פרשת וארא תשי"ב - האות הראשון

’When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying: Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.’

And He said: ‘Cast it on the ground.’ And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

’When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying: Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.’

’When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying: Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron: Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.’

And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken.

6. "And also called Pharaoh to the wise men and to the sorcerers." At that instant, Pharaoh began to laugh at them [Moses and Aaron] and to screech at them like a chicken, and to say to them: 'Thus are the signs of your G-d? The way of the world is for people to ply their wares in a place that needs them. Nobody brings fish broth to Espamia [Spain], Fish to Ako [All places already well-supplied with fish]. Do you not know that all the sorcerers are under my dominion?' Immediately [Pharaoh] sent for and brought in children from their school. And they did exactly [as Aaron had done]. And not only that! But Pharaoh even called his own wife in and she did exactly [as Aaron had done]. As it says: "And also called Pharaoh." What is the "also" [referring to]? That even to his wife he called. [The verse also says] "And they did also the sorcerers of Egypt." [Here], what does the "also" [refer to]? Even the 4-5 year old children were called and they also did this.

ויחזק לב פרעה AND PHARAOH’S HEART WAS HARDENED so that he said: You are doing this by witchcraft: “You are bringing straw to Afarayim”— a city that is full of straw; thus you bring sorcery to Egypt, a land that is full of sorcery (Menachot 85a; Exodus Rabbah 9:6-7).

Having explained the use of the double language of “I will be that I will be,” the Gemara proceeds to explain the double language employed by Elijah on Mount Carmel: “Answer me, Lord, answer me, that this people will know that You are the Lord, God, and You have turned their hearts backward” (I Kings 18:37). Rabbi Abbahu said: Why did Elijah say answer me twice? This repetition teaches that Elijah said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, answer me that fire will descend from heaven and consume everything that is on the altar, and answer me that You will divert their mind from devising alternative explanations for what they witnessed so that they will say that they were acts of sorcery. As it is stated that Elijah said: “And You have turned their hearts backward,” God can restore them to the proper path as well.