Heavenly Hail – Va’eira
In this week’s parsha we read about the plague of hail. The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 12:2) says that when Moshe told Pharaoh about this impending plague, he scratched a line on the wall and said “When the sun reaches this line, the plague will begin!”
The last set of plagues, beginning with hail and ending with the killing of the firstborn are called Kol Magefotai, all My plagues, and they were meant to dispel any notions Pharaoh had that witchcraft of any sort is involved. According to the Vilna Gaon (Kol Eliyahu, Va’eira), Kol Magefotai refers specifically to the plague of hail that encompassed all the other nine plagues in it. Indeed, after the hail, Pharaoh admits “I have sinned this time, Hashem is the tzaddik and I and my nation are the evil ones (Shemot 9:27).
There were three components to this plague. The first was thunderous sounds. The second was ice and the third was fire.
The Midrash (Shemot Rabbah 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 parable 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. HaKadosh Baruch Hu miraculously made peace between them and unleashed them upon Egypt.
The Vilna Gaon (ibid.) says that HaKadosh Baruch Hu has three “legions” that He uses to punish those that sin against Him – fire, air and water. In Sodom HaKadosh Baruch Hu used “fire,” raining down fire and brimstone. In the Flood, HaKadosh Baruch Hu used “water.” During the Tower of Babel HaKadosh Baruch Hu used “air,” wind, to disperse them to the four corners of the earth. In the plague of hail, HaKadosh Baruch Hu 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.”
The Midrash (Tanchuma Va’eira 19) says that the hail was not all one standard size, but was varied. R’ Pinchas says it was the size of a snail, that decimated the fruit trees. R’ Yehuda HaLevi in the name of R’ Shalom, says it was the size of a small bug that decimated the field crops. Larger hailstones fell and killed the Egyptians and their livestock.
This bombardment was not without warning. HaKadosh Baruch Hu gave ample warning for the Egyptians to take shelter, both them and their livestock “in the designated safe zones.” Anyone outside that safe area would suffer the consequences.
The pasuk (Shemot 9:26) says that there were 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.
Eventually Pharaoh could take it no longer and begged Moshe to pray to HaKadosh Baruch Hu to stop the hail. Moshe exited the city and raised his hands in prayer and the plague ended – in stages. First the thunderous sounds stopped and then the hail.
It was not as if all the intended hail suddenly disappeared from the sky. When Moshe prayed to HaKadosh Baruch Hu to stop the plague, there was still some hail in the sky – and it was stopped in transit. The Zohar HaKadosh (Beshalach 192) says that this hail did not cease to exist, instead HaKadosh Baruch Hu “filed” it for further use. Some was used during the time of Yehoshua in the battle in Givon. 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, measure for measure, to Pharaoh, who sinned with lashon hara, such a severe sin that it is equivalent to the three major sins – murder, adultery and idol worship and therefore Pharaoh was deserving of three types of death penalty. Being struck by the hail was death by skilah, stoning. The fire in the hail was death by sreifah, pouring molten lead down the throat. Finally, Cheinek, drowning in all the water that resulted from the melted hail.
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, but we could see what was going on around us. A primary purpose of the plagues was to wake us up!
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 second-rate movie. If back then they were a crash course in faith, then how much more so will the miracles in the time of Mashiach be?
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: Why did Aharon have to raise his staff to initiate the plague of blood and not Moshe?
Answer to Last Shiur’s Trivia Question: When Moshe grew up, he left Pharoah’s palace and saw two Jews fighting with each other. What are their names? Datan and Aviram (Targum Yonatan, Shemot 2:13).
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