VAERA 1986

In the Torah portion Vaera we learn about the plagues. We learn how after the first plague of blood, Pharaoh was not impressed because his magicians could dupl icate this feat. This was also true of the second plague. They, too, could bring forth frogs, but when it came to the third plague, the plague of vermin, they could not reproduce this plague, and they said, "Surely this is the finger of G-d." vJhy couldn't they reproduce the third plague? After all, I can just visualize magicians bringing birds and rabbits out of their hats. They could have put flies or insected in their hats and produced them. Why couldn't they reproduce this plague?

Actually, the word "Keeneem" is the same word as "Cain" ~vhich means "yes" and also "to give a name". This plague caused everyone in Egypt to realize that he was important, that he had a name. He was no longer jus t a s lave or subject of Pharaoh. People no longer wanted to feel subservient. The rabbis tell us thaê six months before the Jewish people left Egypt they were no longer enslaved because the society had broken down.

People no longer considered themselves inwardly a slave. They knew they should be free. That's why they said, "This is the finger of G-d."

The word for "finger" in Hebrew also means "to color". G-d has colored each of us so that we are unique and special individuals. That's why the Egyptian magicians used the word "Etzpah." When people realize that they are "Kainim", that they have selfworth and dignity, it is impossible to keep them down. That's why the Egyptians realized that this was from G-d because this was changing people and their perceptions. May we always act with dignity and self-respect,aand may none of us ever try to enslave each other.