Tuesday, January 24, 2017

The Miracle Within a Miracle



''There was hail and fire flaming amid the hail'' [Va'eira 9:24]

The Midrash states that the Plague of Hail was a miracle within a miracle: the hail did not extinguish the fire and the fire did not melt the hail.  Rather, both elements joined forces in smiting the Egyptians.

R' Acha compared this to a king who had two very powerful legions of soldiers. To find greater favor in the king's eyes, each legion tried out-doing the other when they went out to war. The competition between the two legions escalated to the point that they hated one another.

This hatred continued for some time until a major war threatened to break out in the king's land. The king summoned both legions to appear before him, and he told them the following:

''I know'' said the king, ''that you are both very powerful and dedicated to my service. I usually send only one of you at a time to the battlefront. But now a major war looms on the horizon, and I need assistance from both of you. But what shall I do about your mutual hatred? You must make peace between yourselves and go out to war united. Then we will be victorious!''

So it was with the Plague of Hail. Hail and fire cannot co-exist because the nature of fire is to melt hail and the nature of hail is to extinguish fire. But in this instance, Hashem made peace between them and together they struck at the Egyptians.

Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Abd so it will be with the Geulah Shleimah when H' will again use the forces of nature. H' has put aside a part of the hail and fire from the first geulah to use it in the final Geulah.

Anonymous said...

The Novi (Yechezkeil 38:22) says, “I will punish him with pestilence and with blood; torrential rain and hailstones, fire and sulfur will I rain down upon him and upon his cohorts and upon the many peoples who are with him.”
What the Novi describes, already occurred once in history. Where? Sodom and Amorrah:
“Hashem had rained upon Sodom and upon Amorrah sulfur and fire, from Hashem, out of heaven” (Bereishis
19:26). Rashi explains ‘out of heaven’ is referring to the posuk, “For with them He will judge the nations, etc.” (Iyov 36:31).

When He comes to chastise people, He brings upon them fire from the heavens, as He did to Sodom.

Neshama said...

Awesome photo! We are foretold fireworks with The Revelation of HaShem. I am eager to see them.

Thanks Devorah :-)

Anonymous said...

Be aware Yisrael! If Azaria is given jail sentance and he goes to jail, you Yisrael will be severely punished!
You still don't listen to Hashem, you still torment the tzadikim. Ad matay?
MT