English translation — וארא א

Sicha 1<pg>26</pg>

A.

"And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron: Take for yourselves handfuls of furnace soot, and let Moses throw it heavenward... and it shall become dust over all the land of Egypt, and it shall become... boils breaking out in blisters on man and beast throughout all the land of Egypt."<sup>1</sup>

And in Rashi: "And Moshe threw,

and anything thrown with force is thrown only with one hand,

behold many miracles,

one that held his handful<sup>2</sup>

of Moshe full of handfuls of his and of Aharon,

and one that the dust went upon all the land of Egypt."

And Rashi's intention simply,

that since the throwing of the soot of the furnace

(both that of Moshe and that of Aharon)

was only by Moshe,

and throwing with force<sup>3</sup>

is only with one hand,

necessarily: "that he held his handful of Moshe full of handfuls of his and of Aharon",

and upon this Rashi continues and explains the reason for this miracle,

that so we find regarding this plague in general,

that "many miracles" were in it.

And already the commentators stood on Rashi's language "many miracles",

and behold Rashi "does not count except two and what is many"⁴.

And more perplexing: in the Midrash

(Tanchuma⁵

and Shemot Rabbah⁶

here)

three miracles are counted without emphasizing "behold many miracles",

and this is the language of the Midrash: "Said⁷

R. Yehoshua ben Levi a great miracle was done with the boil that if a person shoots an arrow upward it does not go one hundred cubits and Moshe threw furnace soot a handful full of his palms what is impossible to take a handful full of his palms and there is no substance in it

("for the soot is a thing that is impossible to take in hand because it is a thing that has no substance in it"⁸)

and Moshe threw it heavenward until the Throne of Glory,

and another great miracle was with the boil that it held a handful full of his hands⁹

of Moshe a handful full of his hand^*9

his and Aharon's,

and another miracle was done with the boil a person scatters one kav of dust does not scatter except four cubits but Moshe took a handful full of his hand and scattered it over all the land of Egypt etc." — and specifically Rashi,

who omitted the first miracle in the Midrash¹⁰

("that Moshe threw it heavenward until the Throne of Glory")

and counts only two miracles,

adds and emphasizes "behold many miracles"¹¹

!<pg>27</pg>

2.

There are commentators¹²

who explained,

that in the spreading of the dust over all the land of Egypt there are two miracles¹³,

one,

the very spreading of it such a great distance,

and second,

that such a small amount of ash sufficed for all the land of Egypt.

And this is what Rashi said: "Behold, many miracles",

for this miracle of the spreading of the ash over all the land of Egypt,

includes two miracles¹⁴.

And one may add yet another detail in the miracle,

and in the language of the Midrash — "And Moses¹⁵

threw furnace soot full of his handfuls, which is impossible to take full handfuls and it has no substance" — that the very taking of the soot

(a thing that has no substance)

in the hand is a miracle,

and all the more so to throw it,

and to such a great distance.

But Rashi rejects this explanation, precisely his language,

that he wrote "many miracles one..

and one etc.'",

behold his words are clear,

that these are only two miracles alone

("one..

and one").

[And especially that all this emphasis "one..

and one" is superfluous,

for he should have only detailed the miracles

("many miracles,

that it held etc. and that the dust went etc.'").

And especially that in the Midrash the language

(as above)

"a great miracle..

and another miracle..

and another miracle",

whereas Rashi changes and writes "one..

and one".

And from this it is proven,

that according to Rashi the explanation is not that each miracle was general in which several particular miracles are included,

but rather that each one was only one miracle].

And further: if Rashi's intention is to the multiplicity of miracles within these miracles themselves,

he should have specified more,

and like "that the dust went and scattered over all the land of Egypt"

(and the like)

[and likewise — soot has no substance],

in this it would have been emphasized that there are two details here¹⁶.

3.

And it seems to me simply,

for it is simple,

that in all the plagues, the body of the plague was a miraculous thing.

And so in our case,

that the body of the plague of boils is a miracle,

that there came into being a reality of boils from the soot of the furnace,

this itself is an open miracle,

therefore Rashi wrote "behold many miracles",

namely the two miracles that he specifies together with the essence of the miracle of the plague¹⁷.

—<pg>28</pg>

In Ramban here¹⁸

That the soot that went throughout all the land of Egypt when it fell upon a person etc. "raised in them boils and blisters,

for it was hot burning".

And according to this,

the body of the plague

(the boils and the blisters)

was produced in a natural manner

(from the hot burning soot),

and the miracle was only in the going and scattering of the soot throughout all the land of Egypt.

And seemingly it is possible to be precise thus also from the words of Rashi,

who explains "for a festering boil, blisters" — "as its Targum,

for a festering boil that produces blisters,

through which blisters grow",

"Shechin,

an expression of heat,

and there is much in the language of the Mishnah&lt;sup&gt;19&lt;/sup&gt;

Shanah&lt;sup&gt;20&lt;/sup&gt;

shechunah",

and as is explained in the commentaries&lt;sup&gt;21&lt;/sup&gt;,

that this that the shechin is a cause for blisters

("for a festering boil that produces blisters")

is because shechin means heat,

and heat causes blisters.

And it is implied from this,

that also Rashi holds like the Ramban that the soot from the furnace's smoke was "burning hot".

But it is difficult to explain thus in Rashi,

who explains "soot of the furnace" — "the thing blown from the dying coals",

that even if you say that the soot was still&lt;sup&gt;22&lt;/sup&gt;

hot&lt;sup&gt;23&lt;/sup&gt;,

it is most difficult to say that it was "burning hot" to such an extent,

that even after its going throughout all the land of Egypt it still had heat to generate in man and in beast boils and blisters.

And furthermore,

behold from this itself that Moses and Aaron held this soot in their hands&lt;sup&gt;24&lt;/sup&gt;

it is forced that it was not "burning hot" to generate blisters at the time of holding the soot,

and all the more so and certainly after its going throughout all the land of Egypt.

[And although one could say that this too was a miracle,

that they could hold in their hand hot burning soot,

and the soot remained in its heat even after its going throughout all the land of Egypt — behold, in Rashi it is not mentioned at all regarding these miracles

(even though [he] details the miracles that occurred in this plague)].

And furthermore, it is difficult,

for later in the portion of Negaim&lt;sup&gt;25&lt;/sup&gt;

it is explicit in Rashi,

that "Shechin,

an expression of heat,

that the flesh became heated by the affliction that comes to him from a blow not from fire",

that is, that shechin is a name for the heating of the flesh by an affliction not from fire,

and how is it possible to say that shechin here is from the dust that was "hot burning".

And therefore it is logical to say,

that the generation of the boil

(the heat,

through which blisters grew)

in man and beast was in a miraculous way²⁶,

that from the dust heat was created

(boil)

in a miraculous way²⁷

(like the generation of lice from the dust in the plague of lice).

And this is the intention of Rashi in what he said "behold many miracles",

even though he details only two miracles,

for<pg>29</pg>

the miracle in the body of the plague,

explicit in the verse,

Rashi did not need to specify,

as above.

4.

And it will be sweetened more that Rashi explained in the entry after this

("for a boil sprouting blisters"),

in which he explains the manner of formation of the plague,

"for a boil, blisters suffice",

it is

(also)

a continuation of this Rashi,

that after Rashi detailed the two miracles that occurred in the soot of the furnace

(the dust),

Rashi continues with the detailing of the miracle in the body of the plague,

that from this dust was made "for a boil, blisters suffice",

and thus also the third miracle is detailed in Rashi.

And based on this, one can further say,

that the content of this Rashi indicates several miracles that occurred within the plague itself.

For in addition to the miracle that the dust produced boils in man and in beast,

i.e., a lesion in the flesh

(this is the meaning of shechin,

as above from Rashi "the flesh became inflamed with a lesion")&lt;sup&gt;28&lt;/sup&gt;,

there was also this,

that the boils produced and grew blisters,

which is another detail in the miracle of this plague

(for it is possible that there be boils without blisters).

And one may add,

that also the detail of "porach" is a miracle in itself.

For although in this verse it means that through the boils the blisters sprouted,

in the following verse&lt;sup&gt;29&lt;/sup&gt;

it says "and there were boils, blisters, porach, in man and in beast",

where here it does not refer to the sprouting of the blisters from the boils&lt;sup&gt;30&lt;/sup&gt;,

but rather it is a description of the boils and the blisters together,

that they were "porach in man and in beast",

and here too Onkelos translates "shichna abu'bu'in saggi".

And one can say simply,

that this is an additional miracle³¹,

that the boils and blisters were not limited to the place where the dust touched the man and the animal,

but rather that it sprouted and grew and multiplied until the entire body of the man and the animal became stricken with boils and blisters.

And according to this it is found,

that there were not only three miracles,

but rather "many miracles" literally.

For even though the first two miracles are only two

("one..

and one"),

nevertheless the body of the plague included several miracles.

5.

But after all this,

still an explanation of Rashi's language is needed "

(many miracles)

one..

and one",

for at first glance there is to increase even more in the miracles of the Holy One, blessed be He, in this plague,

and to explain that these miracles included several miraculous details

(and as above section 2).

Also what is the practical difference at all in the simple meaning of the verses to be precise and emphasize that in this plague there were "many miracles".

For at first glance,

also in other plagues we find further miraculous details besides the miracle in the plague as a whole&lt;sup&gt;32&lt;/sup&gt;,

and nevertheless Rashi does not emphasize in his commentary that "many miracles" occurred and the like

(except regarding hail which was "a miracle within a miracle"&lt;sup&gt;33&lt;/sup&gt;).

And one could say,

that Rashi's intention here is not only&lt;pg&gt;30&lt;/pg&gt;

to explain the reason for the miracle that occurred in the manner of the grasping of the soot and its throwing,

but also — to explain the reason that Moses was compelled to throw the soot with force,

as if this soot would reach by the force of its throwing "heavenward",

and likewise to every place where the boils needed to reach,

and regarding "heavenward",

and the distance of all the land of Egypt,

there is no difference at all between a regular throwing and a throwing with all his strength&lt;sup&gt;34&lt;/sup&gt;.

And in order to resolve this difficulty,

Rashi explains: "Behold, many miracles, one etc. and one etc."

(And in the words that follow, he explains the manner of the appearance of the boil itself and the blisters),

that his intention is not merely to list all the miracles that occurred in this plague,

but rather primarily to emphasize the nature of the miracles,

that accordingly the reason is understood why Moses had to throw the soot with force specifically.

6.

And this will be understood by prefacing that which we find regarding the plague of boils,

that it is different from all the other plagues:

a)

In all the plagues that came through the action of Moses or Aaron,

there was only a small action on their part and immediately afterwards the plague was actualized in all the land of Egypt.

As with blood,

that Aaron struck the Nile before Pharaoh's eyes and immediately all the waters of Egypt turned to blood³⁵

; with frogs,

that "he stretched out³⁶

Aaron his hand over the waters of Egypt and the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt"³⁷

; with lice — "and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth and it became lice etc. in all the land of Egypt"³⁸

; and likewise with plagues after boils — like with hail,

that when "Moses stretched out his staff toward the heavens" the hail came down upon

(all)

the land of Egypt³⁹,

with locusts — "and Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt and God led a wind etc. and the locust came up over all the land of Egypt"⁴⁰,

and likewise with darkness — "and Moses stretched out his hand toward the heavens and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt"⁴¹.

But not so regarding boils,

that ostensibly it could be said in a manner that immediately after the throwing of the furnace soot heavenward all people and animals would be stricken with boils,

but in actuality it was not so,

rather Moses' action only caused the dust to go throughout all the land of Egypt,

and the dust that went throughout all the land of Egypt

(and settled "upon man and upon beast"⁴²)

it struck them with boils.

And it is puzzling,

for what reason was this plague different from all the other plagues?

b)

After the plague of boils it is said⁴³

"And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the magicians and upon all Egypt."

And seemingly it is puzzling, why specifically after this plague were they unable to stand before Moses?

In the Ramban there he writes that the magicians "were ashamed<pg>31</pg>

And they were ashamed and covered their heads when they were full of boils&lt;sup&gt;44&lt;/sup&gt;

And they could not save their souls, therefore they did not come into the king's palace and did not appear before Moses etc.'

But at first glance it is puzzling,

In what way is this plague different from the plague of frogs and lice&lt;sup&gt;45&lt;/sup&gt;,

That simply also the magicians were struck by these plagues&lt;sup&gt;46&lt;/sup&gt;,

And as is explicit in the verse&lt;sup&gt;47&lt;/sup&gt;

That the frog was "in your house..

And in you"

(the house of Pharaoh and in Pharaoh himself),

And if so, why were the magicians not ashamed when there were frogs "in their intestines..

And croaking"&lt;sup&gt;48&lt;/sup&gt;,

Or their bodies full of lice,

To stand before Moses&lt;sup&gt;49&lt;/sup&gt;.

And therefore it seems to me,

That the intention of the verse is not only physical standing alone,

That they could not stand before Moses because they were struck with boils

(And especially according to this there is no reason for the conclusion of the verse "for the boil was etc. and in all of Egypt",

What does this have to do here&lt;sup&gt;50&lt;/sup&gt;),

But rather the intention is spiritual standing,

That the character of this plague brought about that they did not find their hands and feet,

That is,

After the plague of lice when they could not produce lice they said "It is the finger of God"&lt;sup&gt;51&lt;/sup&gt;,

However here after the plague of boils,

They were nullified completely until they did not find "standing" for themselves at all&lt;sup&gt;52&lt;/sup&gt;.

And therefore,

after this plague,

behold, even regarding the plagues that came through the action of Moses and Aaron,

they did not even endeavor to do like them.

7.

And one can say the explanation of this:

One of the purposes of the plagues,

besides punishing the Egyptians,

was so that "the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord"⁵³.

And this knowledge and recognition came about through the plagues,

that even the magicians of Egypt were forced to say that "it is the finger of God".

And the order of the plagues was,

that at first the Holy One, blessed be He, brought plagues in which it was not so clearly evident that they are from God,

for even the magicians could do likewise with their enchantments⁵⁴,

and only afterwards came the plague of lice, which the magicians could not do with their enchantments, and they were forced to agree that "it is the finger of God"; but nevertheless,

even though the plague was "the finger of God",

nevertheless it came about in practice through the action of Aaron,

and this was the innovation of the plagues that came afterwards,

swarms of wild beasts and pestilence,

that they came without the mediation of an action of Moses or Aaron,

but directly from God.

And based on this, the reason is simply understood why in these [plagues] the relation of the magicians to these plagues is not mentioned at all in the verse,

because in them, from the outset, there was no place for the supposition that this is an act of sorcery of Moses and Aaron,

since they performed no action at all to bring the plague.

That is to say,

that the more one minimizes natural action on the part of Moses or Aaron,

the more it is evident that this is a plague from the Holy One, blessed be He.

And this is the innovation of the plague of boils,

in which there were a thing and its opposite: the plague came in a manner that gave room for error that it came through natural actions⁵⁵,

but on the other hand,

all of it was only<pg>32</pg>

and only a miracle

(which has no place in nature),

and these two opposites together are what caused the nullification of the magicians.

For they too were forced to admit that it is "the finger of God",

but according to their perception and comprehension,

this is only when it comes to a matter in which the forces of nature have no involvement

(that they have no power over a creature smaller than a barleycorn⁵⁶,

and certainly to effect something without action)

; but not so with the plague of boils,

that even in matters that are seemingly natural actions

(in which even the magicians have power to do something similar),

the Holy One, blessed be He, performed open miracles to the extent that not only did they admit that "it is the finger of God" but "and they could not..

stand before Moses".

And this matter we find in the plague of boils in all its stages:

At the very beginning,

they needed to take specifically "soot of a furnace,"

whose heat had grown most intensely,

and in this itself — the full handfuls of Moses and of Aaron

(and a small amount would not have been sufficient,

a single handful etc.)

; and Moses had to throw the soot of the furnace with force,

as if this soot would reach, by the force of its throwing, every place where the boil needed to be; and also afterwards the boil was not born automatically throughout all the land of Egypt,

but rather the dust itself went and scattered throughout all the land of Egypt — that all these details indicate as if the plague is through a natural action,

as if the dust is what generates the boil —

At that time,

in truth,

all these actions did not cause in a natural way the appearance of the boils,

for the soot was already not hot,

and the throwing of Moses

(even with force)

could not reach "heavenward",

and all the more so throughout the entire land of Egypt,

in a manner that the dust is not at all in the category of a natural action to bring the boils, but the boils were a new creation

(from the dust).

And likewise in the manner of the eruption of the boils on the person,

that the verse emphasizes "for a boil erupting with blisters",

and as Rashi explains

(as above at length),

that shechin is an expression of heat,

and the interpretation of "for a boil erupting with blisters" is,

that the heat caused blisters to sprout,

and thus,

the plague was born as if in a natural order,

that first heat came in the flesh,

and from this heat blisters sprouted,

although in truth of the matter,

this entire plague was only a miracle from the Holy One, blessed be He,

that is not at all within the ability of the magicians.

And based on this, it is also understood the reason that Rashi did not simply list all the details of the miracles that were here,

because the main emphasis here is not on the multitude of miracles in quantity,

but rather on the multitude of miracles in this quality,

a thing and its opposite,

nature and miracle simultaneously.

And this is that Rashi begins his explanation that Moses threw with all his strength,

and it was difficult for Rashi: what is the relevance of throwing with all his strength when it is speaking about a miraculous matter,

and Rashi explains that "behold, many miracles",

and he details the nature of the miracles,

that together with a natural action there was here a miraculous matter above nature.

(From the talk of Shabbos Parshas Va'eira 5743)