Weekly Parsha Review Laced with Humor and Sarcasm from The Oisvorfer Ruv

Boi 2025: Locusts & Divine Retribution

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Raboyseyee and Ladies,

Locusts & Divine Retribution


Let’s start here:

A big and heartfelt mazel tov to our friends of many years and decades -Malki and Phil Rosen- upon the marriage this past Sunday, over at Mara Lago, of their beautiful daughter Miriam who married Yonatan Kerstein, son of Irit and Donny Kerstein.  All weddings are of course beautiful; that said, the simcha and energy at Miriam’s -whose smile can light up any room- was mamish palpable.   A big mazel tov shout out to the ever radiant Babby Sara Leifer, to the grandparents, and to the entire extended Rosen, Leifer and Kerstein mishopochos. We have known Miriam since birth and wish her and Yonatan many happy decades ahead.

 

Next: While on the cruise ship last week, the Ois had the pleasure of meeting Atara and Yaakov Serle. As it turns out, Yaakov is the publisher of the Queens Jewish Link and also very active in Jewish causes. He is celebrating the 600th issue of his publication with an event (networking and dinner) honoring Sid Rosenberg (and other worthy people), who is one of the most active and vocal supporters of the State of Israel and other Jewish causes. He is the man! If you want to meet Sid, Yaakov and the others being recognized, sign up and show up. The Ois will be in Israel that day and cannot attend, but you should.  

Shoin, let’s talk about Parshas Bo which features the last three makos (plagues) the RBSO will visit upon Paroy and his Mitzrim before redeeming them from slavery and of particular interest to the Ois this week is a topic he has never discussed before, the arbeh (locusts) the RBSO employed in the 8th plague.

What exactly were these locusts? Where did they come from? How did they leave? What damage did they inflict? Didn’t the 7th plague -of hail- already wipe out the crops?  Were they ever to be seen again? Did the RBSO ever employ the services of locusts again? When and where?

Shoin, let’s begin with this surprise statement: Believe it or not, though they are most well known as the 8th plague, the one that wiped out the remainder of what was left on the fields of the Egyptians, locusts were again employed by the RBSO to also punish His own people, the Yiddin! Say it’s not so and blow me down with a feather but it’s emes. Though you never put two and two together, be it against the Egyptians or the Yiddin, the RBSO unleashes locusts as a divine retribution. We shall get to that soon ober, to chap the 8th plague of locusts, let us first review the conversation Moishe had with Paroy following the 7th plague of hail which destroyed early crops. Moishe -in our parsha (Shmois: 10:4-6) warns Paroy that locusts will come and destroy whatever crops are left:

שמות י:ד כִּי אִם מָאֵן אַתָּה לְשַׁלֵּחַ אֶת עַמִּי הִנְנִי מֵבִיא מָחָר אַרְבֶּה בִּגְבֻלֶךָ. י:ה וְכִסָּה אֶת עֵין הָאָרֶץ וְלֹא יוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְאָכַל אֶת יֶתֶר הַפְּלֵטָה הַנִּשְׁאֶרֶת לָכֶם מִן הַבָּרָד וְאָכַל אֶת כָּל הָעֵץ הַצֹּמֵחַ לָכֶם מִן הַשָּׂדֶה. י:ו וּמָלְאוּ בָתֶּיךָ וּבָתֵּי כָל עֲבָדֶיךָ וּבָתֵּי כָל מִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר לֹא רָאוּ אֲבֹתֶיךָ וַאֲבוֹת אֲבֹתֶיךָ מִיּוֹם הֱיוֹתָם עַל הָאֲדָמָה עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה…

“For if you refuse to let My people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts on your territory. 10:5 They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the surviving remnant that was left to you after the hail; and they shall eat away all your trees that grow in the field. 10:6 Moreover, they shall fill your palaces and the houses of all your courtiers and of all the Egyptians—something that neither your fathers nor fathers’ fathers have seen from the day they appeared on earth to this day.”

How and from where did these locusts arrive? The heylige Toirah tells us befeirush (explicitly in the text) that the locusts were to be brought into Mitzrayim by an eastern wind:

שמות י:יב וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הוָ אֶל מֹשֶׁה נְטֵה יָדְךָ עַל אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בָּאַרְבֶּה וְיַעַל עַל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וְיֹאכַל אֶת כָּל עֵשֶׂב הָאָרֶץ אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר הִשְׁאִיר הַבָּרָד. י:יג וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת מַטֵּהוּ עַל אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וַי־הוָ נִהַג רוּחַ קָדִים בָּאָרֶץ כָּל הַיּוֹם הַהוּא וְכָל הַלָּיְלָה הַבֹּקֶר הָיָה וְרוּחַ הַקָּדִים נָשָׂא אֶת הָאַרְבֶּה.

Then the RBSO said to Moishe, “Hold out your arm over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt and eat up all the grasses in the land, whatever the hail has left.”  So Moishe held out his rod over the land of Egypt, and RBSO drove an east wind over the land all that day and all night; and when morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts.[4]

Next: As predicted, the locusts brought total destruction to the remaining crops, leaving nothing in their wake:

שמות י:יד וַיַּעַל הָאַרְבֶּה עַל כָּל אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וַיָּנַח בְּכֹל גְּבוּל מִצְרָיִם כָּבֵד מְאֹד לְפָנָיו לֹא הָיָה כֵן אַרְבֶּה כָּמֹהוּ וְאַחֲרָיו לֹא יִהְיֶה כֵּן. י:טו וַיְכַס אֶת עֵין כָּל הָאָרֶץ וַתֶּחְשַׁךְ הָאָרֶץ וַיֹּאכַל אֶת כָּל עֵשֶׂב הָאָרֶץ וְאֵת כָּל פְּרִי הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר הוֹתִיר הַבָּרָד וְלֹא נוֹתַר כָּל יֶרֶק בָּעֵץ וּבְעֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה בְּכָל אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.

Locusts invaded all the land of Egypt and settled within all the territory of Egypt in a thick mass; never before had there been so many, nor will there ever be so many again. They hid all the land from view, and the land was darkened; and they ate up all the grasses of the field and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left, so that nothing green was left, of tree or grass of the field, in all the land of Egypt.

Remember these bolded words. Next: As he did during certain previous plagues, Paroy asks Moishe to beg the RBSO’s forgiveness and make the locusts go away. Moishe does. As a result:

שמות י:יט וַיַּהֲפֹךְ יְ־הוָ רוּחַ יָם חָזָק מְאֹד וַיִּשָּׂא אֶת הָאַרְבֶּה וַיִּתְקָעֵהוּ יָמָּה סּוּף לֹא נִשְׁאַר אַרְבֶּה אֶחָד בְּכֹל גְּבוּל מִצְרָיִם

The RBSO caused a shift to a very strong west wind, which lifted the locusts and hurled them into the Sea of Reeds; not a single locust remained in all the territory of Egypt

Wow and mamish givaldig. They came with a wind from the east and left with a westerly wind. One can picture the scene because one has mistama seen movies and TV shows featuring swarms of flying objects, be they locusts or something else.  As described in the pisukim, one can mamish imagine locusts living as hordes in the desert, with RBSO -as commander in chief, so to speak for imagery- transporting the swarm of locusts from the east and then back to their base of operations. Mamish like the army or marines. Ober is that how it went down? Are locusts but hanging around waiting for the RBSO to order them to battle? Isn’t it emes that locusts do not live as locusts waiting for a wind to blow them into new territory? Isn’t it rather emes that when they are no ton call and swarming, that they are simply grasshoppers? Let’s find out.

Locusts (Arbeh, the word used in our parsha) is the word for a Borg-like collective of grasshoppers that swarm about and destroy produce. These flying grasshoppers devastated Mitzrayim by devouring its remaining crops. We will meet the grasshopper later in the heylige Toirah -Parshas Shelach- when the Miralgim (Scouts) return from their investigation of the Promised Land and speak of the giant inhabitants of the land; they compare themselves to grasshoppers:

במדבר יג:לב … הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר עָבַרְנוּ בָהּ לָתוּר אֹתָהּ אֶרֶץ אֹכֶלֶת יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ הִוא וְכָל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר רָאִינוּ בְתוֹכָהּ אַנְשֵׁי מִדּוֹת. יג:לג וְשָׁם רָאִינוּ אֶת הַנְּפִילִים בְּנֵי עֲנָק מִן הַנְּפִלִים וַנְּהִי בְעֵינֵינוּ כַּחֲגָבִים וְכֵן הָיִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיהֶם.

“The country that we traversed and scouted is one that devours its settlers. All the people that we saw in it are of great size; 13:33 we saw the Nephilim there—giants are part of the Nephilim—and we looked like grasshoppers to ourselves, and so we must have looked to them.”

Says Rashi -and others- that locusts in the heylige Toirah are a type of grasshopper that can swarm and devastate crops. Locusts seemingly start out innocent looking -and according to many, also kosher to eat grasshoppers- but they can change from solitary to gregarious, forming large and destructive swarms. Both Rashi and the Chizkuni state that the locusts featured in the plague were from a single species of locust. Of course, not everyone agrees and others suggest that as many as eight different species of locusts were involved in 8th mako. Mamish an integrated army. In other words: the RBSO put together a coalition to wage war against the crops of the Mitzrim. As an aside, the Yemenite community has a tradition of eating certain types of locusts, including the desert locust, but that for another time. The bottom line: In the heylige Toirah, grasshoppers are a symbol for small, harmless creatures. That being stated, once turned into locusts, they can inflict damage.

The heylige Toirah describes the plague. The locusts covered the Land of Egypt. They consumed all of the grain and vegetation that had survived the previous plagues. The heylige Toirah asserts that an infestation of this magnitude had never previously occurred. Furthermore, an infestation of such magnitude would never occur again. Is that so?

Not according to Rashi who raises an interesting question. The Novee (Yoel) tells of an infestation of locusts in the Land of Israel. The plague is described as greater than any previous infestation or any that would occur in the future. Oib azoy (if that is so), this event clearly contradicts the posik found in our parsha where it asserts that the locust plague in Egypt was the greatest infestation. What’s taka pshat?

Ober Rashi was a genius and answers his question with a simple distinction, azoy:  The plague in our parsha -Egypt- involved the infestation of a single species of locust. The plague in Yoel’s time involved a combination of species. Plague of Yoel? What is that? How many plagues were there, are there? Hold on, we shall address that below. The bottom line:  Both statements are true. The plague in Egypt was the greatest infestation by a single species. Ober, let’s check in on the Yoel situation. Who was he and what were his credentials?

Yoel the Novee, or Joel, was seemingly a prophet, albeit a minor one, whatever that means, and the author of the Book of Joel.  According to some, he was the son of Petuel, lived in Jerusalem and was called by the RBSO to minister to the people of Judah. Is all this historically emes? Ver veyst? That being said, his book, made it into the canon as one of the minor prophets. His writing was dramatic and metaphorical. He often used natural imagery, such as locusts, the sun, and the moon. He expressed concern for the people of Judah and their welfare. The book’s date is difficult to determine because Joel didn’t provide an explicit time period. Why did his book make it in? Like others we have discussed these last few weeks – the Book of Iyov by way of example- Yoel’s message was one of hope, reminding people that the RBSO is at work in the world and that there is hope for the future. The book isn’t necessarily historically emes -of course it could be- but the message was enough to be included in the canon. And just to confuse you further, according to the medrish, Yoel was the son of the Novee Shmuel and it so happens that Shmuel did indeed have a son by this name; check it out (I Samuel 8:2 and I Chronicles 6:18). This would make Yoel a Levi as is the heylige Ois. Why the medrish would refer to him as the son of Shmuel when the text -see below- clearly states that he was the son of Petuel, ver veyst?

In any event, the Novee (prophet) Yoel (1:4) foretells of a calamitous famine and grasshopper infestation. He uses four different words to describe the invading grasshoppers in his time: First, the gazam will come and eat from the produce, then the arbeh will come and eat what the gazam left over, then the yelek will arrive and eat what the arbeh allowed to remain, and finally the chasil will come and eat what the yelek passed over.

In other words: Locusts will be used, or were charged by the RBSO to also punish the sinning Yiddin and Yoel prophesizes that if the Yiddin will subsequently do tshuvah (repent their sins) and pray to the RBSO, “I (G-d) will distance the tzfoni from you.” (Yoel 2:20) Rashi and Radak explain that tzfoni is also a term that refers to grasshoppers, because those pests usually migrate from north (tzafon) of the Holy Land. And just like that we have encountered five different words for grasshoppers: arbeh, gazam, yelek, chasil, and tzfoni. When the heylige Toirah discusses (Parshas Shmini 11:22) the types of insects that are considered ritually clean and therefore fit for consumption, the heylige Toirah lists four species of grasshoppers which fall into that category: arbeh, sal’am, chargol, and chagav.  These last three add another three words for grasshoppers to our list.

It seems that these different words for grasshoppers are not just synonyms, but are names of different types of grasshoppers. We don’t know for sure, but they are probably different forms of grasshoppers, crickets, katydids (also known as bush crickets), and other orthoptera. The word arbeh cannot only be used to denote a certain type of grasshopper, but it is also an umbrella term that includes all types of grasshoppers.

As an aside, the medrish (Midrash HaGadol 10:14) records that seven of nine types of grasshoppers comprised the Plague of Arbeh in Mitzrayim:  arbeh, sal’am, chargol, chagav, gazam, yelek, and chasil. Rabbi Menachem Tzioni (a 14th century German Kabbalist) adds that chanamal was also one of the species of grasshoppers in Egypt, making the total number eight. He explains that each of these eight types of grasshoppers included one hundred different sub-species, so there were really eight-hundred different types of locusts which swarmed over Egypt. How many were involved in the 8th plague? Ver veyst? Veyter.

What is clear is this: Yoel, in a line reminiscent of Moishe’s words to Paroy (Shmois 10:6) about the 8th plague of locusts, says this: The elders of the Judean community should recognize that the locust infestation they are experiencing is the biggest swarm anyone can remember:

יואל א:א דְּבַר יְ־הוָ אֲשֶׁר הָיָה אֶל יוֹאֵל בֶּן פְּתוּאֵל. א:ב שִׁמְעוּ זֹאת הַזְּקֵנִים וְהַאֲזִינוּ כֹּל יוֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ הֶהָיְתָה זֹּאת בִּימֵיכֶם וְאִם בִּימֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם. א:ג עָלֶיהָ לִבְנֵיכֶם סַפֵּרוּ וּבְנֵיכֶם לִבְנֵיהֶם וּבְנֵיהֶם לְדוֹר אַחֵר.

 

“The word of RBSO that came to Yoel son of Pethuel. 1:2 Listen to this, O elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land. Has the like of this happened in your days, or in the day of your fathers? 1:3 Tell your children about it and let your children tell theirs, and their children the next generation!

The plague seems to have lasted long enough for Joel to see four stages of locust development: the hungry young adults, the mature mating parents, the nibbling nymphs, and the bands of teenage hoppers:[7]

יואל א:ד יֶתֶר הַגָּזָם אָכַל הָאַרְבֶּה וְיֶתֶר הָאַרְבֶּה אָכַל הַיָּלֶק וְיֶתֶר הַיֶּלֶק אָכַל הֶחָסִיל.

“What the cutter has left, the locust has devoured. What the locust has left, the grub has devoured. And what the grub has left, the hopper has devoured.”

Yoel offers the longest and most vivid description of a locust plague in the Bible.[8] The nymphs eat all the soft moist greens; the hoppers eat the hardier greens; and the adults eat flowers, fruits, or vegetables—they are not picky.[9] So now, there is nothing left:

יואל א:יז עָבְשׁוּ פְרֻדוֹת תַּחַת מֶגְרְפֹתֵיהֶם נָשַׁמּוּ אֹצָרוֹת נֶהֶרְסוּ מַמְּגֻרוֹת כִּי הֹבִישׁ דָּגָן. א:יח מַה נֶּאֶנְחָה בְהֵמָה נָבֹכוּ עֶדְרֵי בָקָר כִּי אֵין מִרְעֶה לָהֶם גַּם עֶדְרֵי הַצֹּאן נֶאְשָׁמוּ.

“The seeds have shriveled under their clods. The granaries are desolate, barns are in ruins, for the new grain has failed. 1:18 How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are bewildered because they have no pasture, and the flocks of sheep are dazed.”

Which locust outbreak was the biggest ever? The plague described in Yoel was the greatest infestation involving a combination of species, and the one in our parsha was also the biggest of one species. Two things -though seemingly mutually exclusive- can be emes at the same time. One just needs to think as did our sages when trapped by conflicting words. Nachmanides offers another answer. His explanation is the simplest. He explains that our posik merely states that no natural infestation ever occurred that can be compared to this plague. The passage is not comparing this infestation to other miraculous plagues. The plague of Yoel’s time was a punishment. By definition, a punishment is an act of divine intervention and therefore, it is a miracle. The heylige Toirah is not comparing the Egyptian infestation to other miraculous infestations. The final bottom lines: Both the heylige Toirah (our parsha), the book of Yoel envision locusts as a tool in RBSO’s armamentarium arsenal. The RBSO has many tools to work with when it comes to punishment.

Yoel offers either advice or prophecy to the Yiddin: They can save themselves from divine fury -in his imagination or in reality- manifested as locusts.

יואל ב:יב וְגַם עַתָּה נְאֻם יְ־הוָה שֻׁבוּ עָדַי בְּכָל לְבַבְכֶם וּבְצוֹם וּבִבְכִי וּבְמִסְפֵּד. ב:יג וְקִרְעוּ לְבַבְכֶם וְאַל בִּגְדֵיכֶם וְשׁוּבוּ אֶל יְ־הוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם כִּי חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם הוּא אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב חֶסֶד וְנִחָם עַל הָרָעָה.

“Yet even now”—says RBSO—“Turn back to Me with all your hearts, and with fasting, weeping, and lamenting.” 2:13 Rend your hearts rather than your garments, and turn back to RBSO your G-d. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, and renouncing punishment.[12]

If Israel does this, RBSO will bless them with bounty to compensate them for the destruction caused by RBSO’s army of locusts:

יואל ב:כד וּמָלְאוּ הַגֳּרָנוֹת בָּר וְהֵשִׁיקוּ הַיְקָבִים תִּירוֹשׁ וְיִצְהָר. ב:כה וְשִׁלַּמְתִּי לָכֶם אֶת הַשָּׁנִים אֲשֶׁר אָכַל הָאַרְבֶּה הַיֶּלֶק וְהֶחָסִיל וְהַגָּזָם חֵילִי הַגָּדוֹל אֲשֶׁר שִׁלַּחְתִּי בָּכֶםב:כו וַאֲכַלְתֶּם אָכוֹל וְשָׂבוֹעַ וְהִלַּלְתֶּם אֶת שֵׁם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה עִמָּכֶם לְהַפְלִיא וְלֹא יֵבֹשׁוּ עַמִּי לְעוֹלָם.

“And threshing floors shall be piled with grain, and vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. 2:25 I will repay you for the years consumed by swarms and hoppers, by grubs and locusts, the great army I let loose against you2:26 And you shall eat your fill and praise the name of RBSO your God who dealt so wondrously with you—My people shall be shamed no more.”

Did all this really happen? The bottom line is azoy: While some commentaries see the locusts in Yoel as metaphorical, the standard and more compelling interpretation is that he is describing a real locust swarm that his community suffered.  And the final bottom line: When the RBSO wants to get a nation’s or a city’s attention, He often allows natural disasters to include floods, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, or hurricanes, to strike an area, resulting in masses of humanity being slaughtered or made refugees, buildings being leveled, and land stripped of its life. Los Angeles? Interesting…..

A gittin Shabbis!

The Heylige Oisvorfer Ruv

Yitz Grossman

 

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