Parashat HaShavuah

Parsha Shemot
By Irit Wiseman

Shabbat Shalom. At the beginning of Parshat Vayera, God reveals himself to Moshe. God commands Moshe and Aharon to go to Pharaoh to order to him to let Bnai Yisrael go. He then tells Moshe what to expect. Pharaoh won’t listen to Moshe and will continue to say no. That gives opportunities for Moshe and God to show Pharaoh miracles. In this parsha, we learn about seven of the ten plagues of Egypt. The seventh plague is Barad (hail).  “The hail was very heavy—fire flashing in the midst of the hail—such as had not fallen on the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. (Shemot 9:24)”

How did the plague of Hail happen?

Rashi suggests that the hail was a miracle within a miracle, fire within ice. To do the will of their creator, the hail and fire made peace between themselves for a short time. Another interpretation is that the hail was not a miracle. Just heavy hail together with lightening. This is the opinion given in the translation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. I prefer the opinion of Rashi that the plague of hail was a miracle. The idea of a supernatural miracle is interesting because it proves there is a creator protecting us. In this world, it can be hard to believe in a God that is not seen, but the supernatural somehow makes it easier to believe.

In our time, God does do miracles. But sometimes they are not as obvious as we would like. One modern miracle is the State of Israel. It is not an obvious miracle because we have fought for it with our hopes, dreams and army. But we realize that for the state to exist God must have given us the strength to prevail and tell our story. So when you go home, think about the little miracles that you witness in your life and realize how important they are to you.