{"id":1804,"date":"2019-01-04T15:06:23","date_gmt":"2019-01-04T19:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/?p=1804"},"modified":"2019-01-06T15:41:06","modified_gmt":"2019-01-06T19:41:06","slug":"vayera-an-amphibians-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/?p=1804","title":{"rendered":"Va’era–An Amphibian’s Song"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Second Plague (Frogs)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Torah will not admit one answer \u2013 not for anything.  Every part of the biblical scripture before us is filled with questions, metaphors, double meanings.  The name Yitzhak means laughter in one verb form.  But it can suggest mocking in an intensified form.  When Sarah looks out and sees Ishmael and Yitzhak playing in Genesis 21:9, she calls it just as she sees it, overlapping and punning on her own son\u2019s name.  Ishmael, Sarah says, is “Isaacing.”  He is not only mocking my son, she says, he is impersonating him, he is usurping his place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A generation later, just after Ya\u2019akov has stolen his twin\nbrother\u2019s blessing, Esav queries his father, resentment and rage permeating his\nevery word: Did you know that Ya\u2019akov was going to grow up to be a trickster\nand a deceiver?  Is that why you named\nhim Yaakov, sneak thief?  <\/em>Esav is punning, albeit bitterly.  For indeed, the etymology of Ya\u2019akov\u2019s name\ncan suggest that the boy is what his name seems to suggest: A trickster and a\ndeceiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What hidden meanings are found in Va’era?\u00a0 Among them, one is the matter of the frogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why frogs in the first place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer is assuming we are familiar with the mythologies\nof neighboring cultures \u2013 after all, the ancient Israelites were.  They would have known that the Egyptian\npantheon included the frog-headed goddess Hepat, who was believed to assist\nwomen at childbirth.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a moment to recall the opening of Shemot<\/em>, of Exodus?  Pharaoh, appalled at Israelites\u2019 prolific\nbirthrate, summoned the midwives to him. \nThen he decreed that those whose business it is to help children come\ninto the world assist not in the creation of life but in its very opposite:\nPharaoh demands that the midwives kill male Israelite babies at birth.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the appearance of the frogs designed to make Pharaoh face\nwhat he himself has tried to do to the forces of creativity and life?  Frogs, for Egyptians, symbolize fertility and\nbirth.  Here the scripture tells us, they\nbecome the frightening specter of death and destruction.  No wonder some rabbis say the frogs were the\nworst plague.  The world has been turned\nupside down.  Lightness is darkness, love\nis hate, birth is death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More conundrums.  God\nthreatens a plague of frogs.  They shall sharatz, <\/em>teem and swarm over the country,\nGod says.  Frogs will swarm in the\nbedchambers, in the ovens and in the kneading bowls.  But when Aharon raises his arm, scripture announces\nthe arrival of one: both noun and verb are singular.  God threatens a plague of frogs.  But only one stands on the banks of the Nile; only one covers the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sages explain, of course.  Rabbi Eleazar says that this one frog bred prolifically and filled the land. The original frog called upon its brethren to join him (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 67b.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are there other explanations?  Let\u2019s reconsider: One frog, one\nrepresentative of what was, for the Egyptians, the symbol of fertility, the\nsymbol of birth.  This one frog arrives,\nsymbolizing the opposite, the destructive potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we represent the positive, we are unified, joined\ntogether in common purpose.  When we\nbecome resentful and destructive, we split apart.  The land teems and swarms with hatred,\nill-feeling is everywhere.  Our\nmultiplying resentments crowd us at night, sit down with us at our meals, give\nus neither rest nor relief.  The creature\nrepresenting hope becomes the spreading specter of terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scientists tell us that this little creature is the very\nsign of the survival of ecosystems \u2013 if frogs disappear, beware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly enough, our ancient commentaries and legends\nsuggest that even the sages knew that the frog was a very particular gift from\nGod.  Indeed, the \u201cbeautiful singing\u201d of\nthe frog silenced the psalmist, King David himself.  The story goes that when King David finished\nthe book of Psalms, he became boastful, saying to The Holy One: Master of the\nuniverse, is there any other creature You created in Your world that utters\nmore songs and paeans of praise than I?  In\nthat instant, so the tale tells us, a frog happened upon the king: \u201cDavid,\u201d the\nfrog said, \u201cdon’t be so boastful.  I\nutter far more songs and praises than you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Perek Shira<\/em>, an ancient text which lists\neighty-four elements of the natural world, the song of that selfsame frog was then\nrevealed to David.  What song does the\nfrog sing?  Baruch Shem K’vod Malchuto\nL’Olam Va’ed.  <\/em> Blessed is the glorious Name of God, God\u2019s is\nforever.  This line appears between the\nfirst sentence of Sh\u2019ma<\/em>, which declares the unity of God, and the first\nparagraph which reminds us to love God with all one\u2019s heart, soul, and\nresources.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The frog, we know, sings twice daily, morning and\nnight.  It knows just when to begin its\nchant, and it sings that which we whisper during our recitation of God\u2019s\noneness, God\u2019s is-ness.  The frog knows\ncreation and knows to praise it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The frog makes each sound deep in its throat.  The Hebrew word nefesh, <\/em>the word so often translated as soul, life force, means,\noriginally: throat.  Our is-ness comes\nfrom our throat.  In the first cry of\neach child born into the world we hear the raw sound of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One last mystery; one last possibility.  In verse eight, the text reads that Moses cried out \u201cin the matter of the fogs\u201d.  But the text reads vayitzak Moshe el Adonai al d\u2019var hatzfard\u2019im.  Read this literally, and you will read these words: Moses cried out to the Lord upon the word of the frogs.  The frogs spoke, says Exodus Rabbah <\/em>25:27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did they say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With one voice, they reminded us: Blessed is God.  God is forever.  Sing with purpose, with one voice, with the\nhopeful force that leads you to create life, not destroy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keyn y’hi ratzon.<\/em>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Second Plague (Frogs) The Torah will not admit one answer \u2013 not for anything.  Every part of the biblical scripture before us is filled with questions, metaphors, double meanings.  The name Yitzhak means laughter in one verb form.  But it can suggest mocking in an intensified form.  When Sarah looks out and sees Ishmael … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Va’era–An Amphibian’s Song”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[492,491,490],"class_list":["post-1804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-frogs","tag-king-david","tag-vayera"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1804"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1811,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1804\/revisions\/1811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}