness thereof are God’s, the world of men and its inhabitants are also His.” (This and the following quotation, The Hirsch Tehillim, second printing, 2016, page 207)  What does this mean? Rav Hirsch maintains that: “The earth and the fulness thereof belong to God Himself, Who is also Hashem, the God of the Torah, the God of history. The earth must serve His sovereignty which trains men how to fulfill His moral Law…”
 
Rav Hirsch’s analysis and the commentary of the Kli Yakar provide valuable insight into why Pharoah abruptly declared: “the Lord is the righteous One, and I and my people are the guilty ones.” For one bright shining moment, Pharoah and his nation realized that when “the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail,” it will be because Hashem was, is, and always will be the Adon Olam—Master of the Universe. Perhaps no greater lesson could ever be taught to humankind.
 
Shabbat Shalom
 
Past drashot may be found at my blog-website: http://reparashathashavuah.org
 
The email list, b’chasdei Hashem, has expanded to hundreds of people. I am always happy to add more members to the list. If you would like to be added, please contact me via email: mailto:[email protected].
 
*** My audio shiurim on the topics of Tefilah and Tanach may be found at: Tefilah and Tanach
 
*** I have posted 164 of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s English language audio shiurim (MP3 format) spanning the years 1958-1984. Please click on the highlighted link.
 

---