Parshat Voeira: Ten Plague Therapy

One of the greatest obstacles to growth is the desire to make great strides, so that one can realize their goal quickly. If one cannot rise to the top one is disappointed and frustrated. In Judaism, however, the belief is that every little, incremental, action has cosmic value. Once one has eliminated the obstacle of viewing small things with disdain, one can really begin to grow and creep out of the Egyptian morass.

Ten-Step Program

The Ten plagues were not just a punishment from G-d, but an educational experience. In order for the Egyptians—and the Jews—to appreciate the Ten Commandments that were to follow the Exodus, it was important that the barriers to appreciating the G-dly be removed.

Thus the Ten Plagues can be viewed as a ten-step program that chips away at those obstacles to spiritual growth. Most of our emotional problems can be dealt with effectively by integrating this Ten-Plague therapy into our lives.

First Step: Destroying False Icons

The first impediment to emotional and spiritual health is our belief in false icons. The first plague that turned the Nile River into blood was aimed at destroying the fallacious belief that the Nile was their true source of sustenance. In our day and age there are an abundance of Nile Rivers, deities that we worship and glorify, such as the accumulation of money, power and fame.

However, when our dreams and aspirations prove elusive, we become depressed and all sorts of negative consequences ensue.

When we get rid of these false gods in our lives, we are on the road to healing because can now be receptive to the true meaningful things in our lives that bring genuine joy and fulfillment. .

This plague of blood that discredited the principle Egyptian deity parallels the first commandment: “I am the L-rd your G-d, who has taken you out of the land of Egypt.” Only by denying the false icons can we be receptive to the true G-d and His positive system of values.

Second Step: Emotional Detachment

To simply discredit the false idols of modernity philosophically, would not suffice because one’s attachment to these icons is usually based on emotional factors. Thus, the second plague, where the countless frogs emerged from their deity, the Nile, and swarmed through all of Egypt, making their lives unbearably disgusting, took their rejection of the false gods beyond the intellectual level.

They were now emotionally repulsed by the false deities.

This second plague parallels the second commandment of: “Do not have any other gods before Me,” where the objective is total repudiation of idolatry, intellectually and emotionally.

Third Step: Every Small Step Counts

Having dispensed with the root of all evil—the belief and allegiance to false gods—the plague of lice followed. Our Sages tell us that whereas the other plagues were replicated by the Egyptian sorcerers, they could not create lice because their powers did not extend to minute things. The plague of lice demonstrated that for the true G-d there is nothing trivial or unimportant.

This third plague parallels the third Commandment of: Do not bear G-d’s name in vain.” This commandment demands of us to show true respect for G-d. When we appreciate how G-d is concerned with minute details of life, it is a true sign of reverence.

Dismissing G-d from everything but the most glamorous aspects of life, is a true sign that G-d does not matter in most of what we do.

And just as the plague of lice, albeit minuscule, covered the entire earth, so too, the small, seemingly unimportant aspects of life, actually cover all of the entire earth; they represent virtually every aspect of our lives.

Having rejected false ideals and gained appreciation for the little steps we take in our lives, we encounter one more formidable obstacle to growth. We cannot see our own uniqueness. We undersell ourselves and feel that we cannot really excel.

Fourth Step: We are Special

The fourth plague—Arov the mixture of animals that terrorized the Egyptians—miraculously, avoided entering any area inhabited by the Israelites. The Torah relates that this plague demonstrated how G-d mad a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians. This plague underscored the uniqueness of the Jewish people and their G-dly way of life.

Translated into therapeutic language, for us to grow, we have to appreciate that we are special and that the Egyptians (read: the stifling and disrupting aspects of our lives) do not define us We can rise above the negative within our personalities, because we are inherently positive.

Shabbos Makes us Feel Special

This fourth plague with its emphasis on the separation between the Israelite and the Egyptian, parallels the fourth Commandment to “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”

In this commandment the Torah stresses how it is a sign given to the Jewish people. It is our way of highlighting the unique spiritual qualities that we possess that separate us from the rest of the world and its activities. On Shabbat we are all royalty, standing head and shoulders above our weekday existence. It is no surprise then that Shabbat has been described as the most therapeutic experience.

Indeed, the Shabbat experience, the knowledge itself that we are special, in and of itself, is the first step in our liberation. Shabbat is thus a preview of the full experience of freedom that will characterize the future Redemption. To help prepare and facilitate the future Redemption, it would serve us well to focus on the lesson of the first four plagues; to repudiate all forms of idolatry, philosophically and emotionally, appreciate the value of every minute G-dly gesture, and top appreciate one’s unique identity as a Shabbat-Jew, one who is inherently free, even as he is still situated in exile awaiting the imminent arrival of Moshiach.

We will, G-d willing, discuss the other 6 plagues in the book “Light From the Future – Parshas Bo.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeira by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.