PARASHA 014 MAIN PAGE
Sh'mot/Exodus Va’era
6:2–9:35
The name of the Parshah, "Va’era," means "and I appeared" and it is
found in Exodus 6:3.
YEHOVAH reveals Himself to Moses. Employing the “four expressions of
redemption,” take out the Children of Israel from Egypt, deliver
them from their
enslavement, redeem them, and acquire them as His own chosen people at
“Mount Sinai”; He will then bring them to
the land He promised
to the Patriarchs as their eternal heritage.
Moses and Aaron repeatedly come before Pharaoh to demand in the name of
YEHOVAH, “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in
the wilderness.”
Pharaoh repeatedly refuses. Aaron’s staff turns into a snake and
swallows the magic sticks of the Egyptian sorcerers.
YEHOVAH then sends a
series of plagues upon the Egyptians. The waters of the Nile turn to
blood; swarms of frogs overrun the land; lice infest
all men and beasts.
Hordes of wild animals invade the cities; a pestilence kills the
domestic animals; painful boils afflict the Egyptians.
For the seventh
plague, fire and ice combine to descend from the skies as a devastating
hail. Still, “the heart of Pharaoh was hardened and
he would not let the
children of Israel go, as YEHOVAH had said to Moses.”
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