09 Jan PARSHAS VAERA: THE WICKED DEAL IN THE MOMENTARY PLEASURE OF TEMPORARY RELIEF

Moshe threatens
Pharaoh that if he refuses
to send the Jewish people
out from Egypt, Hashem
will smite the country
with a pestilence
(“dever”) that will wipe
out the entire livestock population. However,
Moshe warned Pharaoh, “G-d will distinguish
between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of
Egypt such that no animal would die from the
Jewish livestock population.” This is exactly
what happened. [Shemos 9:6-7] Pharaoh sent a
personal delegation to investigate. They
witnessed that not a single Jewish animal died
during this plague.
Would this not be sufficient to soften up a
normal person? Would it not be reasonable,
after witnessing this miraculous phenomenon,
for Pharaoh to give up and give in? Lo and
behold, the Master of the Universe called this
one ahead of time “exactly right!” Yet what is
Pharaoh’s reaction? “And Pharaoh strengthened
his heart and he did not send out the people.”
[Shemos 9:7] This is an illogical reaction. It
does not make any sense! What does this mean?
Rav Simcha Zissel Bordie explains: If all the
cattle would have died, Pharaoh would have
been nervous. Now, however, that the Jewish

cattle did not die, Pharaoh said to himself: “So
what if the Egyptian cattle died, I can always
use the Jews’ cattle. I have wiggle room. I am
not up against the wall. Since I have somewhat
of an out (I can get horses and cattle from the
Jews) why sweat it?”
Ironically, we see the same thing in an earlier
pasuk [verse] regarding the plague of the frogs.
The frogs died and Egypt was left with a billion
dead frogs stinking up the country side. The
pasuk states “And Pharaoh saw that there was
relief (harvacha) and he strengthened his heart.”
[Shemos 8:11] What kind of relief was there?
The simple interpretation is that Pharaoh saw
that the plague was over.
The Kli Yakar points out that we do not find
the expression “and Pharaoh saw that there was
relief (harvacha)” by any of the other plagues.
The Kli Yakar explains that the interpretation is
not that Pharaoh saw that there was relief. The
Kli Yakar says that by every one of the other
plagues, the plague ended and the problem was
solved. The one plague that “continued” after
the plague ended was Tzefardeah, because even
after it “ended,” the country was dealing with
mountains and mountains and piles and piles of
smelly dead frogs. Here too, Pharaoh said “we
have ‘harvacha’” — meaning Egypt is a ‘wide’
country. We have plenty of land people can

escape to get away from the smell of the dead
frogs.
What kind of person acts like that? After the
Dever, he says “No problem, I can always get
Jewish horses”. After the Tzefardeah, he says
“No problem, I can always escape to the parts of
the country where there are no frogs.”
Rav Simcha Zissel notes a pattern that we find
with wicked people. They have a myopia of
judging matters strictly by the here and now
without viewing the larger implications of what
has happened. If right now, the determination is
made that I can get out of the immediate
problem, then I am prepared to ignore the
broader implication that ultimately this is
leading to a disastrous conclusion. Such a
person ignores the future and ignores the
context of matters. The only question he focuses
in on is: Can I get out of this particular problem
at this particular moment. This, Rav Simcha
Zissel says, was Pharaoh’s outlook on life and it
is a trait he shares with many wicked people.
We see this outlook on life from the prototype
of all wicked people — the evil Eisav. Eisav
came in from the field tired and hungry. He said
to Yaakov, ‘Pour into me now some of that very
red stuff for I am exhausted.’ Yaakov offered it
to him in exchange for the birthright. Eisav said,
‘Look, I am going to die, so of what use to me is

a birthright? Yaakov responded “Swear to me as
this day” (ka’yom) [Bereishis 25:29-33]
What is the meaning of the phrase “ka’yom”
in Yaakov’s request that Eisav swear to him “as
this day”? The Soforno points out that Yaakov
was telling him: “Eisav, you are the type of
person who is only interested in ‘today’ — the
here and now.” Someone who cannot distinguish
between the pleasures derived from a bowl of
soup (which he can only identify by its color,
and by its ingredients) and who does not
appreciate the long term value of the birthright,
is a person who lives strictly “Ka’yom” for the
here and now.
This is the life philosophy of Eisav. It is the life
philosophy of Pharaoh. As the Ramban states in
Parshas Toldos, “Fools are only interested in
eating and drinking and the fleeting temporal
pleasures of the moment, without paying
attention to what will occur on the next day.” In
contemporary terms we say, “Eat, drink, and be
merry for tomorrow you may die.” This type of
philosophy is the philosophy of “today”
(ka’yom). As Yaakov told his brother, “Sell to
me ka’yom; … Swear to me ka’yom”