Комментарий к Шмот 10:19

רוח ים is A WEST WIND.

ויהפוך ה' רוח קדים, because the east wind had brought them from the west so that a west wind will bring them back to where they came from.

לא נשאר ארבה בגבולך, “not a single locust remained behind within the boundaries of your country.” The locusts, as opposed to the frogs at the time, did not die, the reason being that they had not come into existence for the purpose of this plague. They had merely been transported across a great distance, away from their natural habitat [this is all based on the opinion that the wordsותעל הצפרדע in 8,2 appears in the singular mode as opposed to the other occasions when this word appears in the plural mode. According to this view, a single frog became converted into millions of frogs for the sake of the plague, but after it had already left the river Nile. The frogs would therefore not have been able to “return” to their habitat, not having had a habitat in the first place. Ed.]

Not even a salted one that they had salted. Rashi is answering the question: Since it is already written, “Carried away the locusts,” why does Scripture add, “Not a single locust remained”? It must come to include even the salted ones. And regarding the plague of wild beasts, Scripture did not need to indicate that even the salted ones did not remain. Since they were dangerous animals, the Egyptians surely were afraid to trap them.

לא נשאר ארבה אחד בכל גבול מצרים. From the time Moses prayed not a single locust caused damage in Egypt. If, by chance locusts would land in the land of Israel and would cross the border of the land of Egypt, they would not eat anything of the local harvest until now. [the “now” refers to the era of Rabbeinu Chananel. Ed.] It is common knowledge in my time that this is the correct interpretation, as in connection with the crocodiles (or frogs, depending on which interpretation we accept for the meaning of the word צפרדע), the Torah stated that these creatures remained only in the river Nile, not posing a threat to the urban areas, whereas here the Torah speaks of the total disappearance of all the locusts from the entire territory of Egypt. Concerning this latter phenomenon the psalmist writes in Psalms 105,2 שיחו בכל נפלאותיו, “speak of all His wondrous deeds.”

V. 19. ויהפן רוח ים, gewöhnlich hat das aktive הפך den zu umwandelnden Gegenstand zum Objekt, wie הפך ים ליבשה und sonst. Hier aber ist der durch Umwandlung herbeigeführte Gegenstand das Objekt, es heißt nicht ויהפך רוח קדים לרוח ים sondern ויהפך רוח ים. So auch: ויהפך לו אל ד' לב אחר (Sam. I. 10, 9). אהפוך אל עמים שפה ברורה (Job 34, 35) והפן לילה ןידכאו (Zephania 3, 9).

רוח ים חזק מאד, “ very strong westerly wind;” the east wind had brought the locusts and the west wind swept them away. This had been alluded to in verse 13: והרוח הקדים נשא את הרבה, “and the east wind had carried the locusts

ימה סוף INTO THE RED SEA — I say that the Red Sea was, as to part of it, in the west opposite the whole southern side of Palestine, and was also eastward of the Land of Israel; therefore a west wind blew the locusts into the Red Sea which was in the opposite direction to the west of Egypt. Thus do we find mentioned regarding the boundaries of Palestine that it (the Red Sea) faces the east of Palestine, since it states, (Exodus 23:31) “[And I will set thy boundaries] from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines”, which means from east to west since the sea of the Philistines was in the west, as it is said of the Philistines, (Zephaniah 2:5) “the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites (the Philistines)”.

ויתקעהו, “the Torah had used this verb in connection with Lavan in Genesis 31,25: ולבן תקע את אחיו and Lavan pitched tent with his brothers.” In other words, the wind arrested the flight of the locusts.”

לא נשאר ארבה אחד THERE REMAINED NOT ONE LOCUST — not even those which they had salted — for they had salted some of them (Exodus Rabbah 13:7).