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Why does Parshas Vaera repeat the entire mission given to Moshe at the Burning Bush? The shiur develops the fundamental distinction between Shemos and Vaera: in Shemos, servitude to Pharaoh was merely physical labor coexisting with religious practice, while Pharaoh's decree of "tivnu lachem" transformed the Jewish people into total slaves - body and mind. This necessitated a parallel transformation in their service to Hashem (ה׳) from religious observance to absolute submission, changing Moshe's role from prophet (navi) to king (melech).
The shiur opens with a perplexing question that troubles every reader of the Exodus narrative: Why did Moshe consistently remove each plague before Pharaoh actually released the Jewish people? If Moshe had simply waited until the Israelites were on their way out of Egypt before removing the plague, the redemption could have occurred much sooner. This seems like a basic strategic error repeated throughout the plagues. Additionally, Parshas Vaera presents significant textual difficulties. It appears to be a complete restart of the mission begun at the Burning Bush in Parshas Shemos. The Torah (תורה) provides the genealogy of Moshe and Aharon here in Vaera, which Rashi (רש"י) explains is to establish their lineage - yet they were already introduced and active in Shemos. Similarly, all the promises of redemption and the language of "v'hotzeisi, v'hitzalti, v'ga'alti, v'lakachti" appear here as if for the first time, despite the mission already being underway. What necessitates this apparent repetition?
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Parshas Vaera
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