In the entire Tanach, the term צפרדע appears only in this section of the Torah and Tehillim 105:30 where it also refers to the second plague. It is an unusual word and may not actually be Hebrew. The traditional view is that this creature is the frog, and this is its meaning in modern Hebrew. Onkelos translates the term as עורדעניא which likely means frogs. However, there is no source in Hazal that clearly identifies צפרדעים as frogs and a surprisingly large number of commentators believed that …
Archives for January 2019
Parshat Va’eira: Where did Pharoah’s sorcerers find water
Since Aharon had already turned the waters of Egypt into blood, it has to be explained where Pharaoh’s sorcerers found the water with which they performed their own tricks. Answers include: Aharon only turned the waters that were above the ground into blood. The Torah reports that the Egyptians dug up subterranean water to drink and it was this that the sorcerers used. (Ibn Ezra, Hizquni, Ralbag)The water in the rivers and lakes only remained as blood for a short time and the reason it was …
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