We live in a complex world. We live in a world that is full of the unexpected, the unexplained, and, sometimes, the unimaginable. And while you might be thinking of rare birds or hidden desert waterfalls, of glittery bioflorescent microorganisms or something as bizarre as the blob fish (which is pretty wonderously ugly), the world’s wonders are far more than those we see in nature. There are wonders in world events. There are wonders in human behavior. And there are wonders in the our personal spiritual worlds as well.
This weeks’ pasha, Parshas Vayera, is all about wondesr. It records seven of the ten plagues that assailed Mitzrayim. The makkos were truly wondrous. Each one was rife with power and symbolism. And each one sounds terrifying to live through.
The Midrashim make it clear that none of the plagues effected the Israelites. According to tradition, the water in Jewish homes stayed water, and the Mitzrim had to buy clean water from their own slaves. Similarly, the frogs went into every home in Mitzrayim, but not into the homes of Bnei Yisrael. Nor were the Children of Israel covered in lice.
It is interesting to note, however, that the protection of the Israelites from the impending devastation is not mentioned by Moshe to Pharoah until the fourth makka, the plague of swarms of insects, when Moshe says: “And I will separate on that day the land of Goshen, upon which My people stand, that there will be no swarm of insects there, in order that you know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth” (Shemos 8:18).
Until the fourth plague, there was, perhaps, doubt among the Israelites as to what was going on in their world. After all, they had not lined up in support of Moshe. When Moshe and Aaron’s first attempt at talking to Pharoah failed, the Israelites’s lives were made more difficult. This certainly would not have fostered trust in their minds, so why would they believe that he would really be able to protect them.
Imagine what it must have been like to be an Israelite during these 1st few plagues. Terrifying yet wondrous things were happening all around you. Yes, those beings afflicted were your tormenters, your taskmasters, and while it would have been wonderful to see them suffer, imagine the anxiety of waiting to see what effect this would all have on your life.
Now add to the sudden chaos the fact that Pharoah’s necromancers were known to have powerful magic and that they had already demonstrated an ability to change water in to blood. They were also able to call up frogs from the Nile. This sort of magic was not foreign to them. Indeed, they even believed that they could create lice from dust; and it was only when they failed to do so that the threat of their abilities was truly muted (even though their blood and frogs were inconsequential compared to the actual makkos).
Mitzraym continued to descend into chaos, becoming a terrifying place. The Israelires were safe, but they could not have been unaffected. Many Israelites took Moshe’s path, but many did not. We know from tradition that only one fifth of Bnei Yisrael followed Moshe into the Wilderness. The other 80 percent did not, it seems, see or appreciate that Bnei Yisael stood apart.
On Pesach we make declarations about “every generation.” This is reality. Every generation has to face times of strife and times of chaos. We do not live in a time of revealed miracles or miraculous plagues (Thank God) or unquestionable leaders. But the Jewish people now, as always, live on a path all of our own. When the chaos of the world seems overwhelming, look back at Mitzrayim. We aren’t promised a life without pain, a life withough fear, or a life without challenges, but we were promised, as a nation, that we would be set aside and protect. And so we are to this day.
Shabbat Shalom
