הגדה ברורה

Haggadot and essays for Pesah and all year round

Rabbeinu Bahya

Parshat Bo: Borrowing from the Egyptians

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On God’s instruction, the children of Israel ‘borrow’ valuable items from the Egyptians, thus leaving Egypt with great wealth. This presents an obvious moral difficulty because they never return what they borrowed. Ibn Ezra affirms that the children of Israel did indeed trick the Egyptians, but that this was entirely licit because all property belongs to G-d and he may transfer it from one person to another when He wishes. In addition, the Egyptians only lent their goods to the Hebrews …

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What are צפרדעים?

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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 …

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Parshat Va’eira: Where did Pharoah’s sorcerers find water

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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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Parshat Va’eira: Pharoah’s sorcerers

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The Torah tells us that Pharaoh’s wise men and sorcerers were able to turn their staffs into taninim by means of their להטים. This word is unusual and Ibn Ezra suggests it may not be a Hebrew word. There are two main approaches to explaining how Pharaoh’s courtiers were able to perform the same miracle as Moshe. Rav Sa’adya Gaon and Ibn Ezra suggest that it was some sort of trick or optical illusion and that in fact no real change had occurred. This fits best with the interpretation according …

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Parshat Va’eira: ‘By my name HASHEM’

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וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי יְהוָה׃ וָאֵרָא אֶל־אַבְרָהָם אֶל־יִצְחָק וְאֶל־יַעֲקֹב בְּאֵל שַׁדָּי וּשְׁמִי יְהוָה לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם׃ Translated literally, God’s opening statement to Moshe here reads as follows. ‘I am HASHEM. And I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzhaq, and to Ya’aqov as El Shaddai and my name HASHEM I was not known to them.’ This statement is difficult to parse on a grammatical level and also presents a major interpretative problem because numerous …

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Parshat Shemot: Why did the children of Israel cry out when Pharaoh died?

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The connection between the death of the Pharaoh and the children of Israel crying out is not clear. After years of suffering, why would they suddenly feel more desperate because their oppressor was dead? Ramban and Hizkuni argue that while the first Pharaoh was alive they retained hope that slavery would be a temporary decree limited to the lifespan of that king. Once a new king had come to the throne it became clear that it was permanent. Rabbeinu Bahya suggests that they were afraid that …

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