Commentary for Exodus 9:8

מלא חפניכם HANDFULS (more lit., as much as will fill your fists), old French joincheiz; Engl, double-handfuls.

פיח, ash, dust particles remaining at the bottom of the furnace light enough to be carried by the wind.

לעיני פרעה. In order that he would see that the plague was not the result of mixing something moist with something else, i.e. something subject to the influence of the sun or the atmosphere. Both of these phenomena sometimes produce what are known as “natural disasters.”

ויאמר ה' אל משה ואהרן קחו לכם מלא חפניכם פיח הכבשן, “the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ‘take for yourselves two handfuls of furnace soot;’” According to Ibn Ezra the reason that no demand was made to release the Israelites prior to decreeing that plague was that it did not last long.

וזרקו משה השמימה, “and Moses is to throw it heavenward.” It is a well known fact that each one of the ten plagues contained within it a number of miracles. In this instance the expression “your (pl) handfuls” combined with the singular “let him throw it heavenward” poses a problem. Why did they both have to fill their hands with the soot if only Moses was to throw it? The verse teaches therefore that Moses took in his one hand the combined four handfuls of soot, both his own and that of his brother Aaron. If one throws something upwards one uses only one hand; otherwise it is hardly called “throwing.” The ability of throwing all this soot with one hand then was one of the miracles. Another miracle was the fact that the whole land of Egypt became filled with dust which had originated only in the palms of two pairs of hands. The third miracle, of course, was the plague itself, the fact that this soot turned into erupting boils infecting man and beast alike in the whole of Egypt.

Is thrown only with one hand. . . I do not know Rashi’s proof that Moshe threw [the furnace soot] with force. A possible answer: Here it is written השמימה , rather than על השמים as it is written about the plague of hail (v. 22). Apparently, Scripture changed the wording here to teach that Moshe sent up the soot unusually high, until the heavens. (see Re’m) But it seems to me that [we need not find a proof for this, for] Rashi means to say the following: Anything that is thrown ( נזרק ), is thrown with force. This is because נזרק implies with all of one’s force, which is with one hand. See Bereishis Rabba ch. 5 and Vayikra Rabba ch. 7. (Nachalas Yaakov)

V. 8. שחין: die zweite , ענוי-Plage entsprechend den כנים der ersten Gruppe, schmerzliche Strafe für den bisherigen Ungehorsam. קחו לכם, beider beide Hände voll — was חפן bedeutet — ist ein verschwindendes Nichts gegen die Masse, welche dazu notwendig gewesen wäre, sich, wie hier geschehen sollte, über das ganze Land zu verbreiten. Es dürfte damit gelehrt sein, dass von Seiten des Menschen immer das Menschen Mögliche voll und ganz zu geschehen habe, sei es auch voraussichtlich für den beabsichtigten Zweck vollends unzureichend. — פיח von פוח, blasen, hauchen: der Niederschlag des Rauches, Ruß. — כבשן, ein Ofen, in welchem Stoffe, z. B. Kalkstein, völlig bewältigt (כבוש), zerlegt und zerfällt werden.

מלא חפניכם, “your handfuls,” this would not be enough soot to bring the plague on the entire land of Egypt; this is why the Torah does not attribute this plague as resulting from the fire that the soot was taken from. G-d did not want to change natural law at this point, and that is why He commanded Moses and Aaron to perform a symbolic act.

פיח הכבשן SOOT OF THE FURNACE — the word פיח denotes a thing which is blown away (נפוח) from coals that have become extinguished after being burnt in a furnace; in old French oulvis.

Both his and Aharon’s handfuls. Rashi says this because it is written before, “Both of you take full handfuls.” [which is four handfuls in total].

Dass überhaupt etwas genommen und über das Land hingestreut werden sollte, bezweckte wohl, die eintretende Plage als durch Mosche und Aaron auf Gottes Geheiß bewirkt auftreten zu lassen. Warum aber gerade Ruß, das dürfte uns klar werden, wenn wir uns die Bedeutung von שחין vergegenwärtigen. שחין finden wir später unter den נגעי צרעת wieder, und wissen durch die Weisen, daß es im Verhältnis zu מכוה eine Art Brandwunde ist, die aber nicht durch Feuer, sondern durch Schlag, Druck, Stoß u. dergl. entsteht, also: Entzündung. Heißt doch jחr, chaldäisch überhaupt: heiß sein, שנה שחונה. An einem anderen Worte, das auch Krankheit bedeutet, sehen wir bestätigt, dass n die Aufhebung, das Hemmen dessen bezeichnet, was mit ע ausgedrückt wird, wie dies נוח, die zur Ruhe gekommene Bewegung, und נוע, die Bewegung, schlagend dartut. חלה, krank sein, von עלה, sich entwickeln, also: die gestörte, gehemmte Entwicklung, daher: תעלה, die wiederhergestellte Entwicklung: Heilung. Ähnlich שחן. שאן: ,ruhen, sicher, ungestört sein שען: sich anlehnen, also in völliger Harmonie mit der Umgebung sein. שחן: Störung des Gleichgewichtes (daher שתנא, chaldäisch Last, לפום גמלא שחנא, wenn sich auf einen Punkt unverhältnismäßige Masse häuft.) שחין, somit eine Krankheitserscheinung, wenn durch einen Reiz die sonst sich harmonisch im Gleichgewicht verteilenden Säfte angesammelt und an eine Stelle des Körpers hingedrängt werden. Dadurch entsteht dann, fortgesetzt, eine Zersetzung der Säfte, die dann aus dem Körper hinaus wollen, schwären, אבעבועות, von בעה, hinauswollen (geistig: inbrünstig um etwas bitten, geistiges hinausquillen). Ist also שחין eine solche in Fäulnis endende Entzündung ( — dem מוכה שחין faulten zuletzt Glieder ab —) so ist es klar, warum Ruß zur Erzeugung derselben genommen worden. Es gibt nämlich nichts, was also seiner Natur gemäß der Entzündung, Zersetzung und Fäulnis entgegen arbeitet, wie Kohle, Rauch, Teer, Kreosot, alles mit Ruß verwandte Stoffe. Vielleicht mag Ruß ein beliebtes Mittel gegen שחין gewesen sein. Gerade dieses soll hier שחין erzeugen.

פיח, remnants of coal, cinders. Compare Isaiah 54,16.

פיח is derived from a root that signifies blowing, and it so called because the wind blows it about and scatters it abroad.

And another, that the soot spread over the entire land of Egypt. You might ask: Since [it spread so far only because] it was a miracle, why did Rashi explain that Moshe’s one fistful held both his and Aharon’s handfuls, [so that he could throw it with force]? [The miracle would be even greater if Moshe were to throw the soot with two hands and without any force and yet it travelled such a great distance.] Perhaps his fistful did not hold it, and Moshe threw with both hands [and it spread by a miracle]. The answer is: The miracle of its spreading over Egypt was not that it went farther than Moshe could throw, but that this small amount [of soot] covered the entire land of Egypt. [The fact that he was able to throw it with force because his fistful held both his and Aharon’s fistfuls does not pertain to this miracle. Rather, it is a miracle that stands on its own.] And according to what I explained above — that Rashi inferred from השמימה that Moshe threw with force — we may answer this question as well. Since השמימה implies with force, surely he threw with one hand, for he did not to rely on a miracle.

וזרקו משה השמימה, “and let Moses throw it heavenwards.” This is one of many occasions when the term שמים, usually translated as “heaven,” is used as meaning simply: “air, or atmosphere.” Seeing that what is thrown into the air subsequently falls to earth, just like rain or lightning, the description is not that inaccurate.

וזרקו משה AND LET MOSES THREW IT — Since anything which is thrown with force must be thrown with one hand only, there were here several miracles: one, that Moses’ closed fingers (קמץ) held as much as would fill his two fists and those of Aaron, and another, that this dust spread itself over the entire land of Egypt (Midrash Tanchuma, Vaera 14; Exodus Rabbah 11:8).