English translation — וארא ד

Sicha of <pg>41</pg>

A.

In the words of the warning to Pharaoh regarding the plague of hail it is said¹

"Behold I am causing it to rain at this time tomorrow a very heavy hail",

and Rashi explains "at this time tomorrow — at this exact time tomorrow,

he drew²

for him a mark on the wall for tomorrow when the sun reaches here the hail will fall".

In the commentaries&lt;sup&gt;3&lt;/sup&gt;

they explained that Rashi's precision is from the language "at this time tomorrow"

[and he did not simply say "tomorrow" as above&lt;sup&gt;4&lt;/sup&gt;

regarding the plague of pestilence&lt;sup&gt;5&lt;/sup&gt;]

— that "at this time"

(with the vowel kamatz&lt;sup&gt;6&lt;/sup&gt;)

means,

"at this time tomorrow",

that is "the time&lt;sup&gt;7&lt;/sup&gt;

in which he was speaking with him".

But it is difficult,

from where did Rashi know

(in the plain sense of Scripture)

that Moses not only set for Pharaoh the time that the hail would come down

("at this time tomorrow")

but also made a sign,

"he drew for him a mark on the wall,

tomorrow when the sun reaches here the hail will come down"?

And one cannot say that because this was the only way then to clarify and know an exact hour of the day&lt;sup&gt;8&lt;/sup&gt;

— for certainly there were then various instruments to know the hours,

like a water clock&lt;sup&gt;9&lt;/sup&gt;

and the like.

[And in "Maskil leDavid" on Rashi here he wrote,

that "already the rabbi Yafeh To'ar felt thus&lt;sup&gt;10&lt;/sup&gt;

and left it unresolved,

and the truth is that such aggados have no place to understand them except by way of the hidden [teachings]",

and he goes on to explain Rashi's words according to the secret [meaning],

as below section 5].

2.

There are commentators¹¹,

that the necessity for this is from the wording of the verse "at this time" — "that the meaning of 'at this time' vowelized with a kamatz is like 'at the time' and that is the known one¹²

And therefore it is forced that he said 'at this time' and 'this' and 'this' points with a finger as our sages said in several places¹³..

And therefore it must be said that he drew a line on the wall and pointed with his finger when the sun reaches here, for which pointing with a finger applies,

And likewise they expounded also in Tanchuma¹⁴

regarding Avraham that it is written¹⁵

'at this time of life' and that is for the aforementioned reason."

But besides this that still this does not answer from where does Rashi have that the sign was specifically a line on the wall

(and not that he pointed with a finger at a "water clock" and the like that at this time tomorrow the hail will fall),

behold yet this — in Rashi above regarding Avraham it is proven,

that Rashi's method is not that the word "at this time" means that he showed with a finger:<pg>42</pg>

On the verse¹⁶

"I will surely return to you etc. at this time of life" regarding Abraham, Rashi: "at this time next year",

and he did not cite there the explanation of the Tanchuma that the Holy One, blessed be He, drew for him a mark on the wall

(and also did not bring any other explanation that pertains to "pointing with a finger").

And likewise afterwards on the verse¹⁷

(in the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, to Abraham)

"At the appointed time I will return to you at this time of life, and Sarah shall have a son," Rashi: "at the appointed time — that same appointed time that I set for you yesterday, at the time¹⁸

this next year",

and on the words "at this time of life" Rashi did not comment at all.

And even more perplexing: in the account of Isaac's birth it is said¹⁹

"And Sarah conceived and bore etc. at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him",

and Rashi: "the appointed time of which He spoke and set when He said to him 'At the appointed time I will return to you,' He drew for him a mark on the wall and said to him: When the sun reaches this mark next year, she will give birth" — behold, Rashi indeed brought the explanation of the Tanchuma,

but

(a)

not on the verse "at this time of life"

(which was said twice previously),

but only afterwards on the verse "and she bore etc. at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him"²⁰,

(b)

also when Rashi brings it in connection with "the appointed time which

(the Holy One, blessed be He)

spoke and set",

Rashi cites only the words "at the appointed time I will return to you" and omits the continuation of God's words "at this time of life"²¹

!

From all of this it is proven,

that according to Rashi's view there is no necessity from the expression "at this time" that there was here some action "to which pointing with a finger applies",

and it is only an expression that indicates a specific and clear set time.

[And it can be said,

that Rashi's necessity

(in Parshat Vayeira)

that the Holy One, blessed be He, "drew a line for him etc.",

is from the superfluous language of the verse in the account of Isaac's birth²²

: after it is stated²³

"And the Lord remembered Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken",

it is obvious that Isaac's birth was exactly "as He had spoken",

"at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him",

why does the verse need to specify this?

And therefore Rashi explains,

that this superfluity teaches us,

that at the time of Isaac's birth it was evident to all that the birth was "at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him"; and how so?

To this Rashi says that the Holy One, blessed be He, "drew a line on the wall etc.",

in a way that all saw and testified that Isaac was born exactly "at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him"²⁴].

And thus — from where does Rashi here in our parshah [derive],

that not only did Moshe Rabbeinu set for Pharaoh the exact time of the descent of the hail

("at this time tomorrow"),

but also made a sign and "scratched a mark on the wall"?

&lt;pg&gt;43&lt;/pg&gt;

3.

And one can say the explanation of this,

and with the introduction of the question — how was this plague different from the other plagues,

that specifically in it Moshe informed Pharaoh of the exact time of the beginning of the plague?

And seemingly there would be place to say&lt;sup&gt;25&lt;/sup&gt;,

that this was for the sake of "the one who fears the word of Hashem",

that he could bring his servants and his livestock into the houses&lt;sup&gt;26&lt;/sup&gt;,

and therefore Moshe informed Pharaoh the precise time of the beginning of the descent of the hail so that they would know when to bring their livestock and their servants into the houses.

And to negate this explanation,

Rashi adds "he drew a line for him on the wall etc.",

that by means of this addition it is clear,

that Moshe's intention in his saying "at this time tomorrow" was not directed to "the one who fears the word of Hashem",

for he was not in Pharaoh's palace and could not discern at all this sign of a line on the wall — but only for Pharaoh himself,

that when Pharaoh would see that not only are the words of Hashem fulfilled,

but that they are directed to the very moment in which he determined that the plague would begin,

then it would be impossible for him to be in any doubt that indeed the hand of Hashem did this.

[And the necessity to say that it was not because of "the one who fears the word of Hashem" is understood simply — because even if Moshe had said simply "Behold I will cause it to rain hail tomorrow"

(as he said regarding the plague of wild beasts and pestilence)

"the one who fears the word of Hashem" could have saved their servants and their livestock&lt;sup&gt;27&lt;/sup&gt;

; and was Moshe's intention to gain that they could leave their servants and their livestock in the field for the short time&lt;sup&gt;28&lt;/sup&gt;

from the beginning of the next day until the hail would fall?

!].

And one should not ask why Hashem did so only regarding the plague of hail

(and not before this regarding the plague of pestilence and wild beasts, where He set their time only generally,

that it would be "tomorrow"&lt;sup&gt;29&lt;/sup&gt;)

— for this is understood by itself from the continuation of the verses here: In the words of the warning for the plague of hail we find a special introduction

(which we do not find regarding the other plagues before this)

— "For&lt;sup&gt;30&lt;/sup&gt;

at this time I am sending all My plagues upon your heart etc. in order that you know that there is none like Me in all the earth..

For this I have stood you up, in order to show you My strength and in order to declare My name in all the earth",

meaning that this plague

(more than all the previous plagues)

would clearly prove the strength of the Holy One, blessed be He.

And thus it is simply understood the reason that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed Pharaoh His "strength" also regarding the setting of the time of the plague,

that He pinpointed the very moment when the plague would begin.

4.

According to all the above, one must also explain the necessity that Moshe "drew a line on the wall" specifically

(And did not point to a "clock" of Egypt)

; And in general, from where does he have that he made some sign and did not simply say "at this time tomorrow":

Since the entire intention of setting the time was to show Pharaoh that the Holy One, blessed be He, can precisely direct the&lt;pg&gt;44&lt;/pg&gt;

Just this moment — there was no place to rely on the clocks that were in the hands of Pharaoh and his magicians,

by which they would see how Hashem precisely aimed the very moment — because it is possible that these clocks

(made by human hands)

are not accurate,

or that the magicians would err in their calculation etc.,

and they would imagine that Moshe did not aim the moment,

And along these lines is Rashi below³¹

regarding the plague of the firstborn,

in the words of Moshe to Pharaoh "So said Hashem, 'Around midnight I am going out etc.'" — "that Moshe said 'around midnight,' implying close to it, either before it or after it, and he did not say 'at midnight,' lest Pharaoh's astrologers err and say 'Moshe is a liar,'"

And therefore it is necessary to say that Moshe made some sign that it is impossible to err in it

— and therefore he explained "he drew for himself a scratch on the wall,

tomorrow when the sun reaches here the hail will fall",

that this sign is not dependent on the hand of man but on the hand of Heaven

(in the course of the sun)

and there is no error in it.

[And based on this the reason will be sweetened that Rashi in his above commentary in Parshat Bo on the verse "as midnight" cites in the heading also the word "the night"

(and also in the body of his commentary

he says "like the midnight" — and did not abbreviate "like midnight")

— it can be said,

that the foundation for Rashi is from this that the discussion is specifically about midnight: if it were about midday,

there would be no need to change from the words of Hashem so that they would not say "Moshe is a liar",

because it would be possible to make a scratch on the wall

(as he did in the plague of hail)

; but since here it was "midnight" and there is no sign in which it is impossible to err,

there was no choice but to change and say "as midnight"].

5.

The "essence of the Torah" in this Rashi commentary:

Above were mentioned the words of the Maskil LeDavid who explained this Rashi in the manner of the secret,

and the essence of his words:

Rashi brings later³⁴

that the hail was "a miracle within a miracle, the fire and the hail were mixed together..

and to do the will of their Maker they made peace between them",

that this mixture of fire and water indicates the inclusion of the attribute of mercy and the attribute of judgment,

that the water

(kindness)

comes from the side of the Name Havayah³⁵,

attribute of mercy,

and the fire

(might)

from the Heavenly Court³⁵

— the attribute of judgment,

and their being mixed together indicates the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He,

(Havayah)

and His Shechinah

(judgment)

"through peace".

And this is also the hint in that "he drew a line on the wall..

when the sun reaches here the hail will fall",

for the line on the wall,

and also the sun's reaching the wall,

indicate the unification of the Holy One, blessed be He, and His Shechinah

(as he explains there based on the Zohar³⁶).

And one may add,

that the inclusion of mercy and judgment in this plague — is explicit in the simple meaning of the verses: the plague of hail is distinguished from all the other plagues in two extremes — on the one hand, from this plague began the force of judgment,

the most severe plagues,

and as explicit in the words of the warning

(as above)

"at this time I am sending all My plagues to your heart etc. in order to show you etc.",

and on the other hand,

there was a leniency in this plague that we do not find in any of the other plagues — that an opportunity was given to be saved from the plague³⁷,

by means of<pg>45</pg>

the fleeing into the houses,

and as explained "he who feared the word of Hashem etc. fled etc. into the houses"²⁶.

And it may be said,

that the concept of the connection of two opposites is emphasized also in the overall content of this Rashi — "at this time tomorrow,

he drew a line for him etc.",

in this the emphasis

(as above at length)

how that the Holy One, blessed be He, directed the very moment of the beginning of the plague: the plagues came from the Name Havayah,

as explained several times³⁸

in the plagues through which Pharaoh knew

(and the Egyptians)

that "I am Hashem",

and as explained in the plague of hail itself³⁹,

"And Hashem gave thunder and hail etc." — and behold "the Name Havayah indicates that He is above time, that He is was, is, and will be in one moment"⁴⁰,

and together with this this plague came with the utmost precision of limited time,

in that very moment,

a connection of above time and time.

(From the talks of Shabbos Parshas Va'eira and Shabbos Parshas Bo 5740)