Parashat Va'Era, Exodus 6:2-9:35

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What Can We Learn from the Humble Frog?

Study with Baruch Sienna


Two weeks ago we returned from a family trip in Costa Rica. One of the trip highlights was a night walk where we saw dozens of nocturnal frogs. We saw transparent 'glass frogs' and the strawberry-blue jeans frog (with bright red body and blue legs). The icon of Costa Rican tourism, the gaudy red-eyed leaf frog, with its clown-like appearance and bright colours, has to be seen to be believed. We were too late, however, to see the golden toad. Sadly, the remarkable golden toad (discovered only in 1966) is now classified as extinct. Our guide in Monteverde told us that the beautiful golden toad was the first species whose disappearance was linked to climate change. Frogs are sensitive to the environment, and many scientists believe that they are the 'canaries in the mines' for global warming. So perhaps, because of the amazing frog wildlife we saw, I am drawn to the frog in this week's parasha. Just like for us, the frogs should have served as a warning to the Egyptians in this week's parasha, that something was very wrong with their society.

Our parasha Va'Era describes the first seven (of the ten) plagues God sends to Egypt. Although we can read the plagues as a series of environmental catastrophes (and indeed, many people add an environmental themed 10 plagues at their Seder), for the Torah, the plagues were more theological than environmental. God's first plague of blood was both a strike on the god of the Nile as well as retribution for turning the Nile "red with the Israelites' blood". Similarly, the second plague of frogs was an attack on the ancient Egyptian frog goddess Heqt who assisted women in labour. The frog was associated with fertility in ancient times (since some species of frogs lay thousands of eggs). At the same time, the description of the frog swarms (vesharatz) recalls the same language used for the proliferation of the Israelites in chapter one (vayishretzu) which to the Egyptians probably seemed 'reptilian-like.'

The word ‘frogs’ only appears here in this narrative of the second plague visited upon Egypt (Ex. 7:27-8:1-10) and twice in the poetic descriptions of the plagues found in Psalms (78:45, 105:30). The frog (tzfardei'a) is the only amphibian mentioned in the Bible, but the biblical word may have included the toad— karpadah in modern Hebrew. The tree frog and laughing frog are common species found in Israel. The derivation of the unusual five letter Hebrew word is uncertain. Even though some frogs' chirping vocalizations are defintely 'bird-like', I am unconvinced by the midrash that attempts to connect the Hebrew root to the word for bird- tzippor.

In the movie versions (like in the Torah), the Egyptian priests/magicians duplicate God's first plague: changing the Nile/water to blood. But what is usually not portrayed in the movies, so it is less well known, is that Egyptians also replicate this second plague: as if it wasn't bad enough that frogs covered the land of Egypt, the magicians make things worse! "The magicians did the same with their spells, and brought frogs upon the land of Egypt" (Ex. 8:3). How true, though, that in a crisis, instead of making things better, we add fuel to the fire.

Aaron summons the frogs as a sign of God's power over nature and obedience to God, while the magicians use the frogs to demonstrate their power over their gods. “Aaron held out his arm over the waters of Egypt, and the frog came up and covered the land of Egypt” (Exodus 8:2). The rabbis notice that in this verse the word for frog appears in the singular. The plain meaning according to Rashi is that this may simply be a collective term meaning a swarm of frogs, like ‘lice’; Fox uses 'frog-horde' to convey this collective singular. However, in the other verses, the regular plural form (tfzardei’im) is in fact used. Rashi also brings a midrashic interpretation: when the frog was struck, it split into hordes of frogs. According to Rabbi Akiva, it was only one frog, but it bred so rapidly that it filled the land of Egypt. Rabbi Eleazar ben ‘Azariah said, ‘There was one frog at first, but this croaked for the others to come.’ (Midrash Shmot Rabbah). One midrash describes how every drop of water that fell on the ground would burst into a frog. I imagine a cheesy science fiction movie: The Frog that Covered Egypt!

Athough frogs are classified as unclean animals, they are praised in the midrash. For example, frogs were involved in resolving an international dispute. Most translations describe God sending the plague of frogs on the 'whole country' but the Hebrew literally means "on Egypt's borders" (7:27). One midrash learns from this that the frogs actually resolved the border dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia, as they only reached Egypt's borders, thus creating a clear line of demarcation between the two nations. The frog was also recognized by the Rabbis for its vocal talents. According to the midrash, when King David finished the book of Psalms he became boastful, saying, “Is there any creature in the world that utters more songs of praise than I?” At that moment, a frog appeared and retorted, “David, don’t be boastful. I utter more songs of praise than you.” If you've ever heard frogs at night, you'lll know that frogs can be a noisy bunch. The Rabbis believed that they could make this claim not only because of how vocal they are, but because they were prepared to leave their natural habitat of the cold water to go into the hot, dry ovens of the Egyptians. Because of this, frogs were seen as a symbol of divine allegiance and defenders of the faith.

It is still too early to be thinking of the ten plagues when we spill the wine at our Seders, but we have a lot to learn about faith, humility, and caring for the environment from the humble frog.

Shabbat Shalom.

BDS