Tag Info

Abarbanel discusses this and gives two reasons why the parshiyos were split this way (which, incidentally, are the reasons @LarryK and @GershonGold have offered). The plague of arbeh was chosen to begin Parshas Bo with because it begins the makkos for which Pharaoh began to fear the plagues and negotiate with Moshe before the plague started. All the last ...

To summarize the Chabad.org link that Hacham Gabriel provided: Shemos Rabba (11:3) brings a disagreement between R' Yehudah and R' Nechemia. R' Yehudah maintains that it was a swarm of different wild animals. R' Nechemia says it was a swarm of insects. The Midrash and most commentators (Rashi, ibn Ezra, Targum Yonatan, et al) hold like R' Yehudah. However ...

Most of the commentators understand ערוב as being derived from the word for "mixture", the animals being a "mixture" of a certain type. What type is subject to speculation. Shemos Rabbah (11:3) brings a difference of opinion between R' Nechemia and R' Yehuda as to what type of animals were involved: either insects or what we would think of as wild animals ...

It seems the ו׳ is functioning to introduce the apodosis, or the result of a cause. Thus, "When Par'oh let the people go, then God did not lead them..." See Wilhelm Gesenius' A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, on ו׳, p. 266, §bb. As for the Arabic ف, see William Edward Lane's An English-Arabic Lexicon on the entry for ف. Lane writes, ...

A couple of the classical commentators address this as well. Ibn Ezra writes that Moshe, on his own initiative, had given Pharaoh the option when the plague should be gone (8:5-6) - without first consulting Hashem whether this was the right thing to do, or whether the stated deadline was acceptable to Him. Now he was concerned that Hashem might not approve ...

Rav Hirsch suggests an alternate explanation of the magicians’ behavior according to your suggestion: that they were attempting to undo the effects of the plague with no success—or in the case of the frogs, more frogs came when they attempted to banish them. After their third failure, they acknowledged that it was “God’s Finger” at work.

I think it seems clear from the narrative (8:4–9) (but I have no further source) that his prayer for the plague to cease was for it to cease from the Egyptians, and was pursuant to Pharaoh's request. As to why he cried out (rather than merely praying): Ibn Ezra explains (if I understand him correctly) that he really wanted the frogs gone, lest he be shamed ...

The seventh, Hail, marks a turning point. So it is also a good place to divide the parshiot. The plague is a turning point since it is the first one whereby Moses/Gd gives Pharoh three choices: Let B'nei Israel leave Fully suffer the plague Partially suffer the plague: save your fieldworkers and animals by bringing them indoors away from the hail (Ex ...

At first glance, this appears to be a great question, and it immediately brings to mind the controversy over the rock in the wilderness. But upon further consideration, I'm wondering if this question is based on a faulty interpretation (although perfectly fine translation) of "struck". In English, we say the Egyptians were "struck" with 10 plagues. Same in ...

@Menachem's answer addresses your question regarding sources that suggest that some of the plagues affected the Jews as well as the Egyptians. However, regarding your question of why the distinction is "spelled out" only prior to the fourth plague, arov, I will offer the explanation of Abarbanel (who, by the way, believes that the Jews were not affected by ...

Tol'dos Yotzchak (by Rabbi Yitzchak Karo, uncle of the Bes Yosef), in his commentary to 4:10, says that "כבד לשון" refers to an impediment in pronouncing the so-called tongue letters, דטלנת;‎ "ערל שפתים", the lip letters, בומף; and "כבד פה", the rest. ["לא איש דברים", then, would seem to be an all-embracing expression.]

According to Ibn Kaspi, "לא איש דברים" means that Moshe was not an eloquent speaker, he was literally not a man of words. This was relevant because God was asking him to be a leader, and good public speaking skills are often thought of as crucial to such a role. No one would ever get elected president or prime minster if they couldn't deliver a good speech. ...

The Ibn Ezra (7:24) says that Jews were affected by the first three plagues (Blood, Frogs, and Lice), since: That's the story the verses tell They weren't that bad (i.e. only an inconvenience, I guess. - he says that the Jews also dug for water) They were spared from Wild Animals because it was a harsh plague. They were also spared from Pestilence and ...

Imagine there was a magician claiming to have a super-natural ability to turn water into blood, and you want to discredit him and prove that it's just a trick. You would need to perform the exact illusion that the magician was performing, turn water into blood. Doing the reverse would not discredit the initial "miracle" that the magician performed. ...

I see where Daas Soferim has an interesting take on it. Really, he says, Pharaoh didn't deserve to have the plague taken away at this point. However, Moshe wanted to do him a favor and make it possible for him to recognize Hashem's greatness (by seeing how Hashem removes the plague at his, Moshe's, request). So he had to "cry out" because he was asking for ...

Perhaps the reason is that Moshe, being the intermediary between God and Pharoah knew it ws his job to take Pharoah's request to God, but Moshe also knew that the Exodus from Egypt couldn't happen untill Pharoah and the Egyptians were punished "full measure" for their treatment of the Jews. By ending the plague and the Egyptian discomfort, God was in essense ...

אמר רבי אבהו כל המעשה את חבירו לדבר מצוה מעלה עליו הכתיב כאילו עשאה שנאמר ומטך אשר הכית בו את היאר וכי משה הכהו והלא אהרן הכהו אלא לאמר לך כל המעשה את חבירו לדבר מצוה מעלה עליו הכתיב כאילו עשאה סנהדרין צ״ט׃ The Gemara says that whoever encourages his friend to do a Mitzva the Posuk considers it as if he did it since it says "And your stick which you hit ...

As the Ibn Ezra said, it's impossible to translate to any other language. The Mechokekei Yehudah, a supercommentary on Ibn Ezra, says that it connotes a beginning. So in our case, it would mean something like: And it was when Par'oh sent the nation, (new subject) G-d did not guide them ...

[A friend of mine suggested this answer to me and it seems right: (no source though)] The dialogue in Shemot 4:10-15 deals with Moshe's apprehension in speaking with the Jewish people. Similarly Hashem tells Moshe in Passuk 16 that Aharon will be his interpreter- to the Jewish people. Shemot 4:16: And he will speak for you to the people, and it will be ...

On a clinical level, it almost sounds like apraxia of speech. http://www.apraxia-kids.org/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=chKMI0PIIsE&b=839037&ct=837215 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNB0ihI2srQ

I remember hearing that the 3 last Makos all had to do with darkness. Arbeh - grasshoppers covered the entire ground as it says וכסה את עין הארץ ולא יוכל לראות את הארץ, then you had Choshech - darkness where the Posuk says they were literally able to touch the darkness וימש חושך, and then Makas Bechoros which happened at midnight ויהי בחצי הלילה וה' הכה כל ...