Of miracles and mindsets: Va'eira 5785

As the narrative of the redemption of the Jewish people from Egyptian bondage unfolds, I am continually struck by the apparently gradual process that the Torah describes for us. What does the detail associated with each plague visited upon Egypt teach us? And would not one great plague alone have sufficed? After all, in the past century we witnessed how just two bombs forced the powerful and fanatical Japanese Empire to surrender unconditionally. So, what is the message of the ten plagues and the lapse of time from the onset of the mission of Moshe to its final and successful conclusion? 

All the great rabbinic commentators have raised these issues over the ages. As is usual in Jewish biblical commentary, there is no one definitive answer: the Torah is said to have seventy different “faces.”  Yet the main thrust of rabbinic opinion is that all of this was necessary to give the Egyptians an opportunity to repent, to save themselves and, just as importantly, to give the Jews an opportunity to begin to think of themselves as a free and independent people, no longer as slaves and pagans. It takes time and the turn of many events to change a nation’s mentality and preconceived ideas. The Egyptians had to accept that they had no right to rule over others and be cruel to their fellow human beings, while the Jews had to become accustomed to the responsibilities of freedom and independence, and to realize that they were destined to be a special people dedicated to the service of God and humankind. 

These things cannot happen suddenly. If they do, then they do not last. Judaism is not built upon sudden epiphanies but rather upon long, grinding routine. Only after ten plagues have visited Egypt do the Egyptians and the Jews both begin to understand what God wants from them. We see from many incidents recorded in the Bible that a one-shot miracle, no matter how impressive and meaningful at the moment it occurs, does not really change the mindset of people in the long run. The miracle performed through Elijah, when all of Israel proclaimed that Hashem is the God of the universe, shows that this is so: the people almost immediately sank back into the swamp of idolatry and immorality.

Consistency, repeated instruction and meaningful education are necessary to make miracles truly influential and long-lasting. If the Jews had been delivered from Egyptian bondage by one great miracle, they would have had a much harder time grasping the unique role that God intended them to play in world history. They would have been far more reticent to accept that role at Sinai had it not been for the fact that they witnessed so many miracles. Those miracles were repeated regularly and explained to them by Moshe in the light of the godly Torah, which they now willingly accepted. 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Berel Wein