Va'eira

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Va'eira, Va'era, or Vaera (וארא – Hebrew for “and I appeared” the first word that God speaks in the parshah, in Exodus 6:3) is the fourteenth weekly parshah or portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 6:2–9:35. Jews in the Diaspora read it the fourteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in January.

Contents 1 Summary 1.1 The plagues of Egypt 2 Commandments 3 Haftarah 4 Further reading 5 External links

[edit] Summary

God spoke to Moses, identified Himself as the God of the Patriarchs, and acknowledged hearing the moaning of the Israelites. (Ex. 6:2–4.) God instructed Moses to tell the Israelites that God would free them, make them God’s people, and bring them to the Promised Land. (Ex. 6:6–8.) But the Israelites would not listen. (Ex. 6:9.) God told Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Moses complained that Pharaoh would not heed him, a man of impeded speech. (Ex. 6:10–12.)

The text interjects the genealogy of Moses and his family. (Ex. 6:14–25.)

Levi

Melcha

Gershon

Kohath

Merari

Jochebed

Amram

Izhar

Hebron

Uzziel

Miriam

Aaron

Moses

God placed Aaron in the role of Moses’ prophet, to speak to Pharaoh. (Ex. 7:1–2.) God intended to harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that God might show signs and marvels. (Ex. 7:3.) God told how Aaron could cast down his rod and it would turn into a snake, and Aaron did so before Pharaoh. (Ex. 7:9–10.) Pharaoh caused his magicians to do the same, but Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods. (Ex. 7:11–12.) Pharaoh’s heart stiffened. (Ex. 7:13.)

[edit] The plagues of Egypt

God began visiting ten plagues on Egypt. God told Moses to go to Pharaoh at his morning bath, demand of him to let the Israelites go to worship in the wilderness, and have Aaron strike the Nile with his rod and turn it into blood. (Ex. 7:14–18.) Moses and Aaron did so, and the fish died and the Nile stank. (Ex. 7:20–21.) But when the Egyptian magicians did the same, Pharaoh’s heart stiffened. (Ex. 7:22–23.)

Seven days later, God told Moses to have Aaron hold his arm with the rod over the river and bring up frogs, and they did so. (Ex. 7:25–8:2.) The magicians did the same. (Ex. 8:3.) Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron to plead with God to remove the frogs; Moses did so, but Pharaoh became stubborn. (Ex. 8:4–11.)

God told Moses to have Aaron strike the dust with his rod, to turn it to lice throughout the land, and they did so. (Ex. 8:12–13.) The magicians tried to do the same, but they could not. (Ex. 8:14.) The magicians told Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God!” But Pharaoh’s heart stiffened. (Ex. 8:15.)

God loosed swarms of insects against the Egyptians, but not Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt. (Ex. 8:16–20.) Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to go sacrifice to God within Egypt, but Moses insisted on going three days into the wilderness. (Ex. 8:21–23.) Pharaoh agreed, in exchange for Moses’ prayer to lift the plague. (Ex. 8:24.) But when God removed the insects, Pharaoh became stubborn again. (Ex. 8:27–28,)

God struck the Egyptian’s livestock with a pestilence, sparing the Israelites’ livestock. (Ex. 9:1–6.) But Pharaoh remained stubborn. (Ex. 9:7.)

God told Moses to take handfuls of soot from the kiln and throw it toward the sky, so that it would become a fine dust, causing boils on man and beast throughout Egypt, and he did so. (Ex. 9:8–10.) But God stiffened Pharaoh’s heart. (Ex. 9:12.)

God told Moses to threaten Pharaoh with hail. (Ex. 9:13–19.) Those who feared God’s word brought their slaves and livestock indoors. (Ex. 9:20.) God sent thunder and hail, which struck down all exposed in Egypt, but did not strike Goshen. (Ex. 9:23–26.) Pharaoh confessed his wrong, agreed to let the Israelites go, and asked Moses and Aaron to pray to end the hail. (Ex. 9:27–28.) Moses did so, but Pharaoh reverted to his guilty ways. (Ex. 9:33–34.)

[edit] Commandments

According to Maimonides and Sefer ha-Chinuch, there are no commandments in the parshah.

[edit] Haftarah

The haftarah for the parshah is Ezekiel 28:25–29:21.

[edit] Further reading

The parshah is cited or discussed in these classical sources:

• Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 2:13:3–2:14:4.
• Mishnah: Shavuot 5:3; Yadayim 4:8.
• Tosefta: Megillah 3:21; Sotah 4:12; Bava Kamma 7:2; Keritot 4:15.
• Qur'an 7:103–126, 130–135; 10:75–83; 11:96–97; 17:101–102; 20:42–73; 23:45–48; 26:10–51; 28:36–39; 29:39; 40:23-27, 37; 43:46–54; 51:38–39; 73:15–16; 79:15–24.
• Exodus Rabbah 6:1–12:7.
• Zohar 2:22a–32a.

[edit] External links

• Parashat Vaera
• Masoretic text and 1917 JPS translation
• Commentaries from the Jewish Theological Seminary
• Torah Insights from the Orthodox Union
• Commentaries from Chabad-Lubavitch
• Commentaries from the Union for Reform Judaism
• Commentaries from Reconstructionist Judaism
• Text studies and commentaries from MyJewishLearning.com