T orah P ortion
Magic and Advice a Potential Danger
BY RABBI JOSHUA WAXMAN
Parshat Va’era
IT’S ALL THE magicians’
fault. In this week’s Torah portion,
Va’era, Moses approaches God
with a demand and a warning:
Pharaoh must release the
Israelites from bondage or else
God will send plagues against
the land of Egypt and its people.

It’s a setup, of course: God
knows that Pharaoh will refuse
to heed the divine command
and, in the latter stages, will
even harden Pharaoh’s heart to
ensure he won’t comply. The
plagues will come down against
Egypt, the people will be freed.

But at the beginning,
when Moses first approaches
Pharaoh, perhaps the battle
lines had not yet been drawn
and there was a way out of this
predicament without suffering
and loss of life. Perhaps.

Moses and Aaron appear
before Pharaoh and make their
appeal. As God has predicted,
Pharaoh demands a sign of
their authenticity and so Aaron
casts his rod to the ground
where it becomes a snake. At
this critical moment, the Torah
tells us, “Then Pharaoh, for
his part, summoned the wise
men and the sorcerers; and the
CAN DL E L IGHTIN G
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Egyptian magicians, in turn,
did the same with their spells;
each cast down his rod, and
they turned into serpents. But
Aaron’s rod swallowed their
rods.” (Exodus 7:11-12)
Pharaoh is unimpressed
because his magicians are
seemingly able to replicate
Aaron’s feat. It’s important,
however, to notice that the
Torah uses the word b’lateihem
— translated here as “with their
spells” — to specify the manner
by which the magicians turn
their rods into serpents. The
exact meaning of the term is
unclear — it appears nowhere
in Torah outside of this story
— and the commentators
debate its valence, with Ibn Ezra
understanding it as trickery or
illusion. Whatever the case, the
method the magicians employ
is not miraculous in the sense
of Aaron’s transformation, and
the text further confirms that
their magic isn’t so powerful
because the serpent that
Aaron produces swallows all
of theirs. But in any case, it’s
enough: Pharaoh is convinced
that Moses and Aaron repre-
sent no power beyond what his
magicians possess and refuses
to let the Israelites go: “Yet
Pharaoh’s heart stiffened and
he did not heed them, as the
Lord had said.” (7:13)
The same dynamic repeats
itself for the plagues of blood
and frogs: The magicians either
replicate or give the appearance
of replicating Moses and Aaron’s
feats, each time b’lateihem, with
their spells. It is only with the
plague of lice that the magicians
are unable to copy the miracle.

Acknowledging a power greater
than their own trickery, they
tell Pharaoh that this plague is
a genuine work of God, but by
now it is too late: “But Pharaoh’s
heart stiffened and he would
not heed them.” (8:15)
It is clear from the Torah that
the magicians’ replication of
Moses and Aaron’s feats played
a crucial part in convincing
Pharaoh that things were
under control and he could
safely ignore God’s demands.

The repeated word b’lateihem,
moreover, underscores that the
magicians knew the whole time
that they — and, by extension,
Egypt — were facing a power
greater than their own.

But they were so invested in
their role of assuring Pharaoh,
telling him what he wanted to
hear, and demonstrating their
own prowess and skill that they
were either unable or unwilling
to acknowledge this fact. By
the time they concede that the
threat Moses and Aaron pose
is beyond their power, it is too
late because Pharaoh is already
set in his ways.

Jewish wisdom emphasizes
the importance advisers play
in supporting both leaders and
good governance through their
expertise. The esteemed Rabbi Yom-Tov
Lipmann Heller (1579-1654)
notes that we pray for the welfare
of the government rather than
just of the king himself specif-
ically to include his advisers
because of the critical role they
play in upholding the state.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto
(1707-1746) notes in his ground-
breaking work of ethics “Mesillat
Yesharim” that advisers can
easily mislead by providing bad
or self-serving advice, which
he connects with the prohibi-
tion against placing a stumbling
block before the blind.

Advisers’ expertise grants
them an added measure of
authority, which is invaluable
when they provide responsible
and impartial guidance. But
this is precisely why self-serving
advisers can be so damaging:
They can exploit the veneer of
credibility that their knowledge
and reputations impart to further
their own ends and preserve
their own positions, as is the case
with Pharaoh’s magicians.

Since the start of the
coronavirus outbreak, we
have all seen firsthand what
happens when leaders fail to
heed impartial and scientifi-
cally-based advice provided by
qualified experts. And we have
also seen the terrible betrayal
of those who misuse their titles
and official roles to promote
false narratives rather than
advocate for facts and uphold
the public interest.

While there is no question
in the Torah that Pharaoh
holds ultimate responsibility
for his decisions, the faith-
less magicians who offered
obsequious and self-serving
advice rather than forcefully
stating the truth from the
beginning also share responsi-
bility in the downfall of Egypt
and the spread of the plagues. l
released back in 2017.

The juxtaposition between
the manicured golf courses
and the pained looks on the
subjects’ faces never lets you
forget something is off. It’s as if
Oppenheim is challenging the
viewer to distinguish between
the constructed beauty of a
fake-historic town square and
the genuine beauty of the hopes
and joys of its pedestrians.

At certain points, the
portrayal of The Villages
appears cloistered to the
point of being oversimplified.

The shots are scrubbed clean
of any references to politics,
with no lawn signs indicating
the political divisions of the
past four years. According to
Business Insider, Republicans
outnumber Democrats two to
one in this community, and it
has not been spared election-re-
lated turmoil and controversy.

Sweeping this reality under
the rug in order to create a more
universal narrative arc is the
easier, if not most accurate or
satisfying, storytelling choice.

It would have been interesting
to hear from a resident whose
political, racial or cultural
background added another
layer to their sense of alienation
from their neighbors.

Nevertheless, this intriguing,
surreal documentary packs
incredibly layered and nuanced
stories into 83 minutes. The fact
that Oppenheim was able to
gain the trust of these retirees,
who are separated from him
by so many years, and portray
their stories with such warmth
reveals a level of empathy that
is a pleasure to watch unfold on
screen. “Some Kind of Heaven” will
be available on iTunes, Google
Play, Amazon Video and other
platforms on Jan. 15. l
Rabbi Joshua Waxman is rabbi
emeritus of Or Hadash: A
Reconstructionist Congregation
in Fort Washington. The Board of
Rabbis is proud to provide diverse
perspectives on Torah commentary
for the Jewish Exponent. The
opinions expressed in this column
are the author’s own and do not
reflect the view of the Board of
Rabbis. Heaven
Continued from Page 21
vulnerability is sobering — a
reminder of the dire straits that
await those who don’t, or can’t,
plan for their futures while
they still have time.

The cinematography is
gorgeous and intimate, full
of surprisingly strong and
coordinated bodies in motion,
swaying palm trees and
cerulean swimming pools.

The last time anything this
dreamily colorful hit screens
was when “La La Land” was
22 JANUARY 14, 2021
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