Va'eira, Va'era, or Vaera (וָאֵרָא‎—Hebrew for "and I appeared," the first word that God speaks in the parashah, in Exodus 6:3) is the fourteenth weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה‎, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the second in the Book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 6:2–9:35. The parashah tells of the first seven Plagues of Egypt.

Jews read it the fourteenth Sabbath (Shabbat) after Simchat Torah, generally in January, or rarely, in late December.^[1]

It is composed of 6,701 Hebrew letters, 1,748 Hebrew words, 121 verses, and 222 lines in a Torah Scroll, and is considered part of the Hebrew Bible.^[2]

Readings

In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the "portion" (parashah) is divided into seven readings, or עליות‎, aliyot. In the Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), Parashat Va'eira has nine "open portion" (פתוחה‎, petuchah) divisions (roughly equivalent to paragraphs, often abbreviated with the Hebrew letter פ‎ (peh)). Parashat Va'eira has seven further subdivisions, called "closed portion" (סתומה‎, setumah) divisions (abbreviated with the Hebrew letter ס‎ (samekh)) within the open portion divisions. The first and second open portion divisions divide the first reading. The third open portion covers the balance of the first and part of the second readings. The fourth open portion covers the balance of the second reading. The fifth open portion divides the fourth reading. The sixth open portion covers the balance of the fourth, all of the fifth, and part of the sixth readings. The seventh open portion separates part of the sixth reading. The eighth open portion covers the balance of the sixth and part of the seventh readings. And the ninth open portion covers the balance of the seventh reading. Closed portion divisions separate the first and second readings, separate the second and third readings, and divide the fourth, fifth, and sixth readings.^[3]

First reading—Exodus 6:2–13

In the first reading, God spoke to Moses, identified God's Self as the God of the Patriarchs, and acknowledged hearing the moaning of the Israelites.^[4] God instructed Moses to tell the Israelites that God would free them, make them God's people, and bring them to the Promised Land.^[5] But the Israelites would not listen because of their distress and hard labor.^[6] The first open portion ends here.^[7]

In the continuation of the reading, God told Moses to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Moses complained that Pharaoh would not heed him, a man of impeded speech.^[8] The second open portion ends here.^[9]

In the continuation of the reading, God commanded Moses and Aaron to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. The first reading and a closed portion end here.^[10]

Second reading—Exodus 6:14–28

The second reading interjects a partial genealogy of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, including Moses and his family.^[11]

The second reading and a closed portion end with the genealogy.^[12]

Third reading—Exodus 6:29–7:7

In the third reading, God instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh all that God would tell Moses, but Moses protested that he had a speech impediment.^[13] The third open portion ends here.^[12]

In the continuation of the reading, God placed Aaron in the role of Moses' prophet, to speak to Pharaoh.^[14] God intended to harden Pharaoh's heart, so that God might show signs and marvels, so that the Egyptians would know that the Lord was God.^[15] Moses and Aaron did as God commanded.^[16] Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron 83 years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.^[17] The third reading and the fourth open portion end here.^[18]

Fourth reading—Exodus 7:8–8:6

In the fourth reading, God told how Aaron could cast down his rod and it would turn into a snake, and Aaron did so before Pharaoh.^[19] Pharaoh caused his magicians to do the same, but Aaron's rod swallowed their rods.^[20] Pharaoh's heart stiffened.^[21] A closed portion ends here.^[22]

In the continuation of the reading, God began visiting ten plagues on Egypt. God told Moses to go to Pharaoh at his morning bath, demand of him to let the Israelites go to worship in the wilderness, and have Aaron strike the Nile with his rod and turn it into blood.^[23] A closed portion ends here.^[24]

In the continuation of the reading, God told Moses to tell Aaron to stretch his rod over the waters of Egypt and turn them into blood.^[25] Moses and Aaron did so, killing the marine life and rendering the water unusable.^[26] But when the Egyptian magicians did the same, Pharaoh's heart stiffened.^[27] Seven days passed.^[28] The fifth open portion ends here.^[29]

As the reading continues, God told Moses to have Aaron hold his arm with the rod over the river and bring up frogs, and they did so.^[30] The magicians did the same.^[31] Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron to plead with God to remove the frogs and said he would let the Israelites go^[32] Moses asked Pharaoh when Moses should ask God, Pharaoh replied the next day, and Moses said that he would do so the next day, so that Pharaoh would know that there is none like God.^[33] The fourth reading ends here.^[34]

Fifth reading—Exodus 8:7–18

In the fifth reading, the frogs departed, but Pharaoh became stubborn and did not let the Israelites leave.^[35] A closed portion ends here.^[36]

In the continuation of the reading, God told Moses to have Aaron strike the dust with his rod, to turn it to lice throughout the land, and they did so.^[37] The magicians tried to do the same, but they could not.^[38] The magicians told Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God!" But Pharaoh's heart stiffened.^[39] A closed portion ends here.^[40]

In the continuation of the reading, God told Moses to rise early and stand before Pharaoh as he came to the water and tell him that God said, "Let My people go," or else God would send swarms of insects and wild animals on Egypt, but not on Goshen.^[41] The fifth reading ends here.^[42]

Sixth reading—Exodus 8:19–9:16

In the sixth reading, God loosed swarms of insects and wild animals against the Egyptians, but not Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt.^[43] Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to go sacrifice to God within Egypt, but Moses insisted on going three days into the wilderness.^[44] Pharaoh agreed, in exchange for Moses' prayer to lift the plague.^[45] But when God removed the insects and wild animals, Pharaoh became stubborn again.^[46] The sixth open portion ends here with the end of chapter 8.^[47]

As the reading continues with chapter 9, God struck the Egyptian's livestock with a pestilence, sparing the Israelites' livestock.^[48] But Pharaoh remained stubborn.^[49] The seventh open portion ends here.^[50]

In the continuation of the reading, God told Moses to take handfuls of soot from the kiln and throw it toward the sky, so that it would become fine dust, causing boils on man and beast throughout Egypt, and he did so.^[51] But God stiffened Pharaoh's heart.^[52] A closed portion ends here.^[53]

In the continuation of the reading, God told Moses to rise early and tell Pharaoh that God said, "Let My people go," or this time God would send all God's plagues upon Pharaoh and his people to demonstrate God's power.^[54] The sixth reading ends here,^[55]

Seventh reading—Exodus 9:17–35

In the seventh reading, God instructed Moses to threaten hail such as Egypt had never seen, and to instruct the Egyptians to bring their cattle in from the field so that they would not die.^[56] Those who feared God's word brought their slaves and livestock indoors, and those who did not fear God's word left them in the field.^[57] The eighth open portion ends here.^[58]

In the continuation of the reading, God told Moses to stretch out his hand, and God sent thunder and hail, which struck down all exposed in Egypt, but did not strike Goshen.^[59] Pharaoh confessed his wrong, agreed to let the Israelites go, and asked Moses and Aaron to pray to end the hail.^[60] Moses told Pharaoh that he would do so, and the hail would end so that Pharaoh would know that the earth is God's, but Moses knew that Pharaoh and his servants would not yet fear God.^[61] The hail had destroyed the flax and the barley, but not the wheat and the spelt, which ripened later.^[62]

In the maftir (מפטיר‎) reading that concludes the parashah,^[63] Moses spread forth his hands to God, and the thunders and hail ceased, but when Pharaoh saw, he hardened his heart and did not let the Israelites go.^[64] The seventh reading, the ninth open portion, and the parashah end here with the end of chapter 9.^[65]

Readings according to the triennial cycle

Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:^[66]

In ancient parallels

The parashah has parallels in these ancient sources:

Exodus chapter 8

Reading the Egyptian magicians' words in Exodus 8:15, "This is the finger of God!" Gunther Plaut reported that in Egyptian literature, a plague is called "the hand of God," while among Babylonians, the expression was the name of a sickness.^[67]

In inner-biblical interpretation

The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:^[68]

Exodus chapter 6

In Exodus 2:24 and 6:5–6, God remembered God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to deliver the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. Similarly, God remembered Noah to deliver him from the flood in Genesis 8:1; God promised to remember God's covenant not to destroy the Earth again by flood in Genesis 9:15–16; God remembered Abraham to deliver Lot from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:29; God remembered Rachel to deliver her from childlessness in Genesis 30:22; Moses called on God to remember God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to deliver the Israelites from God's wrath after the incident of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32:13 and Deuteronomy 9:27; God promises to "remember" God's covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham to deliver the Israelites and the Land of Israel in Leviticus 26:42–45; the Israelites were to blow upon their trumpets to be remembered and delivered from their enemies in Numbers 10:9; Samson called on God to deliver him from the Philistines in Judges 16:28; Hannah prayed for God to remember her and deliver her from childlessness in 1 Samuel 1:11 and God remembered Hannah's prayer to deliver her from childlessness in 1 Samuel 1:19; Hezekiah called on God to remember Hezekiah's faithfulness to deliver him from sickness in 2 Kings 20:3 and Isaiah 38:3; Jeremiah called on God to remember God's covenant with the Israelites to not condemn them in Jeremiah 14:21; Jeremiah called on God to remember him and think of him, and avenge him of his persecutors in Jeremiah 15:15; God promises to remember God's covenant with the Israelites and establish an everlasting covenant in Ezekiel 16:60; God remembers the cry of the humble in Zion to avenge them in Psalm 9:13; David called upon God to remember God's compassion and mercy in Psalm 25:6; Asaph called on God to remember God's congregation to deliver them from their enemies in Psalm 74:2; God remembered that the Israelites were only human in Psalm 78:39; Ethan the Ezrahite called on God to remember how short Ethan's life was in Psalm 89:48; God remembers that humans are but dust in Psalm 103:14; God remembers God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in Psalm 105:8–10; God remembers God's word to Abraham to deliver the Israelites to the Land of Israel in Psalm 105:42–44; the Psalmist calls on God to remember him to favor God's people, to think of him at God's salvation, that he might behold the prosperity of God's people in Psalm 106:4–5; God remembered God's covenant and repented according to God's mercy to deliver the Israelites in the wake of their rebellion and iniquity in Psalm 106:4–5; the Psalmist calls on God to remember God's word to God's servant to give him hope in Psalm 119:49; God remembered us in our low estate to deliver us from our adversaries in Psalm 136:23–24; Job called on God to remember him to deliver him from God's wrath in Job 14:13; Nehemiah prayed to God to remember God's promise to Moses to deliver the Israelites from exile in Nehemiah 1:8; and Nehemiah prayed to God to remember him to deliver him for good in Nehemiah 13:14–31.

Nahum Sarna noted that the first two verbs in Exodus 6:7, “I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God,” are both used in connection with matrimony—"to take" (לקח‎, l-k-ch) in Genesis 4:19; 6:2; 11:29, and more than 70 other Biblical occurrences, and "to be (someone's)" (היה ל‎, h-y-h le-) in Leviticus 21:3; Numbers 30:7; Deuteronomy 24:4; Judges 14:20; 15:2; 2 Samuel 12:10; Jeremiah 3:1; Ezekiel 16:8; and Hosea 3:3.^[69] Jeffrey Tigay and Bruce Wells noted that the Hebrew Bible also uses similar language for adoption, for example in 2 Samuel 7:14 (“I will be to him”), and thus one can say that God adopted the Israelites.^[70]

Exodus chapter 7

As Exodus 7:7 notes that Moses was 80 years old when he spoke to Pharaoh, it would be 40 years later when Moses delivered his speech to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 31:2 and when he died, as reported in Deuteronomy 34:7, at age 120.

Exodus chapters 7–12

The description of the 10 plagues exhibits patterns and progressions, as follows: