page_title: Va'eira
section_title: Exodus chapter 7
hierarchical_section_title: Va'eira / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Exodus chapter 7
caption_attribution_description: English: The Plague of Frogs, engraving published in "La Saincte Bible, Contenant le Vieil and la Nouveau Testament, Enrichie de plusieurs belles figures/Sacra Biblia, nouo et vetere testamento constantia eximiis que sculpturis et imaginibus illustrata, De Limprimerie de Gerard Jollain"
context_page_description: Va'eira, Va'era, or Vaera is the fourteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the Book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 6:2–9:35. The parashah tells of the first seven Plagues of Egypt.
  It is made up of 6,701 Hebrew letters, 1,748 Hebrew words, 121 verses, and 222 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews read it the fourteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in January, or rarely, in late December.
context_section_description: The Tosefta cited Exodus 7:1, where the lesser Aaron spoke for the greater Moses, for the proposition that in synagogue reading, a minor may translate for an adult, but it is not honorable for an adult to translate for a minor.
  Rabbi Phinehas, the priest, son of Rabbi Hama, interpreted God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart (for example in Exodus 7:3) in light of Job 36:13, "But they who are godless in heart lay up anger; they cry not for help when He binds them." Rabbi Phinehas taught that if the godless, for whose repentance God waits, do not do so, then later on, even when they do think of it, God distracts their hearts from penitence. Rabbi Phinehas interpreted the words of Job 36:13, "And they who are godless in heart," to teach that those who begin by being godless in heart end up bringing upon themselves God's anger. And Rabbi Phinehas interpreted the words of Job 36:13, "They cry not for help when He binds them," to teach that though the godless wish later to return to God and to pray to God, they are no longer able, because God binds them and bars their way. Thus after several plagues, Pharaoh wished to pray to God, but God told Moses in Exodus 8:16: "Before he goes out [to pray to God], stand before Pharaoh."
  The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer told that Moses quoted God's words in Exodus 7:4 back to God after the sin of the Golden Calf. The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer told that after the incident of the Golden Calf, God told Moses that the Israelites had forgotten God's might and had made an idol. Moses replied to God that while the Israelites had not yet sinned, God had called them "My people," as in Exodus 7:4, God had said, "And I will bring forth My hosts, My people." But Moses noted that once the Israelites had sinned, God told Moses (in Exodus 32:7), "Go, get down, for your people have corrupted themselves." Moses told God that the Israelites were indeed God's people, and God's inheritance, as Deuteronomy 9:29 reports Moses saying, "Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance."
  A Midrash read Exodus 7:11, “Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers,” to teach that Scripture calls nonbelievers “wise men” when they do something that requires skill.
  Rabbi Aivu bar Nagri said in the name of Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba that the words "with their enchantments" in Exodus 7:11 refer to sorcery without exogenous assistance, while the words "with their sorcery" in Exodus 7:22 refer to magic through the agency of demons.
  Reading the words, "Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods," in Exodus 7:12, Rabbi Eleazar observed that it was a double miracle (as Aaron's serpent first became a rod again, and as a rod it swallowed up their serpents). When Pharaoh saw this, he was amazed and expressed his fear of what would happen if Moses now told the rod to swallow up Pharaoh and his throne. Rabbi Jose bar Hanina taught that a great miracle happened to that rod, for although it swallowed up all the rods that had been cast down, sufficient to make ten heaps, still the rod did not all become any thicker, and all who saw it recognized it as Aaron's rod. On this account, Aaron's rod became a symbol for all the miracles and wonders that were to be performed for Israel throughout the generations.
  A Midrash noted that Exodus 7:13 reports that "Pharaoh's heart was hardened" without God's action, and that this was so for the first five plagues. As the first five plagues did not move Pharaoh to release the Israelites, God decreed that from then on, even if Pharaoh had agreed to release the Israelites, God would not accept it. Thus starting with the sixth plague and thereafter (as Exodus 10:27 reports), the text says, "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart."
  It was taught in a Baraita that Rabbi Judah the Prince (or others say Rabbi Meir) used to say that Providence repays a person measure for measure. Thus, a Midrash taught that God sent the plagues against Pharaoh measure for measure. God changed the Egyptians' water into blood because the Egyptians prevented the Israelites from using the ritual bath (מִקְוֶה, mikveh) so as to prevent the Israelite
caption: The Plague of Frogs (1670 engraving by Gerard Jollain)
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