Parshas HaShavua | Parshas Veara

Parshas Veara

Gratitude

by Rabbi Efraim Sprecher, Dean of Students, Diaspora Yeshiva, Jerusalem

And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, take your rod (Exodus 7:19)

The rabbis note that the first three plagues brought upon the Egyptians were
brought about by Aaron whereas the other seven plagues were initiated by
Moses alone or by Moses together with Aaron. They offer a striking
explanation of the phenomenon" that Moses was not permitted to bring about
those plagues � blood, frogs, gnats � which were connected with water or
with dust because he himself had benefited from the water and the dust. The
Nile had protected him when as a child his mother had placed him in its
waters. The dust had concealed the body of the Egyptian whom he slew. It was
not fitting that Moses should smite the waters or the dust. He was not to
repay kindness with ingratitude (Shemot Rabbah 9:9).

Later, when Moses was commanded to exact vengeance on the Midianites for
leading Israel into idolatry and immorality, he delegated the task to
others. Moses had grown up in Midian and he had married a daughter of the
priest of Midian. He would not inflict harm upon a people from whom he had
derived benefit, even as the Talmudic proverb says, "Do not cast clods into
a well from which you have drunk" (Bava Kama 92b). This ethical principle is
found also in the Torah itself, "Do not abhor an Egyptian because you were a
stranger in his land" (Deuteronomy 23:8). It has been suggested that a
reason why Moses' name does not appear in the Pesach Haggadah (except once,
in a Biblical quotation) is that he should not be associated with the
overthrow of the Egyptians. Moses had a reason to be grateful to them in
that an Egyptian princess in the royal palace had brought him up.

To show gratitude where it is due is a prerogative and a requirement, which
devolves upon all human beings. Most parents rightly teach their children to
say "thank you" from their earliest years. Everyone is dependent upon
others, and everyone should therefore show gratitude to society by being a
useful and law-abiding citizen of the country in which he lives.