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UJCL Parashah Commentaries
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VA’ERA 5770 Shemot – Exodus 6:2-9:35 January 16, 2010 - 1 Shevat 5770 By Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik,
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Moses’ life is intrinsically related with water.
When he was born, his fate was to drown in the Nile, as it was for all the Israelite boys (“And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying: 'Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive'”, Ex. 1:22). He was placed in the Nile in order to save his life (“she took for him an ark of bulrushes… and she put the child therein, and laid it in the flags by the river's brink”, Ex. 2:3), and thanks to the river itself, he got to the hands of Pharaoh’s daughter (“And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the river; and her maidens walked along by the river-side; and she saw the ark among the flags”, Ex. 2:5), who named him Moses, which according to the Torah means “drawn out of the water” (Ex. 2:10).
He won the people’s appreciation with the crossing of the Red Sea (“and the people… believed in the Lord, and in His servant Moses”, Ex. 14:31); he suffered rebellions in the wilderness due to water (“Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said: 'Give us water that we may drink'”, Ex. 17:2), and by smiting the rock twice so that water would flow from it, he was not allowed to enter the promised land (Num. 20:11-12).
Precisely because of this profound link between Moses and water, the reader of Parashat Va’era cannot fail to notice that it was Aaron, and not Moses, the one who initiated the first plague against Egypt.
Why wasn’t Moses the one to transform water into blood? A first answer emerges from the text itself. Aaron was the one in charge of “operating” Moses’ staff:
Nevertheless, Rashi is not satisfied with the simple pshat (plain reading) of the passage. In his commentary on the verse, he maintains that Aaron was entrusted with the plague because the Nile had protected Moses when he was placed inside a basket as a baby.
It would seem that the midrash supporting Rashi’s commentary appears in Shemot Rabbah (9:10):
According to this midrash, divine justice determined that Aaron was to initiate the plague. However, we could affirm that Rashi’s commentary also has in mind a second midrash (Bemidvar Rabbah 22:4). Moses refuses to obey God’s command to avenge the Midianites:
Combining both midrashim, we can assume that at the time of striking the Nile, the same river that had protected him as a child, Moses preferred not to do it. He was aware that God needed to prove His power by hurting the essence of Egypt, the Nile, but he was not willing to do it.
With his attitude, Moses shows that, besides many other virtues, he also possessed that of gratitude. Even at his moment of glory and splendor, he acknowledged the merit of the waters of the Nile, and asked God to free him from such responsibility.
It is written in the midrash: “Into the well from which you drank, do not cast a stone”; Shakespeare wrote: "Mud not the fountain that gave drink to you" (The Rope of Lucrece, Part 4, line 577). In our daily speech we say: “Do not bite the hand that feeds you.”
Plain variations of the same concept, which sometimes we forget and of which Moses bears witness: acknowledge those who help us and show them gratitude.
Shabbat Shalom, Gustavo |
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This Parashah commentary was done by the Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean, and may be reproduced quoting its source.
Forwarded by Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, from Kol Shearith Israel Congregation, Panama. |
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