Rabbi Michael Freund: Between Pharaoh and Persia

What can the ancient prophecy about Pharaoh and dating back over 2500 years tell us about our own world? Quite a bit.

Rabbi Michael Freund, a former Deputy Communications Director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is the Founder and Chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), which assists lost tribes and hidden Jewish communities to return to the Jewish people.

This week’s Haftorah for Parshat Va’era, drawn from Ezekiel 28:25-29:21, presents a timeless lesson on power, pride and Providence. It begins with a promise of return - the ingathering of Israel from exile - and then pivots to a dramatic condemnation of Pharaoh, Egypt’s arrogant ruler in Ezekiel’s time, who boasts that “the river is mine, and I have made it" (29:3).

The Egyptian dictator’s delusion that might makes right, that a ruler’s strength somehow originates within himself rather than from G-d or the moral order that sustains human societies, is hubris personified.

Indeed, Pharaoh’s downfall is depicted not simply as a punishment for cruelty but as the inevitable collapse of a system built on self-veneration and exploitation. G-d declares that Egypt will be laid waste, that its pride will be humbled and that its reliance on its own strength - symbolized by the life-giving Nile - will be exposed as little more than a shattered reed.

Yet even in this judgment, a measure of restoration is promised: Egypt will not disappear completely, but it will be remade in a diminished form, its pretensions broken. The message is stark: when societies elevate human power above moral accountability, their fall becomes unavoidable.

What can this ancient prophecy dating back over 2500 years tell us about our own world? The answer is: quite a bit.

Over the past several weeks, Iran has been rocked by mass demonstrations that have spread across all 31 of the country’s provinces, drawing millions into the streets. What began as protests over crippling economic hardship - soaring inflation, severe shortages of basic goods, and the collapse of the Iranian rial - has evolved into a broad movement demanding systemic political change and the end of clerical rule itself.

The Iranian government has responded with brutal force: nationwide internet blackouts, violent crackdowns, thousands of arrests, and hundreds of reported deaths as security forces open fire on demonstrators.

The echoes of Ezekiel’s imagery of pride before a fall resonate loudly. The Iranian regime, like Pharaoh, has long encouraged the belief that it is untouchable. Yet the protests reveal a profound rupture between the state and the society it purports to lead. Where once fear kept dissent confined, now even the prospect of death at the hands of the regime cannot deter the Iranian masses from demanding accountability and dignity.

The Haftorah reminds us that empires collapse not only from external defeat but from internal erosion - a people turned inward, no longer confident in the moral legitimacy of its rulers. Pharaoh’s Nile, like Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and clerical establishment, was believed to be all-powerful, the source of security and order. 

But when crises, be they economic, social or spiritual, fracture a society’s confidence in its leaders, that myth of permanence quickly teeters on the edge of collapse. Ezekiel’s prophecy holds up a mirror to any polity that mistakes coercion for consent and ideology for justice.

Yet the Haftorah’s ultimate concern is not merely the fall of tyrants but the emergence of a new moral order. Just as G-d promises to “cause a horn to blossom for the House of Israel" (29:21) even as judgment falls on Egypt, so too might the present upheavals point toward a future where ordinary Iranians reclaim agency over their destiny.

For Jews reading the Haftorah this year, the striking parallel between Ezekiel’s condemnation of Egyptian arrogance and the current moment in Iran invites reflection. Empires rise and fall; they are sustained only as long as they maintain legitimacy in the eyes of the people. When they fail to align power with justice, when they forget that leadership is stewardship not domination, their downfall becomes not only possible but inescapable.

In Parshat Va’era and its Haftorah, we learn that G-d does not judge history in abstraction; He challenges every era’s conceit, calling rulers and nations to account. And while we cannot predict the precise outcome in Tehran, the moral arc of history - as Ezekiel and other prophets foretold - bends toward accountability.

In our time, as in Ezekiel’s, the collapse of false idols and the rise of new possibilities remind us that human dignity is the ultimate measure of political authority and that no regime, no matter how entrenched, is immune from Divine judgment.

Rabbi Michael Freund: The Great Shofar and Lost Jews

We live in an age of unprecedented Jewish freedom and unprecedented Jewish disappearance. The Haftorah tells us that those who have disappeared are not lost forever.

The Haftorah for Parashat Shemot, drawn from Isaiah 27:6-28:13 and 29:22-23 (according to the Ashkenazic custom), mirrors in a profound way the Parasha itself. If the opening chapters of Shemot tell us how the Jews became slaves, the Haftorah tells us something far more unsettling: how they disappear.

Isaiah’s prophecy does not focus on chains or taskmasters, but on spiritual exiles, on Jews scattered so deeply among the nations that they are seemingly lost to our people. And yet, he insists, they too shall one day come back.

At the heart of Isaiah’s vision stands a powerful image: “On that day, a great shofar shall be sounded, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were cast off in the land of Egypt shall come, and they shall bow to the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem" (27:13). This imagery of the “great shofar" heralding the redemption is so evocative that it serves as the basis for the wording of the tenth blessing in the daily Amida prayer.

But just who are these “lost" Jews? And what is this “great shofar" that will be sounded?

Both Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040-1105) and the Radak (Rabbi David Kimhi, 1160-1235) say that “those who were lost in the land of Assyria" refers to the 10 Lost Tribes of Israel, who were exiled by the Assyrian Empire more than 2,700 years ago. In effect, then, Isaiah is foretelling their return, regardless of just how “lost" they may seem to be.

With regard to the “great shofar", Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin (1823-1900), one of the most original Jewish thinkers of the nineteenth century, offers us a profoundly moving explanation. In his work Resisei Layla (Letter Nun), he explains that the great shofar is not merely an external call sounded at the end of days. 

It is the accumulated cry of Jewish history itself. Every scream uttered in exile, every whispered prayer, every unarticulated yearning of a Jewish soul across generations will merge into a single, overwhelming sound, that of the “great shofar". And that sound, he teaches, will awaken those who no longer know who they are.

According to Rabbi Tzadok, the “lost" are Jews who have so fully assimilated that they are unaware of their own origins. They do not remember Sinai. They do not recognize Jerusalem as home. And yet, he insists, “none shall be cast off forever." The Jewish spark inside every Jew cannot be extinguished. Jewish identity may be buried, distorted, or suppressed, but it cannot be erased.

This is a revolutionary idea, and it speaks directly to the Haftorah’s placement at the opening of the Book of Exodus. Shemot begins with names, “These are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt" (Shemot 1:1). Even as they descend into slavery, the Torah insists on naming them. Identity is the root of redemption.

Isaiah, centuries later, takes this principle to its furthest conclusion. Even when Jews no longer know their names, even when they are “lost in Assyria" or “cast off in Egypt," the bond remains intact. The “great shofar" does not create Jewish identity; it reveals it.

In another work Pri Tzaddik, commenting on Parshat Nitzavim, Rabbi Tzadok sharpens the distinction. The “lost" include those assimilated among the nations who do not know they are Jewish at all. The “cast off in Egypt," by contrast, are those trapped within the kelipah - the spiritual husk - of exile, aware of their identity but crushed by it, buried under layers of spiritual bondage. Both, he writes, require the “great shofar" to awaken them. But even at the remotest edge of exile, the connection endures.

This reading casts the Haftorah in a strikingly contemporary light. We live in an age of unprecedented Jewish freedom and unprecedented Jewish disappearance. Millions of Jews have melted into the surrounding culture, often without hostility, without coercion, simply through indifference. They are not persecuted. They have forgotten who they are. Isaiah’s message is that history is not finished with them.

But the Haftorah also carries a warning. Much of Isaiah 28 is a fierce rebuke of spiritual complacency, of leaders drunk on their own arrogance, societies reduced to slogans and empty formulas. Ritual without depth. Identity without meaning. Tradition reduced to habit.

Obviously, redemption does not come through slogans. It comes through awakening. And that is why the Haftorah ends not with destruction but with hope: “Jacob shall not now be ashamed… for when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they shall sanctify My Name" (29:22-23). The return of the lost is not incidental. It is the sanctification of G-d’s Name itself.

The Exodus from Egypt was the birth of a people who knew who they were. The Haftorah of Shemot speaks to a later, more painful chapter: the return of those who forgot.

And the great shofar? It is not only a sound of the future. It is already echoing: in history, in memory, in the quiet, inexplicable pull that still draws Jews back to their people, their land, and their destiny. And it is a sound that will continue to strengthen in force, until every last member of our people, wherever he may be, heeds its call and, at last, finds his way back home.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/420647

Berditchever Nigun | Piano & Flute | Relaxing Instrumental

 

 

ניגון המיוחס לר' לוי יצחק מברדיצ'ב זצ"ל, שהיה ידוע כ'סנגורם של ישראל' וכך גם בניגון הזה, שאפשר להישאב אליו לגמרי, לנגן ולשמוע אותו במשך שעות ברציפות, וכל פעם לגלות עוד רבדים של אהבת ישראל ואהבת עצמנו, לקלף עוד קליפות ולהזדכך באור ה' הטהור הבוקע מתוך נשמתנו.

Reb Neuberger: Vaeira

MAYBE THERE IS A G-D!

 

 

I spoke recently about my “Miracle Week.” That is the week leading up to the 18th of Teves. Sixty years ago on 18 Teves, I was at the spiritual bottom. That was my personal mem-tes shaare tumah. At that desperate moment, a thought entered my mind which rescued me from Gehenom. It was a simple thought, but it saved my life and the life of my future family. It turned our lives around 180 degrees!

 

The simple thought was: maybe there is a G-d!

 

My friends, that simple thought is the beginning of everything. Perhaps Avraham Avinu had a similar thought in Ur Kasdim, and his thought revolutionized the entire world! This thought is the heritage of every Yid.

 

Recently, I said to an Israeli friend, “You know, you can talk to Hashem at any time, whenever you feel the need.” Amazingly, this had never occurred to him! He told me a few weeks later that he has started speaking to Hashem!

 

When seemingly bad things happen to us and we think we are plunging into the abyss, this can be a blessing from Hashem, because in order to live, we have to feel within ourselves at the deepest level that, “I cannot live without Hashem.”

 

This is what happened in Mitzraim.

 

“The Children of Israel groaned because of the work and they cried out. Their outcry … went up to G-d. G-d heard their moaning and G-d remembered His covenant with Avraham … Yitzchak and … Yaakov. G-d saw the children of Israel and G-d knew.” (Shemos 2:23ff)

 

What did G-d “know?”

 

Obviously, Hashem knows everything. He didn’t need help knowing our condition. But it would seem that Hashem was waiting to hear something in particular. He wanted to hear our moaning and our longing for Him. He wanted us to cry out to Him.

 

I want to quote a powerful passage from an amazing book, “I’m Not Alone” (Artscroll/Shaar Press 2025). “A test demands more from you than you think you have. It forces a person to draw from inner reservoirs of strength, strength he may never have even known he possessed until that moment…. When we pass formidable tests … we rise above our own powers and do the unthinkable [as if we are performing miracles, and when we do that] Hashem creates miracles on our behalf as well.”

 

At the end of Shabbos, during Shalosh Seudos, we sing “Yedid Nefesh.” As darkness approaches and the Shabbos Queen prepares to take her leave, our hearts erupt in an emotional outcry. “Beloved of the soul … may Your mercy be aroused. Please take pity on the son of Your beloved, because it is so very long that I have yearned intensely to see the splendor of Your strength. Only this my heart desired, so please take pity and do not conceal Yourself…. Hasten! Show love, for the time has come, and show us grace as in days of old.”

 

It is precisely the agony of golus which arouses in us the passionate desire to be reunited with our Father in Heaven. As I said last week, our ability to be united with Hashem is fulfilled only in direct correlation with our desire to be united with our fellow Jews. Hashem made a covenant with the entire Nation of Israel, not with individuals.

 

Remember that I told you several weeks ago about the miracles which occurred in our life during the week preceding the 18th of Teves? I told you about the catastrophic car crash from which my wife and I emerged without a scratch. And there were countless other miracles which occurred over the years during this amazing week, the week of our redemption sixty years ago.

 

We had a miracle this year also, several in fact, but I will tell you about one of them. My wife and I were walking in Yerushalayim. It was the 12th of Teves. Having been brought up in Manhattan, I am used to jaywalking – intelligent, “safe” jaywalking! -- but still jaywalking. That was the culture I come from. In Yerushalayim, however, most people wait for the light, and my wife is very insistent on this. So we were crossing a street, in the crosswalk with a green light. As we crossed, a driver – I will not describe him, but I could see him clearly through the windshield – rounded a corner at very high speed and was heading directly for us. He was not stopping! I yelled and waved my arm. At the last second he screeched to a halt. He stopped about five inches away from us. It was a huge miracle, and we are still shaking. It could have been the end, G-d forbid, but for some reason he stopped short, a millisecond before hitting us.

 

Ha malach ha goail! Hashem sends angels to protect us.

 

But we have to cry out to Hashem and tell Him that we know we cannot survive without Him. “With my voice I call out to Hashem and He answers me from His holy mountain! …. Rise up, Hashem, save me!” (Tehillim 3)

 

We are living in the contemporary equivalent of Mitzraim. Our enemies surround us on every side and they all want to kill us! We have to learn from these Parshios. If we don’t cry out to Hashem from the depth of our souls we are not going to make it! When the world turns against us and we realize that there is no place of safety and we cry out to Hashem, that is the moment that Hashem will “know” that we really want Him. He will rescue us and the Sun of Redemption will shine for us.

 

“In the evening one lies down weeping, but with dawn: a cry of joy!” (Tehillim 30)

 

May we merit to see the Great Sunrise soon in our days!

 

The Great Sunrise

 

GLOSSARY

Gehenom: hell

Golus: Exile

Mem-tes shaare tumah: the 49th level of impurity, the bottom, depth of spiritual crisis

Mitzraim: Ancient Egypt

Parshios: Torah portions

Shalosh Seudos: the third Shabbos meal

Teves: the current month in the Jewish calendar

Ur Kasdim: the place where our Father Abraham was born

Eliezer Meir Saidel: Removing Impurities – Va'eira

 Removing Impurities – Va'eira

Download PDF version

Shiurim Main Menu

 

רָאוּי כָּל אִישׁ חָכָם לֵבָב לִדְרוֹשׁ וְלָתוּר בַּחָכְמָה עַל מֶה עָשָׂה ה' כָּכָה לַקְּדוֹשִׁים אֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ. יַעֲקֹב וְכָל הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַבָּאָה מִצְרַיְמָה לָתֵת תַּחַת סִבְלוֹת מִצְרַיִם אֶת בְּנֵיהֶם וּבְנֵי בְּנֵיהֶם ר"י שָׁנָה בְּחֹמֶר וּבִלְבֵנִים וּבְכָל עֲבֹדָה בַּשָּׂדֶה מָה פִּשְׁעָם וּמָה חַטָּאתָם וְהַלֹּא לֹא חָשׁוּד קב"ה דְּעָבֵיד דִּינָא בְּלָא דִּינָא חָלִילָה. (אלשייך, תורת משה, שמות א, א)

 

In his introduction to parshat Shmot, the Alsheich asks a pointed question, "Why did Bnei Yisrael have to go down to Egypt for 210 years? Why did they have to endure hard labor? What was their sin? We know that HKB"H operates according to the principle of מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה, so what was this for?"

 

HKB"H told Avraham in בְּרִית בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים that Bnei Yisrael, his children would have to endure slavery in a foreign country for 400 years. וַיֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָם יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם וַעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם, אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה. וְגַם אֶת הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר יַעֲבֹדוּ דָּן אָנֹכִי, וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן יֵצְאוּ בִּרְכֻשׁ גָּדוֹל (בראשית טו, יג-יד).

 

What do we expect from Avraham immediately after he hears this terrible news? We expect him to bargain with HKB"H, like he did with Sdom … "Perhaps 300 years, perhaps 350 years, perhaps 385 years!" With the evil inhabitants of Sdom Avraham was a noodge, he kept badgering HKB"H and trying to save at least a few from oblivion. These are his own children we are talking about, Bnei Yisrael! Does Avraham not care enough about his own children to try "reduce their sentence"? Avraham does not try to negotiate - he accepts it willingly. Why?

 

The Alsheich follows with a lengthy explanation, bringing reasons from other sources regarding the sequence of events that led to our exile in Egypt and its purpose, but he finally gets to his bottom line. כִּי מֵה' יָצָא הַדָּבָר לְהַגְלוֹתָם מִצְרַיְמָה לְמַעַן עַנּוֹתָם לְהַתִּיךְ חֶלְאַת זֻהֲמַת נָחָשׁ כְּהִתּוּךְ כֶּסֶף בְּתוֹךְ כּוּר.

 

The purpose of our exile in Egypt was to remove the final impurities in Am Yisrael that resulted from the sin of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת so that Am Yisrael could be of the required madreiga to receive the Torah on Har Sinai 

 

וֶאֱמֶת אֶצְלִי הוּא כַּמְּדֻבָּר בִּמְקוֹמוֹ עַל כִּי אֵין צֹרֶךְ הֲכָנוֹת לָאָדָם לְהַשִּׂיג נְבוּאָה כ"א מִצַּד זֻהֲמַת נָחָשׁ הַדְבָּקָה בּוֹ שֶׁהִיא מְעַכֶּבֶת אַךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁעָמְדוּ עַל הַר סִינַי פָּסְקָה זֻהֲמָתָן וְנִמְצְאוּ כֻּלָּם מוּכָנִים לִנְבוּאָה כִּי אֵין שְׂאֹר בָּעִסָּה לְעַכֵּב.

 

Egypt is called כּוּר הַבַּרְזֶל, a melting pot for iron, as it says in the passuk וַיּוֹצִא אֶתְכֶם מִכּוּר הַבַּרְזֶל מִמִּצְרָיִם וכו' (דברים ד, כ). The purpose of smelting is to remove impurities. When you heat metal in a furnace, it turns into a liquid. If the metal contains impurities, such as traces of other metals, they too turn to liquid and due to the difference in densities between the different metals, they float to the top and physically separate from the metal you are trying to isolate. Thus, one can scoop off - either the impurities, or the metal you are trying to isolate.

 

To remove the impurities of the snake, זֻהֲמַת נָחָשׁ, you need a purification process and this is what Egypt was. Why davka 400 years (as promised to Avraham)? Because that is how long HKB"H decided was needed to remove the impurities.

 

You take your suit to be expert dry cleaned and ask how long it will take. "Two days!" the proprietor replies. "Why two whole days?" you ask. He explains "First you need pre-treatment with solvent, then gentle tumbling, filtration, distillation, drying, and finishing with pressing. We can do it for only one day and you can come pick up your suit, but it will have white blotches all over it."

 

HKB"H is the expert in how long it takes to purify the impurities caused by the נָחָשׁ. If He says 400 years, then that is how long it takes! This is why Avraham did not bargain. There is no point in bargaining in such a case. You want Am Yisrael to emerge squeaky clean, with not even the faintest "blotch" remaining.

 

Well then, you may say, how did we get out in only 210 years and not the full 400? Chazal answer - קֹשִׁי הַשִּׁעְבּוּד הִשְׁלִים. It would have been 400 years - without hard labor, but the hard labor speeded things up. That is more intensive/aggressive (it almost wiped Bnei Yisrael out in the process), but it does the job. You can add extra chemicals to the drycleaning machine, but you run the risk of ruining the suit.

 

If the entire purpose of our exile in Egypt was atonement for the sin of Adam and Chava with the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, we need to understand exactly what the sin entailed and its components. We get a hint from the Alsheich above - כִּי אֵין שְׂאֹר בָּעִסָּה לְעַכֵּב. In this shiur we will explain how the Ten Plagues fit in with this process.

 

Our parsha, Vaeira, begins describing the עֶשֶׂר מַכּוֹת, the first seven (blood - hail) and in next week's parsha Bo, the final three (locusts – firstborns).

 

The question is why davka those specific Ten Plagues? Blood, Frogs, Lice, Wild Animals, Pestilence, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness and Slaying of the Firstborns.

 

Why did HKB"H not choose other kinds of plagues in Egypt, for example – earthquake, flood, drought, tornado, hurricane, volcanic eruption, etc.? If you say "Those could be mistaken for natural phenomena!", then how about this selection: Bringing the "Black Plague" a few thousand years early, or "Spanish Flu", or "COVID"? Or, raining down boiling hot spaghetti and meatballs instead of hail, or having rats invade Egypt instead of frogs, or cockroaches instead of lice, or mad cow disease instead of pestilence? There are endless other possibilities.

 

HKB"H specifically chose those ten and no other.

 

In a previous shiur (Vaeira 2021) we brought the Torat HaMinchah who explains how the Ten Plagues were in fact a reenactment of the 6 days of Creation. In this shiur we are going to follow the shita of the Alsheich (above) and explain how the Ten Plagues fit in with the sin of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת. The source is Meir Panim (פרק טו, עמ' קעה).

 

I have already devoted two shiurim to detailing the sequence of events that comprised the sin of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת (Breishit 2021 and Breishit 2022) so I will not repeat them at length here. Just a brief, four-line summary

 

According to the shita of R' Yehuda (Brachot 40a) the עֵץ הַדַּעַת was a wheat tree. Sefer Meir Panim analyses it further, down to the minutest detail. Chava took the wheat from the tree, ground it into flour, made it into a bread that was left to become chametz. Chava and Adam ate from this bread.

 

The Ten Plagues were not an atonement for the sin of Adam and Chava, they were a punishment for the נָחָשׁ and his part in causing the sin, which involved injecting chametz into the bread, שְׂאֹר בָּעִסָּה. The gematria of שְׂאֹר is "דצך עדש באחב".

 

This punishment was unleashed on Pharaoh, who was a gilgul of the נָחָשׁ as it says in the passuk דַּבֵּר וְאָמַרְתָּ כֹּה אָמַר ה' אֶ-לֹקִים הִנְנִי עָלֶיךָ פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ מִצְרַיִם הַתַּנִּים הַגָּדוֹל הָרֹבֵץ בְּתוֹךְ יְאֹרָיו, אֲשֶׁר אָמַר לִי יְאֹרִי וַאֲנִי עֲשִׂיתִנִי (יחזקאל כט, ג). Another name for Pharaoh is הַתַּנִּים הַגָּדוֹל, the large serpent.

 

Let us go down the list and we see exactly how each of the plagues was exact מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה punishment for Pharaoh/the נָחָשׁ.

 

דָּם Blood. The Gemara (Eruvin 100b) says that as a result of Chava eating from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, she was punished with two types of blood אַחַת דַּם נִדָּה וְאַחַת דַּם בְּתוּלִים. The plague of blood was מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה for the נָחָשׁ afflicting Chava with blood. If the sin of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת would not have taken place, the birth process would have been "blood free", a kind of a "Polaroid" birth. Click and - out pops the baby.

 

 צְפַרְדֵּעַ Frogs. The word צְפַרְדֵּעַ are the letters צֵרֵף-דֵּעַ. By making Adam and Chava eat from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, they gained knowledge, דַּעַת. Part of the description of the plague of frogs is that the frogs jumped into the ovens and into the bread וּבְתַנּוּרֶיךָ וּבְמִשְׁאֲרוֹתֶיךָ (שמות ז, כח). What about jumping into the bathrooms and the pantry and the lounge cabinets? The passuk specifically singles out ovens and bread, because that was part of the sin of Chava, baking bread in an oven. See shiur (Va'eira 2025) for more details.

 

 כִּנִּים Lice. The passuk says כׇּל עֲפַר הָאָרֶץ הָיָה כִנִּים בְּכׇל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם (שמות ח, יג), that all the dust of the earth in Egypt became lice. The Or HaChaim (ibid.) brings Tosfot on the Gemara (Shabat 12a) that tries to define what kind of lice afflicted Egypt. Lice do not come from the ground - they are parasites that are passed from one creature to another. So why does the passuk say כׇּל עֲפַר הָאָרֶץ הָיָה כִנִּים? The Tosfot brings R' Yosef of Orléans (also known as the Bechor Shor) who says that there are two types of "lice", one that jumps from the ground, (which is actually called a פַּרְעוֹשׁ, a flea) and the other which does not come from the ground, but is transferred from one creature to another. The Or HaChaim says the Plague of Lice involved both types.

 

As a result of Adam eating from the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, HKB"H cursed the earth אֲרוּרָה הָאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ (בראשית ג, יז). Therefore, Pharaoh was punished מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה by עֲפַר הָאָרֶץ. Lice affect the hair. Before Chava sinned, her hair was braided (Brachot 61a) to endear her to Adam HaRishon, as braided hair is a symbol of צְנִיעוּת. After she sinned, her hair became unruly and Adam no longer found her beautiful and separated from her for 130 years. Thus HKB"H punished Pharaoh in his hair.

 

 עָרוֹב Wild Animals. After Adam and Chava sinned they were lowered in stature to that of the animals וּמוֹתַר הָאָדָם מִן הַבְּהֵמָה אָיִן (קהלת ג, יט). Pharaoh was punished מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה by being attacked by wild animals.

 

 דֶּבֶר Pestilence. By sinning, Adam and Chava introduced death to the world. Before the sin with the עֵץ הַדַּעַת they were immortal. By all rights, HKB"H should have immediately punished Pharaoh/the נָחָשׁ with death, but in His mercy, he first smote the beasts as a warning.

 

 שְׁחִין Boils. Before their sin, Adam and Chava were covered by a Divine layer of skin – כָּתְנוֹת אוֹר (see shiur on Ki Teitzei 2023). After their sin, this Heavenly skin was mostly removed (except at the extremities of the fingers and toes) and instead HKB"H downgraded them to earthly skin כׇּתְנוֹת עוֹר (בראשית ג, כא) (with the letter ayin). Therefore, HKB"H punished Pharaoh מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה by afflicting his skin.

 

 בָּרָד Hail. After HKB"H banished Adam and Chava from Gan Eden as a result of their sin, He placed at the entrance to Gan Eden the לַהַט הַחֶרֶב הַמִּתְהַפֶּכֶת (בראשית ג, כד). What is this "alternating sword"? The Da'at HaZekeinim (מבעלי התוספות) says (ibid.) שֶׁמִּתְהַפֶּכֶת מֵחַמִּין לְצוֹנֵן וּמְצוֹנֵן לְחַמִּין, that it alternates between extreme heat and extreme cold (like גֵּיהִנּוֹם – hell is not only hot, it alternates between extreme hot and cold). To punish Pharaoh/the נָחָשׁ for causing this, HKB"H rained down בָּרָד, which was fire inside ice.  

 

 אַרְבֶּה Locusts. After sinning, Chava was punished with suffering during the birth process הַרְבָּה אַרְבֶּה עִצְּבוֹנֵךְ וְהֵרֹנֵךְ (בראשית ג, טז). As punishment מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה unleashed אַרְבֶּה on Egypt. HKB"H punished Adam for sinning by destroying his Heavenly source of food וְקוֹץ וְדַרְדַּר תַּצְמִיחַ לָךְ, וְאָכַלְתָּ אֶת עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה (בראשית ג, יח). Similarly, He unleashed a plague of locusts to destroy the source of food in Egypt.

 

 חֹשֶׁךְ Darkness.After being expelled from Gan Eden, Adam was banished to a place called "אֶרֶץ" (זהר חדש, סתרי אותיות, בראשית ריז), which is a place of darkness. מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה HKB"H punished Pharaoh with a Plague of Darkness.

 

 בְּכוֹרוֹת Slaying of the Firstborn. The Zohar HaKadosh (בראשית כח, ע"ב) says that Kayin was born from the union between the נָחָשׁ and Chava. Later, Adam "knew" his wife and from this union Hevel was born. Therefore, Kayin was the firstborn of the נָחָשׁ and Hevel was the firstborn of Adam, born from the same mother, Chava, but from different fathers. Kayin, the firstborn of the נָחָשׁ slayed Hevel, the firstborn of Adam. Therefore, מִדָּה כְּנֶגֶד מִדָּה, HKB"H slew the firstborn of Pharaoh/the נָחָשׁ (and all other firstborns in Egypt). 

To describe the "range" of firstborns slain, the Torah gives the highest level and the lowest level מִבְּכוֹר פַּרְעֹה הַיֹּשֵׁב עַל כִּסְאוֹ עַד בְּכוֹר הַשִּׁפְחָה אֲשֶׁר אַחַר הָרֵחָיִם (שמות יא, ה), from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the maidservant next to the millstone. Interesting choice – "maidservant next to the millstone". The Torah could equally have said the "maidservant in the laundry", or the "maidservant in the kitchen". This phraseology is not incidental, it is an allusion to Chava, who became the maidservant of the נָחָשׁ and ground the fruit of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת, wheat, into flour (with a millstone) to make chametz bread.

 

As we see, all the Ten Plagues were punishment for Pharaoh, who was the gilgul of the נָחָשׁ.

 

In בְּרִית בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים HKB"H doesn't say that Avraham's descendants will go down to Egypt, He leaves it unspecified יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם. In theory, Am Yisrael could have been exiled to Switzerland instead of Egypt?? But no! It had to be specifically Egypt.

 

It had to be the land ruled by הַתַּנִּים הַגָּדוֹל, Pharaoh, to punish his predecessor הַנָּחָשׁ הַקַּדְמוֹן. It had to be Egypt, because Egypt was the land of chametz. Egypt was the first country in the history of the world that used chametz to make their bread. They prided themselves on their chametz baking prowess, using it as a status symbol of their superiority over other nations. To do tikkun for creating a chametz bread in Gan Eden (שְׂאֹר בָּעִסָּה according to the Alsheich), you need to do it in the land of the chametz.

 

When you have done tikkun for the sin of Adam and Chava and are redeemed from Egypt, you leave the chametz behind and you begin eating chametz free bread – matza. Following that, HKB"H raises you one level higher and gives you the same food he gave to Adam and Chava in Gan Eden before they sinned – Mann, food of angels.

 

In this way, Bnei Yisrael ultimately arrived at Har Sinai after completely eliminating all the impurities of the sin of the עֵץ הַדַּעַת caused by the נָחָשׁ.

 

This, according to the Alsheich is the purpose of our slavery in Egypt.

 

If Egypt was the cure for the sin of Adam HaRishon, then why did HKB"H have to wait until the generation of Moshe? When Avraham went down to Egypt because of the famine, HKB"H could have made Avraham's sojourn in Egypt, when Sarah was kidnapped by Pharaoh, the tikkun. Just as we read that Bnei Yisrael left Egypt בִּרְכֻשׁ גָּדוֹל, so too did Avraham leave Egypt laden וְאַבְרָם כָּבֵד מְאֹד, בַּמִּקְנֶה בַּכֶּסֶף וּבַזָּהָב (בראשית יג, ב). The Exodus could have taken place when Avraham left Egypt and returned to Eretz Yisrael and we could have saved a lot of suffering and anguish. Why do you need to wait until the generation of the grandsons of Yaakov?

 

Chazal tell us that part of the process of doing tikkun for the sin of Adam HaRishon and eliminating the impurities resulting from this sin was Avraham giving birth to Yishmael and Yitzchak giving birth to Eisav. Only when Yaakov gave birth to twelve "clean" sons, with no impurities was the ancestry of Am Yisrael finally pure. This is why we are called Am Yisrael and not Am Yitzchak or Am Avraham. However, the sons of Yaakov, by the sin of selling Yosef, forfeited meriting the full tikkun in their generation. Only the children of the Twelve Tribes who went down to Egypt were truly lacking impurity. This was a unique, special generation who were sin free. This is what the Alsheich is asking מָה פִּשְׁעָם וּמָה חַטָּאתָם?

 

To bring about the Geulah requires a unique, special generation. We have had unique generations like this scattered throughout our history. The generation of the exile in Egypt and Moshe, who did the final tikkun for Adam HaRishon. The generation of R' Akiva who did tikkun for the brothers selling Yosef כִּי מִימֵי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם לֹא נִמְצָא כָּכֶם (מדרש משלי א, יד). No other generation could have achieved the tikkun they did.

 

There is one more generation that will achieve a similar purpose, the pre-Mashiach generation. This next unique, special generation will bring about the final tikkun. The tikkun for Adam HaRishon was already done by the generation of Moshe. The tikkun for the sin of selling Yosef was already done by the generation of R' Akiva. All that is left is to do tikkun for the sin of the egel hazav. This will be the task of generation at the end of אֶלֶף הַשִּׁשִּׁי.

 

What makes this generation unique? Will the entire generation be of the stature of a Moshe Rabbeinu or a R' Akiva? Obviously not. The generation of the Exodus indeed did have a Moshe Rabbeinu, but the rest of Bnei Yisrael had reached the 49th level of טֻמְאָה. The generation of Asara Harugei Malchut indeed did have a R' Akiva, who learned things from the crowns on the letters of the Torah that even Moshe Rabbeinu himself could not understand. However, the remainder of R' Akiva's generation was rife with שִׂנְאַת חִנָּם and caused the destruction of Bayit Sheini.

 

It is a good guess then, following this pattern, that the generation of the Mashiach will have a figure of the status of Moshe Rabbeinu and R' Akiva combined – the Mashiach, but the rest of the generation will be of a very low level in comparison. This is the secret formula - a combination between an extremely elevated individual and a very low generation. The elevated individual though, has the power to raise the generation from the lowest depths to the highest heights - in the blink of an eye כְּהֶרֶף עַיִן.

 

It took a generation who was at the lowest 49th level of the זֻהֲמַת נָחָשׁ to do tikkun for the זֻהֲמַת נָחָשׁ. It took a generation that was at the lowest level of שִׂנְאַת חִנָּם to do tikkun for the sin of שִׂנְאַת חִנָּם, selling Yosef. It will therefore be a generation who is at the lowest level of the egel hazav, the most materialistic generation, to do tikkun for this last outstanding sin.

 

I believe בֶּאֱמוּנָה שְׁלֵמָה that we are already experiencing the series of events that immediately precede the Geulah. There has never before in history been a "generation of the egel hazav", that has turned materialism into a deity, like this generation.

 

I do not know for sure if we are this generation, or whether it will be our children or our grandchildren. Either way it cannot be further than our great grandchildren, because that is already after the אֶלֶף הַשִּׁשִּׁי.

 

This special generation will experience miracles that will make the Ten Plagues in Egypt look like a B-rated movie in comparison. I believe we already have begun experiencing some of these, but they are only the prequel. בבי"א. 

 

Shabbat Shalom

Eliezer Meir Saidel

Machon Lechem Hapanim

www.machonlechemhapanim.org