"When Pharaoh speaks to you and he says, 'Give me a miraculous sign,' you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and cast it down before Pharaoh. It will become a serpent.'"
The staff of Aaron swallowed the other staffs after turning back into wood, thus demonstrating that occult powers were not involved. Instead G-d's ability to override the laws of nature and the physical world became revealed.
All prophets were rooted in netzach and hod. Nonetheless,
there were various levels of prophecy amongst the prophets. Moses, the chief of
all prophets, prophesied through the "clear lens" ["Aspaklaria D'meira"]
while the rest of the prophets prophesied through the "opaque lens" ["Aspaklaria
D'eina Meira"].
"I used to appear to Abraham..."
Although G-d revealed aspects of His attributes to Abraham,
Abraham remained unaware of the difference between G-d in His capacity as El
Shaddai and G-d in his capacity as Y-K-V-K, of the unique
simultaneous effectiveness of both of these of G-d's attributes.
The first sign shown to Pharaoh introduced all the miracles and plagues
that followed. The staff symbolizes the direction and transmission of holiness
throughout the structure of all worlds, whereas the snake is a symbol of the
source of the kelipa of Egypt.
By turning the staff into a snake, Moses and Aaron showed Pharaoh
that the "snake" ultimately owes its existence to the "staff", i.e. the order of
holiness through which the divine energy descends through myriad concealments to
give life (even to kelipa). Numerous veils and intense obscurity allow a
being to see itself as separate from G-dliness, i.e. "the river is mine and I
created myself". However, it too must receive G-dly
light every instant for its existence, albeit a light that conceals itself well.
Miracles "shatter the kelipot". When a bright light that
transcends the obscurities is revealed, the snake reverts to its true nature.
When G-d promised
Moses that He would deliver the children of
Israel out of Egypt, He did so using four
different expressions of deliverance. The first three expressions--"I will
bring you out," "I will save you," "I will deliver you"--primarily relate to
taking the Children of Israel out from a physical subjugation. However,
the primary goal of the deliverance from Egypt was to bring them to spiritual
freedom through receiving the Torah. Their
spiritual deliverance is phrased by the term, "I will take you," as when
one comes to complete a part which is missing from them.
The soul in its source was attached to G-d, until it became distanced
from Him and descended to become enclothed in a turbid physical body in this
world. So too the Nation of Israel is called a part: "For His Nation
is a part of G-d." (Deut. 32:9) In
the subjugation and exile in Egypt, the Children of Israel became distanced from
G-d. They descended to the lowest level and sank into the 49 gates of impurity.
G-d is "taking" back his lost object, the Divine Soul which dwells within
the Children of Israel, and reattaches it to the source from which it was hewn.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe comments on the term for the fourth plague, "arov/mixture". The future of the Jewish people depends on their being separate and unique from the other nations. When G-d Himself breaks down the natural boundaries of the world, it is important that the separation of Jews from the other nations be intensified. This is the meaning of the verse, "I will miraculously set apart". The separation during this plague affected all of the Jewish people, even those who did not want to leave Egypt, showing how important such a separation is to everyone regardless of his or her spiritual level.
"If my days are numbered, at least I will see the Rebbe before I die."
Shabbat Shalom.
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