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Hadrash Ve-Haiyun
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Hadrash Ve-Haiyun
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Va'eira
5766
To Dedicate Please Contact: Hadrash Ve-Haiyun
Moshe said to Pharaoh, Glorify yourself over me – for when should I entreat on your behalf, for your servants and for your people to excise the frogs from you and from your house? Only in the river shall they remain (Shemos 8:5).
In this week’s parsha we learn about the plague of frogs.
In perek shira we discover that the song of the frogs are the words “Blessed is the name of His glorious Kingdom forever and ever.” The commentators note that this expression is unique in that it is the only song in perek shira is not a posuk in the Torah. We are very familiar with this expression. Indeed, we recite it twice daily after the first posuk of the Shema. We recite it immediately after we bind upon ourselves the head teffilin and we recite three times out loud at the conclusion on Yom Kippur. Why is this expression the song of the frogs?
In order to gain a better understand of the nature of this expression we must study a Halacha found in Shulchan Aruch (OC 206). If an individual accidentally recited a blessing in vain he is required to immediacy recite “Blessed is the name of His glorious Kingdom forever and ever.” When one recites a blessing in vain there is a slight to the honor of Hashem’s Holy Name because it was mentioned for no apparent reason.
It is important to note the a blessing said in vain is not false. One can praise Hashem ever moment of the day for anything, however chazal did not permit a person to mention Hashem name if there is nothing tangible for it to rest up.
When a blessing is recited for no reason we attempt to correct the slight of honor to His name by giving the name of Hashem to rest upon. This is accomplished with the recital of “Blessed is the name of His glorious Kingdom forever and ever.” It is considered as if the Hashem name was mention so that it may be sued as start to give praise to Hashem.
We may use this idea to explain why we mention this expression after we recite the first posuk of shemah. The words of Shemah are “Hear Yisroel Hashem is our G-d, Hashem is One.” This expression is interpreted by Rashi as meaning, Hashem who is currently only recognized as our G-d will one day be recognized as G-d of the entire world.
This posuk is problematic because currently His name is not recognized as One over the entire world. At this moment the mention of His name here is premature. At this moment there is nothing tangible for His name to rest upon. To counteract this problem we say, “Blessed is the name of His glorious Kingdom forever and ever.”
Another example of this concept is found with regard to the head tefillin. The posuk says “All the nations of the world will see that the name of Hashem is upon you and will be afraid of your. Chazal explain that this refers the head teffilin. However, today when we recite the blessing on the head tefillin and bind them to our head the world is not afraid of us. The fulfillment and symbolic meaning of this Mitzvah is premature. The name of Hashem had has been mentioned but there is nothing yet tangible for it to rest upon. We solve this problem with saying “Blessed is the name of His glorious Kingdom forever and ever.”
We may now understand why this expression is special to the frogs. The Torah records how Moshe asked Pharaoh to challenge him by telling him exactly when he wanted the frogs to retreat. Pharaoh answered tomorrow. Chazal explain that Moshe prayed at that very moment that the frogs should retreat the following morning. There was a delay between the prayer of Moshe and its fulfillment. Indeed this is the only plague where we find such a delay. The name of Hashem had been invoked but nothing yet had happened. In this situation the mention of Hashem’s name had nothing yet to rest upon. The frogs therefore croaked the song “Blessed is the name of his glorious Kingdom forever and ever.”
