The recounting of the first seven plagues occupies a significant amount of real estate in Parshas Vaera, drawing our attention to this unique period of Divine providence. The end-all of the plagues are not simply their miraculous nature; rather, each plague presents an important set of ideas and thoughts, bringing us to a greater understanding of the hashgacha. Trying to uncover these mysteries is certainly a challenge. Yet we must pursue and persist, hoping to reveal some of the infinite amount of chachma contained within each plague. In this article, we will attempt to gain insights into the plague of shechin.
The plague of shechin, or boils, is presented as follows (Shemos 9:8-12):
“8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron: 'Take to you handfuls of soot of the furnace, and let Moses throw it heavenward in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 And it shall become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.' 10 And they took soot of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses threw it up heavenward; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast. 11 And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils; for the boils were upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. 12 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses.”
Rashi, citing a Midrash, adds an intriguing layer to how this command was executed:
“and Moses shall cast it: And anything cast with strength can be cast only with one hand. Hence there are many miracles [here], one that Moses [single] handful held his own double handfuls and those of Aaron, and [another miracle was] that the dust went over the entire land of Egypt.”
Rashi’s first statement is a reflection on the initial command from God, namely that Moshe “throw” the soot skyward. Throwing implies a strong force, versus tossing, which would be done with two hands. Therefore, Moshe must have thrown the soot with one hand.
He then proposes something quite perplexing at first glance. The first part of the command was that both Moshe and Aharon take a handful of the soot. When it came time to throw the soot, only Moshe was to participate. Yet Moshe’s hand could not hold more than the share he originally took; how would he be able to throw both his and Aharon’s at once? Therefore, Rashi deduces that a miracle must have taken place, allowing for Moshe to be able to hold a “double portion” of soot and throw it upwards. Rashi then adds that there was a second additional miracle, namely that that soot was able to spread over the entire Egypt, rather than remain in the area above Moshe’s head.
According to Rashi, then, there were in fact three miracles associated with shechin.
The first was Moshe being able to hold this increased amount of soot.
The second was that the one throw was able to spread the soot over the entire country.
And, of course, the final (and one might argue most critical) miracle was converting this soot into boils.
What reason is there for three distinct miracles? Why wouldn’t the very conversion of soot to boils be sufficient? It is important to emphasize that Rashi is viewing these as individual miracles, unlike the concept of a “miracle within a miracle” (such as how the plague of barad had both fire and ice in close proximity to each other, all the time retaining their properties). In those instances, there is an additional idea directly related to the plague that is being expressed. This does not seem to be the case here.
The other question one can ask is why was Moshe only “allowed” one throw? Why not have him throw the first batch, then come back for another throw?
There is another intriguing development in this plague, namely is the reaction of the chartumim, the magicians who served in Pharaoh’s court. As we know, initially they were able to duplicate the plagues, specifically dam and tzfardeah. With the plague of kinim, the Torah explains that they were unable to reproduce the kinim. They make the claim that “etzbah Elokim” was behind this, indicating some basic recognition of God. Over the next two plagues, the chartumim are not mentioned at all. They return at this plague, the Torah telling us that they were unable to stand before Moshe.
What is the significance of this development? Furthermore, wasn’t it sufficient for the chartumim to make the critical observation that there was a Divine source for the plagues, as noted during kinim?
The Ramban elucidates the rationale of the chartumim, writing that they were embarrassed due ther bodies being afflicted with boils. Furthermore, they were unable to remove them. As such, they could not stand before Moshe.
Why were they embarrassed?
Returning to the above-quoted Rashi, we must first understand the importance of the two “additional” miracles. In the first, Moshe was able to hold an amount of soot in one hand equal to a double portion. Why was this critical? When mankind if afforded the opportunity to experience a miracle, it becomes essential that no possible defect be drawn from this event. No doubt, the individual will be most swayed by the fact that, for example, soot was being converted to boils.
What would happen if Moshe had to in fact throw twice? People would deduce that there was something incomplete in the performance of said miracle. It would be inappropriate if anyone concluded that there was a “weakness” of some sort in the miracle being performed. In this specific instance, this could be manifest in one of two ways. Either people might think that there wasn’t enough soot in the first throwing, or they would think that the first batch needed the second in order for the miracle to be implemented (meaning one affected the other). Either way, a sense of lacking could never be apparent when a miracle was taking place.
This leads to the second “additional” miracle, the soot permeating over the entire land of Egypt. This seems to be expressing a different idea, as nobody would think the miracle lacking any specific feature if the soot had only been limited to the space above Moshe. It is possible that this miracle was important concerning the philosophical evolution of Pharaoh and his people. On one level, the plagues were punishments for the Egyptian people. On another equal if not more important level, they served to reveal the reality of God to the Egyptians. This was a process, and each plague played a role in this evolution.
At this point, it was clear to the Egyptians that there was some type of supernatural force at play here, evidenced by the previous five plagues. An indication of this exists in the claim of the chartumim (more on this soon) that God was behind the plague of kinim. Here was a clear admission that there was a power; but in their framework, it was a greater power than they held, a quantitative evaluation. In other words, the Egyptian people perceived a strong and powerful deity, but this did not discount the existence of other powers.
However, what God was beginning to build towards was demonstrating that He was the exclusive Deity, the Creator, and that there was no other power outside of His. A step in this direction is apparent with the second miracle attached to shechin. What God established with the soot being carried over the entire country was a direct causal chain to Moshe’s initial action. As people looked up, and the soot rained down upon them, they could then trace the causal chain back to the command from God. There was no alternate power responsible for this phenomenon. A conclusion of this sort aided them in seeing God in the appropriate way.
The final idea presented above plays a role in understanding the actions, or lack thereof, of the chartumim. As mentioned, the chartumim clearly recognized the superiority of the power of God. However, they lacked any notion of His power being exclusive. As long as there was some sense of legitimacy to their roles, the reality of this exclusivity could not be demonstrated. Therefore, what the Ramban seems to be positing is fascinating. At times, a person sees the reality of God through a philosophical method of analysis; an example of this would be the unquestionable recognition of God’s dominion through the final of the plagues, the killing of all Egyptian first born.
Another path, though, lies through a certain type of psychological self-awareness, and it is possible this is what took place with the chartumim. A person experiences embarrassment when his sense of self-worth and importance is challenged. This should not be viewed as an inherent problem, as a person should indeed see his existence as having some value; being embarrassed is not a sign of weakness. However, many times a person’s self-worth is tied to something other than just his human existence. A king, for example, is more sensitive to embarrassment than the average person. A person’s status in society in many ways plays a factor to his ability to be embarrassed (an issue discussed by the Talmud in Bava Kama regarding the concept of boshes). And, in general, the strongest sense of embarrassment is closely tied to the way the person is viewed by the rest of society, rather than say through his property.
In this case, the chartumims’ self-worth were tied to their unique position atop society. They were magicians, proficient at sleight of hand, and convinced the all those who watched them that they had some unique control of the natural world (or, according to some, convinced that they indeed possessed supernatural powers). The plague of kinim showed, from their perspective, that God was a more powerful “magician”; they were still potent, but not as powerful as God. The plague of shechin established that, in fact, they were completely powerless. They were affected to some degree by arov and dever, as they were part of those plagues.
However, when their bodies were afflicted, there was no question as their powerlessness. They were completely relegated to being one of the masses, apparent to all that they were no different than any other Egyptian. Their entire sense of self-worth was destroyed, a result that emerged by their actual bodies being afflicted, the paradigm of embarrassment. It is important to note this was not being done for some vindictive reason. To see yourself in a more realistic way in the universe, a fundamental concept within yiras Hashem, serves as a catalyst to understanding God. Once it was clear to them they were entire powerless, their ability to see God as the exclusive source of all power became a true possibility.
With the above ideas, we can now have a better sense of the role shechin played in God’s overall plan.