Vaera – The 10 Plagues

By the 10 sayings the world was created, by the 10 Sefirot the world is sustained, by the 10 plagues the world was destructed and recreated, through which the 10 names of God are revealed, in order to receive the 10 commandments.

The Parallels

The 1^st plague of “blood” corresponds to the 10^th saying of creation, “And God said: Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed…for food” (Gen 1:29).

The food is digested and transported through blood to sustain life. The plague of blood represents the antithesis of life. This corresponds to the 6^th commandment: you shall not kill.

Red is the color of Malchut, which corresponds to the name Adonai אֲדֹנָי.

Frog in Hebrew צְפַרְדֵּעַ can be split to mean: bird of knowledge צִפֹּר-דַּע.

In the same way that knowledge is connection, so is Yesod that connects Tiferet with Malchut.

In the same way that bird (created from mire) is the intermediary between beast (created from dust) and fish (created from water), so is the frog the amphibian that connects the domain of water with the domain of land.

Shadai שַׁדַּי is connected with “be fruitful and multiply”, as represented by frogs, or Yesod, which is the site of circumcision.

The 2^nd plague “frog” correspond to the 7^th saying: “And God said: Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures…” (Gen 1:20), and the 7^th commandment: you shall not commit adultery.

Lice in Hebrew כִנִּים is cognate with “ken” כֵּן meaning “yes”, corresponding to the Sefirah of Hod, meaning thanks-giving, acknowledgement, and sincerity.

The 3^rd plague “lice” corresponds to the 4^th saying: “And God said: …let the dry land appear… “(Gen 1:9), for the plague of lice was made from the dust and the whole land was covered by lice. In other word, the land “disappeared” because of the lice.

Elohim of Hosts אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת denotes multitude, as represented by lice. This is the 9^th commandment: “you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”, in other word, “let your communication be: yea, yea, nay, nay” in sincerity (Mat 5:37).

“Horde of Beasts” in Hebrew is עָרֹוֹב, which also means mixture in multitude, corresponding to YHVH of Hosts יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת.

The 4^th plague “horde of beasts” parallels the 8^th saying: “And God said:  Let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind…”(Gen 1:24), corresponding to the mixture of beasts.

In the same way that Hod pairs with Netzach, so does the plague of lice with the plague of horde of beasts, in that they come in multitude.

Similarly, the name Elohim Tzevaot pairs with YHVH Tzevaot.

This corresponds to the 8^th commandment: you shall not steal.

The 5^th plague “pestilence” corresponds to the 6^th saying: “And God said: Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven…” (Gen 1:14), for the pestilence on earth is influenced by the planetary movement in heaven.

This is the only plague that was inflicted by the “hand of YHVH” יַד-יְהוָה (Ex 9:3) which is upon five types of beasts, alluding to the 5 fingers of hand.

Pestilence is the antithesis of beauty, and Tiferet (beauty) is the middle Sefirah corresponding to the name YHVH and unifies 5 other Sefirot, i.e. Chesed, Gevurah, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod.

This corresponds to the 3^rd commandment: you shall not take the name of YHVH in vain.

The plague of boil was inflicted by the ashes from the furnace corresponding to fire, which is Gevurah, which in turn corresponds to the name Elohim.

The 6^th plague “boil” corresponds to the 9^th saying: “And God said: Let us make man in our image…” (Gen 1:26), for the boil represents the attack on the image of man.

This corresponds to the 10^th commandment: you shall not covet…which is to take (Gevurah), rather than to give (Chesed).

The 7^th plague “hail” corresponds to the 3^rd saying: “And God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” (Gen 1:6)

The hail is a form of water which represents the Sefirah of Chesed, the loving kindness, the name of God is El.

This corresponds to the 5^th commandment: you shall honor your father and mother, the act of giving (Chesed).

Locusts in Hebrew is אַרְבֶּה, which is the same word for “I will multiply” (Gen 3:16), corresponding to the Sefirah of Binah, in that Binah multiples the seed of Chochmah.

The 8^th plague “locusts” correspond to the 5^th saying: “And God said: Let the earth put forth grass, herb yielding seed…” (Gen 1:11), for the locusts do nothing except to destroy the greens on earth.

The name of God Eloha is the intermediary between Yah and El, for the name of Eloha is the same name YHVH with the first two letters Yah substituted by El, as follows:

This corresponds to the 2^nd commandment: you shall not make any graven image.

Darkness is the antithesis of light, which is of the Sefirah of Chochmah, the flashing of light from darkness.

The 9^th plague “darkness” corresponds to the 2^nd saying: “And God said: Let there be light…” (Gen 1:3) corresponding to the 7^th commandment: remember Shabbat, for the gematria of Shabbat שָׁבַת is 702, which is the mirror image of 207, the gematria of light אוֹר, and the customs is to light the candle before and after Shabbat to dispel darkness.

Keter is the crown, the unknowable head, the ultimate faith in God, corresponding to the 1^st commandment: I am the LORD your God.

The Sefirah of Keter corresponds to the name of God Ehyeh אֶהְיֶה, which can be progressively iterated as follows:

44 is the gematria of blood דָם, connecting back to the Sefirot of Malchut with the blood of the first-born sons.

The 10^th plague “killing of the first-born” corresponds to the 1^st saying: “In the beginning…” (Gen 1:1), for the first word Bereshit בְּרֵאשִׁית can also mean “for the firstborn”.

The gematria of Bereshit is 913, which is the same gematria of “And God said ten”, this comes to reveal that all ten sayings are concealed within the first saying:

The Ten Plagues

The gematria of the ten plagues is 2480, which is 10 x 248, where 248 is the gematria of “And YHVH said” וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה, alluding to the 10 sayings of YHVH:

248 is also the gematria of Abraham אַבְרָהָם, for the world was created due to the merit of Abraham, as is known:

“When they were created” בְּהִבָּרְאָם can be rearranged to spell “for Abraham” בְּאַבְרָהָם, which is rabbinically understood as the reason for creation, for the children of Abraham will ultimately receive the Torah, or five books of Moses.

2480 is exactly the gematria of the five books of Moses:

The Ten Commandments

The 10 Names juxtaposing the 10 Sefirot with their gematria are as follows:

1710 (Sefirot) + 2868 (10 Names) = 4578.

The gematria of the ten plagues, when the killing of the firstborn is used, is 3346:

Since the 10 plagues represent destruction, therefore the gematria must be subtracted from the union of the 10 Names and the 10 Sefirot:

4578 – 3346 = 1232

1232 is exactly the gematria of “ten commandments” עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים plus a kollel (1).

Mind over body

What is the eternal lesson of the Exodus story?

At the personal level, it is the story of the redemption of the soul.

Israel symbolizes the soul that is in exile, Egypt symbolizes the physicality, Pharaoh symbolizes the evil inclination, and Moses symbolizes the mind.

The essence of evil inclination is self, i.e. ego, as personified in “I am Pharaoh”, which must be countered by the mind, as personified by Moses.

The gematria of “the mind” is exactly the same as Pharaoh:

The mirror image of “I am Pharaoh” is the gematria of “wisdom, understanding, knowledge”, which are the three attributes of the mind:

This comes to teach us that the secret to overcome the temptation of the evil inclination as manifested in one’s ego is through one’s intellectual faculties, known in Kabbalah as wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.

Israel represents the heart (Ruach) which can be either influenced by the mind (Neshamah) or by the physicality (Nefesh). Physicality is bondage, and mind over body is redemption. The gematria of “Mind of Israel” is exactly the same of “Exodus of Egypt” and “End of the Nefesh (physicality)”