START THE DAY THE TORAH WAY

This week’s sedra וארא gives details of seven מכות, plagues, of the ten plagues which ה' brought on Pharaoh and Egypt, after which the Yidden went out of Egypt. The meforshim point out that the first three מכות were carried out by Aharon and not by Moshe or ה' as the others were. One has to understand why this was so.

There is a cryptic vort of the Chiddushei Harim in which he states that the ten מכות took away the קליפות, the shells, which had grown up and surrounded the עשרה מאמרות, the ten utterances with which ה' had created the world. He then adds that in order to bring the world back to the level as at the creation of the world, בריאת העולם, ה' then gave the עשרת הדיברות, the ten commandments.

I think one can understand this with a moshal.

Somebody was presented with a beautiful pot with which to cook, a lovely shiny pot in first class condition. He sought to treasure it, but what happens if he did not do so. Whenever the pot was used and the food cooked was spilt over the side, it was not cleaned properly and this happened on a few occasions. Then because it did not look so nice, it was not used anymore and gradually grime, soot, dust even mould, all attached itself to this pot, and one could not be able to see the beauty, one could hardly be able to see the shape of it at all. The pot was put away and left until it became full of mould and even more than that (because the water is hard, like in London) it even had scales like barnacles attached to it. It turned out to be in very, very poor shape.

This carried on for a long time and the pot just got left in an attic until one day, somebody turned up who liked antiques and said that he would like to buy some things and he was shown various items. He could not find anything that interested him until he finally spotted this bedraggled looking shape which had been a beautiful pot and he said “Ahh, I like that” and they all laughed at him. To show them how wrong they were, he started scrubbing and scouring and using soap and a sharp knife and acid and alkaline, and all types of abrasives, eventually he scraped off all the soot and the grime, the dust, the mould and the barnacles, until the pot was cleaned of all its dirt and everything sticking to it and the original surface was revealed.

I think that this is a good way of understanding what happened when ה' created the world. It was a perfect world, a beautiful world. Because people did not adhere to the correct path and started serving idols, in the fourth generation already after Odom Harishon, the world gradually degenerated in many ways. It reached the stage that when Moshe and Aharon came to Pharaoh and said ה' has sent us to tell you to let the Bnei Yisroel out of Egypt, his reply was Who is ה' that I should listen to Him? He did not even know what they were talking about. The whole concept of בריאת העולם, the world being created by ה', had become hidden and lost under layers of scales, filth, mould, grime, soot, dust etc.

When ה' sent the ten plagues, each one took off another layer of scales, mould, dirt etc. which had got stuck to the original beautiful pot. Eventually, everybody accepted that ה' created the world and controlled the world. The Bnei Yisroel then left Egypt.

In order to finally give the extra polish that was needed to restore the pot to the same beauty, shining beauty, into its original pristine state, ה' then uttered the עשרת הדיברות. This took place seven weeks after the last plague , the killing of the first born.

In addition to the ten מכות being connected to the ten utterances, the עשרה מאמרות, with which the world was created, we are told by the mekubolim that the ten plagues also have an affinity with the ten sefiros, ספירות. These are the descending circles with which ה' when He created the world, sent down the קדושה and the אור, the holiness and the light, until it reached our lowly world.

Perhaps another moshal here would be appropriate so that we should appreciate, at least to some extent, these esoteric concepts. We all know that electricity comes from power stations, the intensity of the power of the electricity at that place is very great. It then is sent out on a grid to electricity stations and then onto sub stations until eventually, after going through various other hoops, it reaches electricity sockets in our houses. Basically, the power and the light has been filtered down gradually so that when it reaches the sockets it is at an appropriate level for us to be able to utilise, without it harming us.

Could you imagine, if there was a power station which was the source of all the electricity in the world, how powerful it would need to be?

With that, perhaps, we can begin to understand the concept of sefiros coming down from a very high spiritual level and if you can imagine this, winding round in ten descending circles until they finally reach our low mundane world.

We can also understand that if some foreign substances got into the works, that is the grid bringing the electricity from source to sockets, it would need thorough cleaning out all the way along.

Based on that, we can, perhaps better understand the statement of the mekubolim who tell us that this rectification, tikkun, of the עשר ספירות which had become “clogged up” especially by the טומאת מצרים, the decadence and lack of holiness in Egypt, was carried out in the last year before the Jews left Egypt, by way of the עשר מכות. Furthermore we are told that ה' commenced the clean out from the bottom level, the last one, upwards as if we were going from the electricity sockets back up the chain.

I believe that it would be helpful to explain further in a little depth the concept of עשר ספירות. This is represented by ten levels known as
כתר the crown
חכמה wisdom
בינה understanding
חסד kindness epitomised by אברהם אבינו Abraham
גבורה strength epitomised by יצחק אבינו Isaac
תפארת splendour epitomised by יעקב אבינו Jacob
נצח triumph epitomised by משה Moses
הוד beauty epitomised by אהרן Aaron
יסוד foundation epitomised by יוסף Joseph
And finally,
מלכות kingship epitomised by דוד David

Now let us consider how each individual ספירה, starting from the bottom upwards, that is from מלכות, kingship, has a connection with the actual מכה that was brought onto the Egyptians.

The first one was דם, Blood. This plague dented the Malchus of Pharaoh, the kingdom of Egypt, because in front of eyes of Pharaoh and all his servants all the water suddenly turned to blood. You will, no doubt, recall that Pharaoh made out that he was creator of the River Nile and this plague rather destroyed his claim.

The next one was צפרדע, the plague of Frogs. You will remember that it says that the frogs came into the rooms and even into people’s beds. The מידות יסוד is known as the middo of יוסף הצדיק. This hints at that what is being emphasised at the moment in the weeks of Shovavim, שובבים, namely שמירת היסוד.

The next level up is הוד. This is connected was the plague of כינים, Lice, which got into people’s hair etc. Aharon is the epitome of הוד. He wore special clothes, and in particular his headgear, his special hat, and the Holy ציץ. All this represented הוד.

You may remember that I asked earlier on why it was that Aharon was the one that actually carried out the first three מכות. This could well be understood based on my above remarks, namely that from the מכה of הוד which is represented by Aharon and further down, the final two makkos יסוד and מלכות, he, Aharon had the spiritual strength to carry out those מכות specifically, but not the other ones which were above his level.

Perhaps this could be compared to somebody cleaning out part of say an engine which had been badly soiled. This can be done by a person who has had ordinary tools and experience. For more detailed and precise cleaning, one needs to have a greater expertise.

Let us proceed. The next מכה, ערוב, Wild Animals, is comparable to נצח. This is the netzochon of משה, Moshe’s triumph. Moshe Rabbenu said, at the time of announcing that the plague of wild animals would be brought, “ושמתי פדות בין עמי ובין עמך” “I will make a distinction between my people and your people”. That is the Egyptians. That is precisely what happened, as he said it would, the next day. It was a great נצחון, triumph for Moshe.

The next plague that was bought down on the Egyptians was דבר, Pestilence on the animals. This was to rectify the middo of תפארת, which was Yaakov Avinu’s middo, splendour. Yaakov Avinu, as we know, worked for 20 years with the animals of Lovon and דבר was brought on animals. Perhaps to explain a little deeper, it would be sensible to say that in order to rectify and bring out the middo of תפארת, one had to bring a plague on the low “animal spirit” which had taken over during all the years.

Let us continue. The next middo is known as גבורה, strength. This is personified by יצחק. The שחין, Boils, the next plague, was once again bought on all the livestock, Yitzchok as we know worked very hard with his livestock. As the Torah tells us, the wells which Avrohom Avinu had dug had been filled in by the Pelishtim and Yitzchok dug them again and dug new ones also. On a spiritual level, one can understand that we are talking about pure unadulterated Holiness recreated.

The next מכה, the last one in this sedra, was ברד, Hail. Once again it was brought on animals as well as people. The Torah says הירא את דבר ה', הניס את עבדיו ואת מקנהו אל הבתים, Whoever who feared Hashem, chased his servants and his livestock into houses. You will all recall the story of the עקידה where the ram took the place of Yitzchok. Avrohom Avinu, despite his middos of chesed, was complimented by Hashem with the words עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה. Now I know that you have fear of Hashem. Once again, this was to recreate חסד, kindness being utilised in the right way, namely tempered with יראת ה', fear of G-d.

The last three makkos are mentioned in next week’s sedra Parshas בא. Once again working from the bottom upwards, we have firstly בינה, Understanding, and this is in contrast to the plague of ארבה, Locusts, which covered the whole of Egypt. After that plague the servants of Pharaoh said to him, How long will this behaviour (of not letting the Jews go) be a snare for us, let the Jews go. Pharaoh concurred, because he called Moshe and Aharon back to the Palace and said to them go and serve Hashem, your G-d. They, the Egyptians, understood, they had the בינה that there was Hashem who ran the world. The concept of בינה was revealed. This was despite the fact that they still did not want to accept fully that all the Jewish people including the wives and children etc. should be allowed to go.

After that there was the makkos חושך, Darkness. This is in contrast to חכמה, wisdom. There is a verse in koheles which says יתרון לחכמה מן הסכלות כיתרון האור מן החושך wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness.

Finally the last plague, makkos bechores, מכת בכורות, is connected with the highest level כתר, the Crown. At that time the crown of Pharaoh was completely humbled. He ran around in the middle of the night looking for Moshe and Aharon. His first born died. His kingship was virtually in ruins and the מלכות שמים, the Kingship of Hashem was revealed to all.

Let us all look forward to the time of Moshiach, when once again the מלכות שמים will be revealed to all nations and Kedusha, spiritual holiness will be the norm in the whole world.

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