Back to Home -> Vaeira ->

The word sivlos, which is translated as “burdens,” is used by the commentators (Kotzker Rebbe, zl) to connote a sense of complacency in adapting to slavery. Thus, sivlos is connected to savlanus, patience, reticence. The Jews had become content, accepting their situation in life, obsequiously willing to submit to being Egyptian slaves. Furthermore, they had become part of Egyptian culture to the point that it had become their culture, their mindset. The Egyptian way of life was not foreign to them; it was not an anathema. It was the way they were willing to live. This bespeaks the galus, exile,…

Moshe Rabbeinu warned Pharaoh concerning the upcoming plague of dever, an epidemic that would strike and kill their livestock. He added that no animal belonging to a Jew would die. This would clearly be a miracle, since the animals of both Egyptian and Jewish ownership mingled together in the pasture, drinking the same water and breathing the same air. The Egyptian animals died, but the animals belonging to the Jews did not – exactly as foretold by Moshe. Despite what was undeniably a miracle, Pharaoh continued his stubborn refusal to allow the Jews to leave Egypt. Why would Pharaoh act…