Parshat Vaera
January 4, 2002

Predictably, Pharaoh has refused to listen to Moshe’s demands. The Ten Plagues  which will punish the Egyptians for their brutal oppression of the Children of Israel, while establishing that only Hashem is Master of all natural forces  are about to begin.

The first three plagues of blood, frogs and lice are different from the others: not Moshe, but Aharon, initiates them:

And Hashem said to Moshe, “Say to Aharon: ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt  over their rivers, over their canals and over their ponds and over all their gatherings of water, and they shall become blood; and there shall be blood in all the land of Egypt, and in the wood and in the stone [vessels]”’ (Shemot 7:19).

And Hashem said to Moshe, “Say to Aharon: ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the ponds, and raise up the frogs over the land of Egypt”’ (8:1).

And Hashem said to Moshe, “Say to Aharon: ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land; it shall become lice throughout the land of Egypt”’ (8:12).

Rashi (based on Shemot Rabbah 9:10, 10:7; Tanchuma 14; and Targum Yonatan on 8:2, 12) explains why Moshe could never be the agent of these plagues. Blood and frogs involved afflicting the water of the Nile, while lice required striking the dirt, and these two substances aided Moshe personally in the past:

Say to Aharon: “Because the river protected Moshe when he was cast into it, it was not smitten by his hand, neither for [the plague of] blood, nor for [the plague of] frogs, but by Aharon” (7:19).

This is generally understood to mean that the water protected Moshe by keeping him afloat until the daughter of Pharaoh could rescue him.

However, R. Moshe Alsheich (16th century) provides a different understanding, based on Sotah 12b: After the babies were cast into the Nile, the astrologers assumed that the savior of the Hebrews had been vanquished, since, it was foretold, he would meet his downfall through water. Immediately, the Egyptians ceased searching for him. (They did not realize that Moshe would be punished at the waters of Merivah, as we see in Bamidbar 7-13.) In this way, the water protected Moshe from detection.

As for the dust, Rashi says: “The dust did not deserve to be stricken by Moshe, because it protected him when he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand, so it was stricken by Aharon” (8:12).

The Sages (Bava Kamma 92b) sum up this moral lesson by quoting a folk saying: “Into the well from which you drank water, do not throw stones.” They further relate this to the prohibition: You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a stranger in his land (Devarim 23:8). From the third generation, an Egyptian convert cannot be barred from marrying into the Jewish People. Although the persecution is still fresh in the minds of the generation of the Exodus, they cannot forget that they were once welcome guests in Egypt.

By instructing Moshe to delegate these three plagues to Aharon, the Torah teaches the middah, attribute of hakarat ha’tov (gratitude).

It may seem strange to speak of being beholden to inanimate objects. But, it is important to develop the trait of hakarat ha’tov until it becomes an integral part of one’s nature: If Moshe is “sensitive” to even water and dirt, then he will be grateful to anyone who helps him.

However, there is a more profound question to ask: Moshe benefited from these elements through their natural properties, involving no special effort or intention, no motive or act of will on their part. Why should Moshe be thankful for what “came naturally” to them? Moreover, turning the water into blood and frogs and the dust into lice was a fulfillment of the will of G-d; surely, this should warrant a waiver of hakarat ha’tov!

In Michtav MeiEliyahu (vol. 3, p. 101 ff.) R. Eliyahu Dessler (20th century) analyzes the source of hakarat ha’tov. One’s tendency is to feel grateful to someone in exchange for what he sacrificed  effort, pleasure, time, or money  in order to benefit the person. This quid pro quo, says R. Dessler, is not true hakarat ha’tov.

For example, some ungrateful children ask, why should I show gratitude to my parents? I was not brought into existence to satisfy my needs, but as a result of their desire to fulfill theirs! Is it because they cared for me? It is in the nature of parents to care for their children! Perhaps, it is only because I want my children to treat me well when I am old. This attitude is nothing but selfishness. In any case, there is no recognition that I owe my parents my very being.

Rather, insists R. Dessler, hakarat ha’tov is a function only of what I have received, independent of my benefactor’s effort, intention or motive.

In the final analysis, Moshe could not be the instrument of “harm” to the water or the dust, no matter what noble aims might have been achieved thereby. Developing Moshe’s quality of hakarat ha’tov is a more exalted purpose.

Conversely, if Moshe would be desensitized to ingratitude, the harm done to his personal development could not be easily remedied by any appeal to reason or cause.

Furthermore, Moshe is Rabban shel Yisrael, the Jewish People’s role model par excellence, as Rambam states in the Laws of Repentance (5:2): “Every person is fit to be a righteous person like Moshe our teacher.” Moshe must learn the extent of hakarat ha’tov so that we may learn from his example.

All of existence is due to Hashem’s beneficence, which we enjoy. And when we have thoroughly internalized the trait of hakarat ha’tov, we can be truly and deeply grateful to Hashem, Who, without self-interest or diminishment, benefits all being.

OU Torah Insights Project Archives

Torah Insights is brought to you every week
as a service of the Community and Synagogue Services Department
of the Orthodox Union

Your comments are always welcome

www.ou.org