The First Step: Blood – Destroying Icons
Modern Day 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, fame and entertainment. While we hardly think of these aspects of life as deities— we do not pray to them—we do depend on them for our subsistence and we are ready to go to extremes for them.
When our dreams and aspirations prove elusive we become depressed and all sorts of negative consequences ensue. When our dependence on all of the above does not come through for us we are shattered.
People who win the lottery and discover that it contributed nothing to their happiness—often the reverse is true—are devastated.
This does not mean that wealth is bad and that everyone who is affluent suffers from depression. It does suggest that people who glorify money and for whom it is the ultimate dream are suffer from a delusion that will prove painful in the end.
Once a person worships the false gods, they are vulnerable, and they set themselves up for all sorts of negative experiences such as depression, anxiety and anger.
The first step in our emotional and spiritual growth is to get rid of the false gods that dominate our lives. Recognize that our salvation does not come from money and power. Our sense of happiness does not come from either of these or from perpetual entertainment and pursuit of pleasure.
This is first step in the healing process that is represented by the plague of blood. When implemented in our own lives, we are on the road to recovery.
Connection to the First Commandment
As stated in the introduction, the Ten Plagues are said to parallel the Ten Commandments. It follows then that the first plague of blood that discredited the principal Egyptian deity parallels the first commandment: “I am the L-rd your G-d, who has taken you out of the land of Egypt.”
What is the connection between the plague of blood and the awareness that it was G-d who took us 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 that negate the depraved values of Egypt that enslave us and prevent us from experiencing true emotional and spiritual freedom.
The Plague of Blood and the Mikveh
According to the Midrash, this plague of blood, where the waters of the Nile turned into blood, was a punishment for the Egyptians because they prevented the Jews from immersing in a Mikveh. A Mikveh is a ritual bath that is an integral part of a spiritual purification process that is a part of Jewish family life.
The Mikveh is indispensable for intimacy in the marriage, and the absence of the Mikveh makes it impossible for husband and wife to procreate. This was precisely the intent of the Egyptian authorities; to prevent procreation and thereby drastically reduce the Jewish population in Egypt.
What connection is there between this plague in terms of its therapeutic value and the function of the purifying waters of a Mikveh?
The process of purification in a Mikveh occurs when the person who is need of spiritual purification immerses himself or herself in the waters of the Mikveh. Being entirely enveloped in the Mikveh is what effects the purification process. If even one hair is left out of the Mikveh, the purification process does not follow.
The word for total immersion is tevilah. This word, when rearranged, forms the Hebrew word habitul, which means the state of being nullified, as the person who immerses himself or herself is completely enveloped and encompassed by the waters of the Mikveh.
Water is a symbol of knowledge. When the Egyptians
threw the Jewish boys in the Nile River their intent was also symbolic. They wanted that the Israelites be completely enveloped by the Egyptian deities. They wanted to negate the idea of being enveloped by the pure and holy waters; the knowledge of one G-d.
By transforming the blood into water, the Jewish People witnessed how the source and symbol of Egyptian culture—the source of all the spiritual and emotional problems—was undermined. Their deity was not trustworthy and reliable. Upon realizing this they had the motivation to search for the true knowledge.
Divine Attribute: Malchut
As stated in the introduction, the Ten Plagues parallel the Ten Sefirot, the Ten Divine Attributes.
The first plague of blood corresponds to the tenth attribute of Malchut, which translates as royalty. Royalty commands total devotion and subservience.
The Egyptians treated the Nile as their Deity and totally surrendered themselves to it, until the plague of blood, which turned them, and the Jewish People, in another direction—towards the idea of submission to and total immersion in the pure waters (read: knowledge and awareness of G-d) of the Mikveh.
The first step in the direction of true freedom is recognition of and subservience to a Higher Authority The Connection to Moshiach The prophet declares: “As in the days of your departure from Egypt I will show him wonders.” Since the Ten Plagues were the instruments to facilitate the Exodus from the first exile and prepare them for the Ten Commandments, it follows that the same Ten Plagues, in one form or another, have relevance to the future Redemption as well, and that the Ten Step program conveyed by these Ten Plagues are crucial for the realization of the Redemption.
The plague of blood that was a reaction to the abolition of Mikveh is directly related to the Messianic Age. The prophet Isaiah characterizes that age as a time when the entire world will be immersed in a Mikveh of G-dly knowledge: “And the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the water covers the sea.”
Therapy: One must get to the root of their spiritual problem. One must first get rid of the icons of our secular culture that we depend on and worship before any therapy can work. First plague was to demonstrate that the Nile River is not the real source of life. In our own lives there are many Nile Rivers, things that we worship such as money, power, entertainment etc. We first have to recognize that these do not give us life. One must take one’s idols and realize that they are not real. Icons stand in the way of our ability to change. We have to be wary of immersing and submerging (read: nullifying) ourselves in the wrong waters as a prerequisite to the immersion in a proper Mikveh, both literally and figuratively. .
CHAPTER TWO THE SECOND STEP: FROGS EMOTIONAL DETACHMENT
Frogs Everywhere!
The Second plague was frogs. The Torah and Midrash, describe in vivid detail how the frogs entered into every nook and cranny. When they ate, a frog would jump into their mouths. They were in their kitchens and in their bedrooms. They created unbearable noise with their croaking.
Unlike the plague of blood, there was no escape from the repulsive frogs. In the plague of blood, the Torah relates how they could dig new wells to procure untainted water. Only the Nile was affected. In this plague of frogs, however, they were everywhere.
Philosophy Not Enough
To simply discredit the false idols of modernity philosophically, it would not suffice. One’s attachment to these icons is usually based on emotional factors not on philosophy or logic. People become attached to various fads and icons even when they know how devoid they are of any substance. Even when they know intellectually that these icons are useless they will not be able to sever their ties with them.
How does one change? If we have become emotionally attached to something, the only way to detach ourselves is by experiencing a reverse emotion.
For example, if one becomes attached to an unsavory individual, simply knowing that he or she is bad for him or her will not suffice to extricate oneself from this person. By creating a dependency on him or her they will gain control over the other as we have seen recently in kidnapping situations.
Only when the dependent individual experiences a profound emotional trauma as a result of the person upon who he or she is dependent can there be hope that they may muster the courage to escape. Drug addicts and alcoholics have to hit the bottom before they will go for help.
The same can be said for our dependencies on all the various fads and icons. Even if we know of their danger to us we cannot easily sever our ties with them. The only truly effective way we can wean ourselves off of them is to have a negative emotional experience related to that icon.
Thus, the second plague—where 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 also emotionally repulsed by the false deities.
Now that they were emotionally distanced from the Nile River, it was easier for them to recognize that the Nile could not possible be a G-d.
Similarly, when we reflect on the repulsive nature of some of the things to which we become so strongly attached, we are one step closer to rejecting all of these icons and getting closer to healing. Without feeling the stifling and debilitating effects of these fads and icons, we are not free to advance the healing process to the next level.
Parallels Second Commandment
The first two commandments essentially make the same case for G-d’s exclusivity. The first one is in the affirmative, “I am the L-rd your G-d,” and the second one puts it in the negative form: “Do not have nay other gods.” Yet the fact that there was a need for two commandments to say essentially the same thing proves that there is an important difference between them.
It may be suggested that the first commandment— notwithstanding the fact that it also implies that there is only one G-d—it is nevertheless a statement that is philosophical in nature. This commandment focuses on the fact that “I am the L-rd your G-d,” and that only He is the source of your freedom. Implicit in this statement is the rejection of any other gods; that they are not capable of liberating us. This commandment appeals to our sense of understanding.
By contrast, the second commandment that explicitly negates idolatry was intended to denigrate the very notion of idolatry. They are called “other gods,” which Rashi explains means that they are helpless and act as strangers (other) to their worshippers. By describing them this way, we are helped to feel the revulsion of idol worship.
This second plague of frogs—which made their deity, the Nile River, seem so disgusting—parallels the second commandment of: “Do not have any other gods before Me,” where the objective is total repudiation of idolatry not just intellectually, but also emotionally.
Forced Labor with Insects
According to the Midrash, the plague of frogs was a punishment for the Egyptians because they forced the Jews to carry insects. This, they did presumably, to not only torture them physically, but to also torture them emotionally by making their work disgusting. Lest they begin to derive some enjoyment from their labor, the Egyptians sought to deny them any pleasure and satisfaction.
Moreover, for the Israelite slaves, there was nothing else in their lives besides labor. Even the minimal satisfaction knowing that they accomplished something they wanted to deny them, by making every minute of work repulsive.
Thus, when G-d sought to punish them—measure for measure—He also made their lives disgusting, and more importantly, made the Nile River—around which all of their lives revolved—repugnant.
Divine Attribute: Yesod
According to Kabbalah, the second plague corresponds to the Divine attribute of Yesod. This attribute represents the trait of bonding. The objective of the second plague of frogs was to sever the bond with their most precious icon—the Nile River.
As long as their rejection of the Nile was cerebral it did not sever their bond with this deity. It had to be a plague that reversed their emotional ties that was capable of severing that bond. The revulsion they experienced succeeded in doing just that.
In our lives, we have to find ways of detaching ourselves from those things to which we cling. Severing the bond from the debilitating and imprisoning influences of the material world is the second step in the process of healing.
Needless to stress, this does not mean that we have to sever our ties with the physical and material aspects of life. It does mean that we are to sever our sense of loyalty, dependency and adoration of these things. We ought to reserve our bonding powers—our faculty of yesod—for matters of holiness and goodness.
The Connection to Moshiach
Before Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, evil existed. But there was no bonding with it. Only after they violated G-d’s command and they ingested the forbidden fruit did they develop more than just an attraction to the physical world and its temptations; they started to bond to it.
Throughout the thousands of years since that time, we have been engaged in a process of separation, or divestiture. We are divesting ourselves from this bond.
In the Messianic Age this process will be complete. And while, initially, evil will still exist; it will not be something to which we will bond. Once we reach that milestone, we will be on the road to completely eradicating all traces of evil in ourselves and throughout the world.
Therapy: Sometimes it is not enough to show that the idol we worshipped cannot help us. We must be convinced that is these false gods and dependencies are utterly contemptible. The frogs that came out of the Nile invaded every aspect of Egyptian life and made everything disgusting. One must recognize that one’s icon and false dependents are utterly objectionable. We must develop a sense of antipathy towards them and sever our ties with them.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeira by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
