Fire and Ice – Va'eira
וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת מַטֵּהוּ עַל הַשָּׁמַיִם וַָה' נָתַן קֹלֹת וּבָרָד וַתִּהֲלַךְ אֵשׁ אָרְצָה וַיַּמְטֵר ה' בָּרָד עַל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם. וַיְהִי בָרָד וְאֵשׁ מִתְלַקַּחַת בְּתוֹךְ הַבָּרָד כָּבֵד מְאֹד אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָיָה כָמֹהוּ בְּכָל אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מֵאָז הָיְתָה לְגוֹי. (שמות ט, כג-כד)
In this week's parsha we read about מַכַּת בָּרָד. The Midrash (Shmot Rabba 12, 2) says that when he told Pharaoh about this impending plague, Moshe scratched a line on the wall and said "When the sun reaches this line, the plague will begin!"
The plague of hail was the first in the last group of four plagues באח"ב (בָּרָד, אַרְבֶּה, חֹשֶׁךְ, בְּכוֹרוֹת). After מַכַּת שְׁחִין HKB"H tells Moshe to warn Pharaoh that he is now entering a new phase. If he thought that the previous six plagues were bad, "he ain't seen nothing yet!" כִּי בַּפַּעַם הַזֹּאת אֲנִי שֹׁלֵחַ אֶת כָּל מַגֵּפֹתַי אֶל לִבְּךָ וּבַעֲבָדֶיךָ וּבְעַמֶּךָ בַּעֲבוּר תֵּדַע כִּי אֵין כָּמֹנִי בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ (שמות ט, יד). The next set of plagues, beginning with hail and ending with the killing of the firstborn are called כָּל מַגֵּפֹתַי, all My plagues, and they will dispel any notions Pharaoh has that witchcraft of any sort is involved. According to some opinions (Vilna Gaon), כָּל מַגֵּפֹתַי refers specifically to מַכַּת בָּרָד that supposedly encompassed all the other plagues in it. Indeed, after מַכַּת בָּרָד, Pharaoh admits חָטָאתִי הַפָּעַם ה' הַצַּדִּיק וַאֲנִי וְעַמִּי הָרְשָׁעִים (שם, כז).
There were three components to this plague. The first was thunderous sounds וה' נָתַן קֹלֹת (שם,כג). The second was ice וַיְהִי בָרָד, and the third was fire וְאֵשׁ מִתְלַקַּחַת בְּתוֹךְ הַבָּרָד.
The Midrash (Shmot Rabba 12, 14) says that there was a miracle within a miracle. R' Yehuda says that it looked like the seed of a pomegranate that has a red coating (the fire) and the seed in the center (the ice). R' Nechemia says that it looked like a lamp in which oil and water are mixed together as one and fire is burning within them.
The Midrash brings a mashal to a king, who had in his army two fierce legions that were constantly at odds with each other. It happened that the king needed to go to war, so what did he do? The king made peace between the two legions and sent them off to battle as one against the common enemy. The plague of hail involved two opposing forces, water and fire. Under normal circumstances these forces cannot coexist peacefully, they are diametric opposites of each other. HKB"H miraculously made peace between them and unleashed them upon Egypt.
The Vilna Gaon (קול אליהו, וארא) says that HKB"H has three "legions" that He uses to punish those that sin against Him – fire, air and water. In Sdom HKB"H used "fire", raining down fire and brimstone. In the time of Noach and the flood, HKB"H used "water". During the דּוֹר הַפַּלָּגָה HKB"H used "air", wind, to disperse them to the four corners of the earth. In Egypt HKB"H again used all three. The plagues of blood and frogs were "water" related. The plague of locusts was "air" (wind) related and the plague of boils was "fire" related. In the plague of hail, HKB"H combined all three in the same plague. The hail itself is "water", there was "fire" burning within the hail and there were thunderous sounds travelling through the "air".
According to the דַּעַת זְקֵנִים מִבַּעֲלֵי הֲתוֹסְפוֹת, the hail was a "microcosm" of גֵּיהִנֹּם. On the passuk לַהַט הַחֶרֶב הַמִּתְהַפֶּכֶת (בראשית ג, כד), the דַּעַת זְקֵנִים says that this "sword" was in fact גֵּיהִנֹּם and he describes what happens there - הַמִּתְהַפֶּכֶת מֵחַמִּין לְצוֹנֵן, וּמְצֻנָּן לְחַמִּין, עַל הָרְשָׁעִים. One of the punishments of being in גֵּיהִנֹּם is that you are roasted (with fire) and frozen (with ice) intermittently and at the same time. Most of us, when we imagine "hell", we associate it only with fire – it is actually fire and ice.
The Midrash (above) explains what it means by the word מִתְלַקַּחַת, that it is in fact two words מֵת and לוֹקַחַת. The hail, which was the size of bowling balls, would strike an Egyptian and shatter, at the same time killing him/her. The fire would then be released and burn the body. This was no simple hail, it more resembled a missile barrage (like our enemy Amalek is currently experiencing in Gaza), replete with thunderous booms, explosive force and fire.
Another Midrash (תנחומא הקדום, וארא יט) says that the hail was not all one standard size, but was varied. R' Pinchas says it was the size of a snail, חִלָּזוֹן, that decimated the fruit trees. R' Yehuda Halevi in the name of R' Shalom, says it was the size of a small bug called a חֲנָמַל that decimated the field crops. Larger hailstones fell and killed the Egyptians and their livestock. These were a combination of GPS (G-d Punishment System) guided missiles and cluster bombs!
This bombardment was not suddenly "out of the blue", without warning. HKB"H gave ample warning for the Egyptians to take shelter, them and their livestock "in the designated safe zones". Anyone outside that safe area would suffer the consequences (שמות ט, יט).
The passuk says רַק בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן אֲשֶׁר שָׁם בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֹא הָיָה בָּרָד (שם, כו), that there was no hail and fire in Goshen where Am Yisrael were. If there were any Egyptians in Goshen, they were struck by the hail, but if a Jew was standing next to them, he/she was unaffected. It doesn't say that there were no קֹלֹת in Goshen. The העמק דבר on that passuk says that although the hail did not strike them, the thunderous sounds also affected Am Yisrael, and we will soon see why.
Eventually Pharaoh could take it no longer and begged Moshe to pray to HKB"H to stop the hail. Moshe exited the city and raised his hands in prayer and the plague ended - in stages. First the קֹלֹת stopped and then the hail.
It was not as if all the intended hail suddenly disappeared from the sky. When Moshe davened to HKB"H to stop the plague, there was still some hail in the sky – and it was stopped in transit. The Zohar HaKadosh (Beshalach קצב) says that this hail did not cease to exist, instead HKB"H "filed" it for further use. Some was used during the time of Yehoshua (יהושע י, יא) in the battle in Givon (a hint to this is that the word בָּרָד in "milui" format בית ריש דלת in gematria is שֶׁמֶשׁ בְּגִבְעוֹן דּוֹם וְיָרֵחַ בְּעֵמֶק אַיָּלוֹן). The remainder will be used in the war of Gog and Magog in the time of Mashiach, on Edom and our enemies.
The Kli Yakar says that the plague of hail was punishment mida keneged mida to Pharaoh, who sinned with lashon hara. Lashon hara is such a severe sin that it is equivalent to the three major sins murder, adultery and idol worship and therefore Pharaoh was deserving of all the types of death penalty. This is why the passuk says כָּל מַגֵּפֹתַי. Being struck by the hail was death by סְקִילָה. The fire in the hail was death by שְׂרֵפָה. Also, death by הֶרֶג, as it says יַהֲרֹג בַּבָּרָד גַּפְנָם (תהילים עח, מז) and people are compared to גֶּפֶן. Finally, חֶנֶק, by all the water that resulted from the melted hail.
Interestingly, there is also a link between בָּרָד and parshat Korach. בָּרָד in "milui" format בית ריש דלת in gematria is also בֹּקֶר וְיֹדַע ה' אֶת אֲשֶׁר לוֹ (במדבר טז, ה). Just like the Egyptians were subjected to שְׂרֵפָה, so too was Korach after he was swallowed up by the earth.
In the Ten Plagues only two have the same letters – בָּרָד and דֶּבֶר. The connection between them is that all the livestock that was not killed by דֶּבֶר was wiped out by the בָּרָד. In the plague of דֶּבֶר, the death was gentler, they died on their own. When Pharaoh failed to do tshuva, HKB"H repeated the "same plague" with greater intensity, בָּרָד (זהר, וארא קצ).
Amazingly there is a connection between מַכַּת בָּרָד and the Shulchan Lechem Hapanim. The gematria of בָּרָד in "milui" format בית ריש דלת is the same as the gematria of שֻׁלְחָן in "ribu'a" format ש של שלח שלחן. So, what is the connection? Have you ever wondered where Am Yisrael got the wheat to make סֹלֶת for the Menachot in the Midbar? According to one opinion the סֹלֶת came from the עַנְנֵי הַכָּבוֹד.
According to sefer Meir Panim, however, Am Yisrael took the wheat with them from Egypt. By all rights the wheat should have been destroyed together with the barley and the flax during מַכַּת בָּרָד, except the passuk tells us וְהַחִטָּה וְהַכֻּסֶּמֶת לֹא נֻכּוּ כִּי אֲפִילֹת הֵנָּה (שמות ט, לב). Shmot Rabba there says that HKB"H performed a miracle - פְּלָאִים עָשָׂה הקב"ה בָּהֶם. HKB"H preserved the wheat so Am Yisrael could take it with them in the desert to use for the Menachot. The rashei teivot of the passuk וְהַחִטָּה וְהַכֻּסֶּמֶת לֹא נֻכּוּ כִּי אֲפִילֹת הֵנָּה are "ו' ו' לא נֻכה", referring to the two stacks of six (ו') loaves of Lechem Hapanim.
According to the העמק דבר, although the hail never struck Am Yisrael in Goshen, they certainly were affected by the קֹלֹת. He quotes a Gemara (Brachot 59a) which says - אָמַר ר' יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי לֹא נִבְרְאוּ רְעָמִים אֶלָּא לִפְשֹׁט עַקְמוּמִית שֶׁבַּלֵּב. According to the Gemara, HKB"H created thunder to straighten "kinks in the heart".
Undoubtedly the Ten Plagues were a re-enactment of the Creation of the world and also punishment for Pharaoh and the Egyptians (see shiurim on Va'eira תשפ"א and Va'eira תשפ"ב) , however, they had another function – a crash course in emunah for Am Yisrael.
In the spectacle of the Ten Plagues there were two parties, the participants and the spectators. The Egyptians were the participants, they were being smitten by the actual plagues, while we, Am Yisrael were the spectators – nothing happened to us (except for מַכַּת חֹשֶׁךְ, see shiur on Bo תשפ"ב), but we could see what was going on around us. A primary purpose of the plagues was to make Am Yisrael wake up!
Chazal tell us that Am Yisrael in Egypt were at the lowest rung of the 49 levels of טֻמְּאָה. If HKB"H had redeemed us one second later than He did, we would have fallen into the abyss and been irredeemable. HKB"H wanted to save as many souls as possible so He, lehavdil, turned Cairo into Hollywood, directed by Steven Spielberg - on steroids! Part of this was the thunder in the plague of hail.
Even today, in the modern age of technology and information, a thunderstorm has the power to shake us out of our reverie. How many times have you been woken in the middle of the night by loud crashes of thunder? Imagine that amplified 1000 times and also, while you hear the claps, you witness your next-door-neighbor's house being demolished and consumed by fire. If that does not wake you up, nothing will.
And it wasn't only מַכַּת בָּרָד, each and every plague was designed to jolt us out of a stupor and it did – 600,000 of us, who were redeemed.
When you read the description of גֵּיהִנֹּם of the דַּעַת זְקֵנִים מִבַּעֲלֵי הֲתוֹסְפוֹת above, that it alternates between fire and ice, did you ever wonder why? Why do you need both?
B"H none of us should never get there to find out, but obviously it is all part of HKB"H's מִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים. HKB"H wants only what is good for us, He wants us to merit עוֹלָם הַבָּא, which is the ultimate good. We all have "kinks" in our heart - אֵין צַדִּיק בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה טּוֹב וְלֹא יֶחֱטָא. In order to gain admission into עוֹלָם הַבָּא, all those kinks have to be straightened out. HKB"H helps us do that in this world, via נִסְיוֹנוֹת. When "bad" things happen to us in this world, or at least things we perceive to be "bad", they are all for the purpose of saving us having to go through גֵּיהִנֹּם in order to get into עוֹלָם הַבָּא. If you read the descriptions of Chazal and the Mefarshim of what happens in גֵּיהִנֹּם, believe me that no נִסָּיוֹן in this life even comes close.
There are two main categories of sin, those that originate in "fire" and those that originate in "ice". Some sins are born out of the fire of passion and the inability to control our animal instincts. In גֵּיהִנֹּם these are repaired by ice. Other sins originate from a cold heart toward our fellow man. In גֵּיהִנֹּם these are repaired by fire.
In Egypt HKB"H sent a גֵּיהִנֹּם missile/cluster bomb attack against Pharaoh, but the primary intent behind the attack was to wake Am Yisrael up. Those who had ice in their hearts were melted by the fire and those who had fire in their hearts were cooled by the ice.
מַכַּת בָּרָד was the "all encompassing" plague, that was equivalent to all the other nine, כָּל מַגֵּפֹתַי. While the last plague of Bechorot may have been the clincher for Pharaoh, the clincher for Am Yisrael was מַכַּת בָּרָד, it was the most powerful lesson and wake-up call of them all.
The Gemara (Brachot 12b) says that the miracles that will occur during the Geulah and the era of Mashiach will make the Exodus from Egypt look like a B-rated movie. If back then they were a crash course in emunah, then how much more so will these miracles be?
We are experiencing these miracles right now, at this very moment, we just have to open our eyes to see them. Unfortunately, too many of us are walking around with our eyes wide shut. We see what we want to see, what fits our agenda and our plan for the world and when what we see does not correlate with our agenda, it plunges us into despair, depression and rage. Basically, it amounts to – simple arrogance, the arrogance that we are smarter than HKB"H.
Everything that is happening in our personal lives and in the world today on a global scale, is a lesson in emunah for us, for Am Yisrael. It is the modern version of the Ten Plagues, the … plagues, the wars, the crumbling of empires and misconceptions. All we need to do is open our eyes. This is what HKB"H wants us to do. HKB"H does not want us to forget COVID and resume our lives as they were before it. HKB"H does not want us to forget about the war in the Ukraine and the global economic fallout and try to get back to how our lives were before it. HKB"H does not want us to forget what happened on October 7 and try our best to get back to how our lives were before it.
Human nature is that when confronted with crisis, we tend to dig our heads in the sand, like an ostrich (יָעֵן in Hebrew) and pretend that it is not really happening and that if we "duck" long enough, it will pass and everything will go back to how it was before.
HKB"H does not want us to dig our heads in the sand, יַעַן לֹא הֶאֱמַנְתֶּם בִּי. He wants us to have emunah like Avraham Avinu at the Akeida וַיֹּאמֶר בִּי נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי נְאֻם ה' כִּי יַעַן אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ אֶת הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה. HKB"H wants us to open our eyes and learn from all these miracles that are happening for our benefit and incrementally improve ourselves to bring us one step closer to the Geulah, not to remain static and with our heads and conceptions firmly planted in the sand.
HKB"H does not want us to rely on ourselves to solve all our problems, our leaders, our army, our courts, our technology, our "allies" in the west. This is not what HKB"H wants. לֹא בִגְבוּרַת הַסּוּס יֶחְפָּץ לֹא בְשׁוֹקֵי הָאִישׁ יִרְצֶה. רוֹצֶה ה' אֶת יְרֵאָיו אֶת הַמְיַחֲלִים לְחַסְדּוֹ (תהילים קמז, י-יא). When we cast our open eyes upwards toward HKB"H and ask Him for help, He will help עֵינֵי ה' אֶל צַדִּיקִים וְאָזְנָיו אֶל שַׁוְעָתָם (תהילים לד, טז). Why place our faith in fallible leaders? in the fallible misconception of military might? when we should be placing our faith in the Creator of the universe!
Yes, we need to do our hishtadlut, but the hishtadlut does not involve solving all our problems with our own might and strength. It involves making ourselves into better people, making Am Yisrael stronger, more tolerant of one another, more united and returning to our essence as a nation.
Just like in Egypt, HKB"H wants us to take a leap of faith. Just like at the Red Sea, HKB"H wants us to take a leap of faith. HKB"H wants us to relinquish the misconception. Not the misconception of the "left", or the misconception of the "right", but the misconception – that we are in charge, that we are running things! We are not running things! Not Bibi, not Galant, not Gantz, not Eisenkot, not Esther Chayut, not Aharon/Ehud Barak, not Sinwar, not Nasrallah, not the Ayatollah, not Biden, not Trump and not Putin.
The longer we cling to this misconception, the more we plunge ourselves and our nation into the depths of despair and uncertainty and expose ourselves to more pain and hurt.
The time has come for healing, for letting go of the fire and ice in our hearts, toward our fellow Jews and towards HKB"H.
I want to end with some words of chizuk and some incredible hints from the psukkim of what we should be doing in these challenging, but exciting times and where all this is headed.
There is a technique of gematria called "nistar" - the "hidden" gematria of a word. If you take a word and write it in its "milui" format, (i.e spelling out each letter in full, for example the word אדם in "milui" format is אלף דלת מם) and then drop the first letter, the "א" from אלף, the "ד" from דלת, the "מ" from מם, what is left is - לף לת ם. This is called the "nistar" of a word.
The "nistar" of the word בָּרָד (taking the "milui" format בית ריש דלת and dropping the first letter), is ית יש לת. The gematria of the "nistar" of בָּרָד is –
חֲרָבוֹת בַּרְזֶל קֵץ הַיָּמִים
כִּי נָפַלְתִּי קָמְתִּי (מיכה ז, ח)
If you want to understand the lesson of מַכַּת בָּרָד in our current time, examine the gematria of the word בָּרָד in "milui" format בית ריש דלת –
עִבְדוּ אֶת ה' בְּשִׂמְחָה בֹּאוּ לְפָנָיו בִּרְנָנָה (תהילים ק, ב)
שֹׁמֵר שַׁבָּת מֵחַלְּלוֹ (ישעיהו נו, ב)
We need to intensely start injecting our lives with more שִׂמְחָה, to rejoice in the moments of victory over evil, the outpouring of achdut amongst our soldiers on the front line and Am Yisrael in the rear guard, the incredible wave of volunteering and selflessness, the newfound awakening of our authentic heritage (making Kiddush on Shabbat in the tanks, wearing Tzitzit, singing Shalom Aleichem, etc.).
We need to focus on the good in ourselves and others and nurture it, relish the moments of joy and light in our lives and appreciate all the beauty that surrounds us. It is not that there is no trouble in the world, there are bucketfuls, but we need to shine the light of שִׂמְחָה so bright that it will dispel all the darkness, radiate this שִׂמְחָה outwards like a beacon until it virally envelops all of Am Yisrael and the world.
We all need to intensely make a concerted effort to strengthen our connection with HKB"H and the perfect place to begin is by increasing our Shabbat observance. During the week we are deluged by "reality" and it is hard to find a moment to breathe. On Shabbat, we have a unique opportunity to embrace the respite from all this reality and the media and enjoy עֹנֶג שַׁבָּת the way it should be, together with family, friends, in shul, at the Shabbat table, studying Torah (1 minute of Torah study on Shabbat is equivalent of 1000 minutes of study during the week, do not waste one second!).
If we all take it upon ourselves to strengthen our Shabbat observance – bring Shabbat in a few minutes early, or make Havdalah a few minutes later, or sing an extra zemira at the table, or learn an extra dvar tora, or be mehader with the foods or types of foods served in the meal, or have extra kavanah during tefilot, etc. This may perhaps seem a small step for you, but it will result in a "major step for Am Yisrael" and eventually for all of mankind.
Another few gematrias of the word בָּרָד in "milui" format בית ריש דלת –
חֶשְׁבּוֹן גְּאוּלָּתֵנוּ הָעֲתִידָה
מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא
The lessons of מַכַּת בָּרָד are deep and profound. If we implement them, even on a visible, practical level as described above, we will have made major strides to hastening the Geulah בבי"א.
Shabbat Shalom
Eliezer Meir Saidel
Machon Lechem Hapanim
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