Chasidut su Esodo 9:39

On the famous question, posed by the commentators: How could Choice be taken from [Pharaoh], when it was supposed to be free? And based on our way we should pay attention to read precisely the word these in [God’s] statement, that I may show these signs of mine among them (Ex. 9:1) – it is as if [God] points with a finger at the signs, that here they are before [Moses’] eyes; but in truth they were not visible to his eyes. However, the point of the Exodus from Egypt was that Awareness was in exile with Pharaoh; and that meant that the nation, although they were the Children of Israel, did not know God even though they had a tradition from the mouth of their holy ancestors, the fathers of the world. Nevertheless, since they were the fourth generation they had forgotten the true Awareness about which King David, peace be upon him, said to his son Solomon, know the God of your father (1 Chron. 28:9). And that is the essence of the exile, that Awareness was in exile in Egypt. And therefore wicked Pharaoh said Who is the LORD? etc. (Ex. 5:2), that he denied the essential principle and believed only in sorcery. For he was a great sorcerer and did not know God or that it is written, “there is none but [God] (Deut. 4:35), even sorcery,” “which contradicts the power of Heaven” (Sanhedrin 67b); they have no ability to act beyond Blessed God’s will, as is explained in the Talmud in the incident of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa. And therefore when Blessed God wanted to redeem [God’s] nation the Children of Israel from Egypt so that they would have the true Awareness, and to teach them that the LORD is God (Deut. 4:35), powerful and master of all abilities and powers, [God] said that I may show these signs of mine among them. That is to say, it was with [Pharaoh] in exile, and through this combination the word “Elohim” will be in wholeness and, and it will be known that the LORD is God, [God] is powerful and master of ability, and there is none but [God], even sorcery as we have stated.

Exodus 9,3. “and to the Children of Israel say as ‎follows: ‘take a he-goat for a sin offering;” this verse concludes ‎with the words: “as well as an ox and a ram as a peace offering ‎to slaughter in the presence of the Lord and a gift offering ‎soaked in oil, for on this day the Lord has appeared to ‎you” (collectively). This verse which sounds as if it was an ‎afterthought, raises the question how this was possible as we ‎have a rule (Pessachim 96) that any animal designated as a ‎sacrificial animal must undergo at least 4 days of examination to ‎determine if it is not blemished in any way. Why did G’d ‎command to take these animals and present them as sacrifices on ‎the same day they had been selected without their having to ‎undergo the four day period during which they would be ‎examined as to the state of their fitness? The fact that this ‎occurred on the same day is evident from the fact that Aaron did ‎not descend from the altar and bless the people until all the ‎animals and the gift offering had been presented (verse 23).‎

Exodus 8,5.Moses said to Pharaoh: ‎‎‘you may brag concerning me, ‘for when shall I ‎pray on your behalf, etc;?” ‎ויאמר למחר, ויאמר כדבריך ‏למען תדע כי אין כה' אלוקינו‎ “He said: ‘for tomorrow!” ‎He replied: ‘just as you have said, so that you ‎will know that there is no-one comparable to the ‎Lord our G’d.’” It is worth noting that after the fourth ‎plague, (the third not having been announced ‎beforehand) in announcing the forthcoming plague, ‎‎(Exodus 8,18) G’d uses the expression: ‎והפלאתי‎ when ‎announcing beforehand that the wild beasts will not ‎invade the land of Goshen, the home of most of the ‎Children of Israel. At that point, Moses adds to his ‎warning: “in order that you will know that there is no-‎one comparable to Me on the whole Earth.” A similar ‎statement appears before the onset of the plague of ‎hail, (9,14) and prior to Moses leaving the boundaries ‎of the land of Egypt in order to pray to G’d to bring the ‎plague of hail to a conclusion. (Exodus 9,29) Moses ‎adds that his objective is to demonstrate to Pharaoh ‎that the globe is G’d’s property, ‎‏ למען תדע כי לה' הארץ‎. We ‎need to examine why G’d chose to use different ‎reasons for the onset or removal of the various ‎plagues we quoted.‎
With G’d’s help we hope to clarify the reasons ‎behind these various nuances that appear so ‎significant that the Torah bothers to list them ‎individually.‎
The Zohar, in commenting on the verse: ‎אני ‏ראשון ואני אחרון ומבלעדי אין אלוקים‎, “I am the first and I am ‎the last and apart from Me there is no Divine ‎power,”(Isaiah 44,6) sees in that verse a synopsis of the ‎functions of certain vowels (all three are dots but ‎placed on top, in the middle, or beneath the ‎consonants) If the dot is on top of the letter, as in the ‎חולם‎, it refers to the ability of the Tzaddikim to ‎cause decrees by the attribute of Justice to be ‎converted to decrees dominated by the attribute of ‎Mercy, the reason being that the concept of the Jewish ‎nation had preceded the concept of creating a physical ‎universe in G’d’s mind. The same dot appearing in the ‎middle of the letter, known as ‎שורוק‎, alludes to G’d’s ‎intervention in the affairs of man in a covert manner, ‎as He did during the period of Mordechai and Esther. ‎Finally, the dot appearing beneath the letter, known as ‎חיריק‎, alludes to the period of the wars preceding the ‎arrival of the messiah when G’d will become manifest ‎by His literally “turning the world upside down”, ‎pouring out the wicked, who at that time will finally ‎recognize His might in all its glory. The author derives ‎all of this from the concise comments of the ‎‎Zohar on the verse we quoted from Isaiah ‎‎44,6. ‎

In the context of the plague of hail stones, the Torah makes reference to the Egyptians who feared God. According to Rashi⁴³⁰Rashi on Exod. 9:10 s.v. ba-adam. the plague of pestilence also demonstrated that some Egyptians feared God, yet the Torah makes no explicit mention of them. Perhaps the reason for this discrepancy between hail and pestilence is the correlation between hail and malchus. Since the plague of hail corresponded to malchus during the downpour of physical stones, there was also a spiritual flow from on High of yiras shamayim—fear of Heaven. Due to the special appearance of a Divine spirit that caused all to accept His rule, the Torah writes that even Egyptians had true fear of Heaven. Numerology confirms this thesis. The gematria of the word ha-barad, “the hail,” is 211, which equals the value of the word yarei, “one who fears,” which is the first word in the phrase, ha-yarei devar Hashem, “One who fears the word of God” (Exod. 9:20).

The Midrash Tanchuma⁴³¹Exod. 9:32. teaches that at the time of the great war of Gog and Magog, which will precipitate the Messianic era, the rest of the hail stones from Egypt will fall. Tzaddikim have revealed that the war of Gog and Magog is primarily a spiritual battle to maintain faith and commitment to God despite cultural beliefs that reject God and His authority. Since the hail brought with it a flow of malchus, obedience to God, it will also fall in the times of Gog and Magog, when man will need God’s help to maintain faith and observance.⁴³²Emunas Etecha, Parashas Vaera, pgs. 193-196.