Parashat Va’era: The Lesson of the Plagues
How Do the Plagues Teach Us not to Take Food for Granted?
How does Nourishment Teach us to Develop a Relationship with Hashem?
Today, most people assume we are nourished by food simply because we buy it in the supermarket, often with money deposited into our bank account from our job. Many rarely pause to consider that fruits and vegetables grow from the ground rather than being entirely man-made. Once, when I gave a guided tour to a group of gap year students in my garden, I pointed out a cherry tree in early spring, its fruit still green and unripe. To my astonishment, they exclaimed, “But aren’t cherries supposed to be red?!” This reaction reflects how disconnected many people are from the natural origins of their food. When I was growing up, I too rarely thought about where food truly comes from. Having never lacked physical nourishment, I simply took food for granted.
When I became Torah observant, learning the blessings we recite over food was more than an eye-opener. Thanking Hashem for the fruit of the earth or the fruit of the tree taught me to contemplate and express gratitude for every bite I put into my mouth, integrating the awareness that “everything came into being by His word” with each chew. Sadly, reciting blessings can easily become rote, and many of us fall prey to the temptation of mumbling “batuchta…” and quickly forgetting Who we are thanking for our abundance.
From the very beginning of history, in the Garden of Eden, Hashem designed nourishment so that the growth of the trees and herbs would depend on the prayer of man. Although the trees and herbs were created on the third day, they remained just beneath the surface of the earth, waiting for Adam to pray for rain so that they could grow (see Bereishit 2:5 with Rashi). Hashem thus intended to nourish not only our bodies through herbs and fruit-bearing trees, but also our souls through the relationship we would develop with Him by praying for our sustenance. In Egypt, where the Nile overflowed at predictable times and irrigation seemed guaranteed, this dependence was discouraged. It is therefore no wonder that Pharaoh could declare, “Who is Hashem that I should listen to His voice to send Israel out? I do not know Hashem…” (Shemot 5:2).
Why Did the First Plague in Egypt Strike Specifically the Nile River?
When we take water and food for granted rather than regard them as an undeserved gift from the Creator, the relationship they are meant to cultivate is lost. This concept prepares us to understand why the first plagues in Egypt struck the source of nourishment itself. Parashat Va’era reveals how Hashem begins the process of redemption by restoring awareness of the true Source of sustenance. Through the plagues, nourishment becomes the very language through which Hashem teaches Egypt and Israel alike what it means to know Him, to depend on Him, and to receive life not as entitlement, but as sustenance granted from Above. The Torah introduces the plague of blood with a striking purpose statement that connects knowing Hashem directly to the collapse of Egypt’s life source. The Torah explicitly frames the plague as a revelation of Divine truth rather than a natural disaster:
כֹּה אָמַר הַשֵׁם בְּזֹאת תֵּדַע כִּי אֲנִי הַשֵׁם הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מַכֶּה בַּמַּטֶּה אֲשֶׁר בְּיָדִי עַל הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר בַּיְאֹר וְנֶהֶפְכוּ לְדָם: (יח) וְהַדָּגָה אֲשֶׁר בַּיְאֹר תָּמוּת וּבָאַשׁ הַיְאֹר וְנִלְאוּ מִצְרַיִם לִשְׁתּוֹת מַיִם מִן הַיְאֹר:
“Thus says Hashem: By this you shall know that I am Hashem. Behold, I will strike the water that is in the river with the staff that is in my hand, and it shall turn to blood… and the fish in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and Egypt will grow weary of drinking water from the river” (Shemot 7:17–18).
Rashi explains that Egypt worshipped the Nile as the source of life and power, even claiming ownership over it. “It will turn to blood. Since there is no rainfall in Egypt, and the Nile ascends and waters the land, the Egyptians worship the Nile. He therefore smote their deity, and afterward He smote them” (Rashi, Shemot 7:17; from Sifrei, Devarim 38; Shemot Rabbah 9:9; Tanchuma, Va’era 13). Measure for measure, its deified water was exposed as lifeless. Israel, however, never believed that nourishment belonged to human control. Even in exile, they related to sustenance as something received rather than owned, and therefore their water remained water. This explains the clear distinction between Egypt and Israel during the Ten Plagues, specifically in the realm of nourishment. While Egypt’s water turned to blood and its fish died, Israel continued to drink water and live normally in Goshen.
“With This You Shall Know” – What Is Hashem’s Initial Codeword to Pharaoh?
The Pesikta Zutrata hears in the words בְּזֹאת תֵּדַע – “with this you shall know” a measure for measure that reaches all the way back to the roots of the exile. Pharaoh, who said “I do not know Hashem,” would be forced into knowing Hashem through this very ‘זֹאת.’ The Midrash even hints that the gematria of ‘בְּזֹאת’ is 410, alluding to the four hundred years of Israel’s enslavement and the ten plagues inflicted upon Egypt in response. In this reading, the long concealment of Hashem’s presence during the exile begins to be rectified through ten distinct acts of revelation. The Midrash therefore states explicitly: “בְּזֹאת תֵּדַע – בְּזֹאת הַמַּכָּה,” meaning that with this specific blow, the process of knowing Hashem begins (Pesikta Zutrata, Shemot 7:17).
Rabbeinu Bachaye deepens this even further and explains that on the inner level, Hashem’s hidden Name becomes known through the midah called ‘זֹאת’ – the ‘great hand’ through which Egypt is struck until they finally recognize the truth they denied, and he describes how the water became blood not only in appearance, but in taste and in stench, so that Egypt would experience nourishment itself as unbearable when it is cut off from its Divine root (Rabbeinu Bachaye, Shemot 7:17). Sforno emphasizes that the miracle here is that Hashem changes the nature of something stable and enduring, the Nile itself, teaching that what seems most dependable in nature is in fact held and reshaped by Hashem’s will (Sforno, Shemot 7:17). Or HaChayim makes this explicit: the Name ‘Hashem’ signifies not only that He was, is, and will be, but that in His word all existence is continually brought into being, and therefore the Nile can be made into a different ‘being’ at any moment, so that Pharaoh is forced to recognize that even the most basic human experience of drinking water is an encounter with ongoing Divine creation (Or HaChayim, Shemot 7:17). In this way, knowing Hashem begins with the humbling truth that nourishment is not owned, not guaranteed, and not a god. Rather, it is a gift from Hashem.
Why Did Frogs Invade the Kneading Bowls and Ovens?
After the Nile was struck, the next stage of rectification entered the home. Frogs invaded Egyptian ovens and kneading bowls, the hidden inner spaces where food is prepared and where a household’s sense of order, dignity, and nourishment is shaped. The Kli Yakar explains that the plagues unfold as a direct response to Pharaoh’s distorted beliefs. The Nile and its creatures were struck first because Egypt treated the Nile as an independent power, a false source of life. The frogs then carried an additional lesson, for Chazal teach that they sanctified Hashem’s Name by entering the ovens with self-sacrifice, and from them we learn the principle of Kiddush Hashem (Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 53b; Kli Yakar, Shemot 7:17). This directly answers Pharaoh’s declaration, “I do not know Hashem.” Eating lost its order and sense of blessing because the spaces of preparation themselves had become inwardly distorted. Food existed in excess, yet it was disconnected from holiness, compassion, and responsibility toward others. Egypt sustained itself through exploitation, building its stability on the suffering of Israel. When nourishment becomes a tool of control rather than connection, it loses its ability to truly sustain. Its ovens and bowls symbolize a culture of plenty disconnected from awe, gratitude, compassion, and moral responsibility. Therefore, the plague did not merely damage food. It made food preparation itself unbearable, revealing that when Hashem is excluded from the most intimate spaces of life, nourishment becomes a tool of self-rule rather than a channel of blessing. The very place meant to nurture becomes a place of distortion.
How Do the Plagues Become a Gateway to Faith in Hashem’s Continual Creation?
Parashat Va’era reveals a profound order in how the plagues were designed to dismantle Pharaoh’s false worldview step by step, until it becomes undeniable that Hashem rules nature, rules history, and rules the boundary between Egypt and Israel. The Kli Yakar explains that Pharaoh’s denial was specifically about Divine involvement and Divine power to alter nature (Kli Yakar, Shemot 7:17). The plagues come to clarify that knowledge of Hashem is not acquired through ideas alone, but through lived dependence. Pharaoh is forced to confront this truth precisely at the point where he felt most secure, in the act of drinking water and sustaining life.
Hashem reveals Himself here not merely as the One who once created the world, but as the One who actively governs and sustains it. What appears most stable, most natural, and most reliable is shown to exist only through His ongoing will. In this way, the plagues establish a foundation for all later faith: that nourishment is not owned, not controlled, and not guaranteed. Every act of eating and drinking becomes an encounter with Divine presence. To truly know Hashem is to recognize, again and again, that life itself flows only from Him.
HaEmek Davar adds a crucial nuance, that “בְּזֹאת תֵּדַע” is addressed primarily to Pharaoh, because Egypt as a whole would only fully arrive at recognition later. Yet, Pharaoh must now begin to learn that Hashem is the One who continually brings nature into being and therefore can reshape it at will (HaEmek Davar, Shemot 7:17). This helps us understand how Egypt’s sustenance collapses precisely where it was idolized. Through this revelation, the Torah teaches not only Pharaoh, but the entire world, that knowing Hashem begins in the simplest human act of drinking water and recognizing the Source of all life. Nourishment itself becomes the gateway to faith, as lived awareness of continual Divine presence.
