Tag: Vaeirah

Who’s Crying

This week’s Portion describes seven of the ten plagues that G-d brought onto Pharoh and the Egyptians. The first plague was blood, which caused all the Egyptian water sources and containers of water to turn into blood. This plague, as well as all of the plagues, did not affect the Jews. The Medrash tells us …

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The Leader!

Pharaoh stubbornly disregarded G-d’s overwhelming power shown to him and his people through the plagues. Since Pharaoh so severely misused his freedom of choice, G-d took it away from him. Therefore, from the fifth plague on, although under normal circumstances Pharaoh would have conceded and let the Jews out, since he had abused his power …

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No Fly Zone!

This week’s Parsha describes seven of the ten plagues that G-d carried out on Pharoh and the Egyptians. The purpose of the plagues was to compel Pharoh to free the Jews from their brutal slavery. Before each plague Moshe gave a warning, and everything about the impending plague that he forewarned Pharoh played itself out …

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Heartless!

The other day my son Shua sent me a picture of his 2 year old son Yehuda standing in his crib with his hand on his hip. The caption was, the king! I responded; “The Pharoh was just about the same size.” My son sent back a laughing emoji. Our Sages tells us that the …

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Higher Power!

The Pharoh of Egypt enslaved the Jewish people for over one hundred years – a very long time. When the right time came for the Exodus of the Jews, G-d sent Moshe to lead the Jews and negotiate the details of their departure with the Pharoh. It was not simple to convince Pharoh to release …

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Stubborn

(Torah Portion Va’eirah) Stubborn Before our forefather Yaacov passed away, he made his son Yosef promise that he would bury him in the land of Israel. One reason Yaacov gave why he did not want to be buried in Egypt was that he foresaw through prophetic vision that Egypt would experience a plague of lice …

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Heavenly Sounds

(Torah Portion Va’airah) Heavenly Sounds Our leader Moshe came to the Pharoh with specific instructions from G-d to free the Jewish people. Pharoh responded, “Who is G-d that I should listen to him.” Pharoh’s denied the existence of G-d until the seventh plague, which was fire mixed with hail. Pharoh finally caved in, calling Moshe …

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Supernatural!

(Torah Portion Vaeirah) Supernatural! The Mishna in Ethics of our Fathers lists ten items that were created in the time between the end of the sixth day of creation and before the Holy day of Shabbos began. These ten items were not bound by the laws of nature because they were formed after the six …

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A Day Off

(Torah Portion Va’erah) A Day Off! Have you ever wondered how the Egyptians were able to effectively enslave the Jewish populace in Egypt? The Torah relates that the Pharoh seeing the steep hike in the Jewish birthrate was worried that they would become a majority and powerful enough to take over the land. This claim …

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Gratitude!

(Torah Portion Vaeirah) Gratitude! We know that the Jews were bitterly enslaved by the Pharoh. But what were they forced to do? The Torah tells us that the Jews built the areas of Pisom and Ramses, which contained large warehouses used to store the immense wealth that Egypt had accumulated, (primarily through Yosef’s efforts.) Our …

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