- Torah and Jewish Thought
- Torah Teachings
Plagues and Jewish Months, Significance
Question
I tried to match the Plagues in Egypt and the Jewish Months by working backwards. I realize that Daat Zekeinim believes that the last 3 plagues all occurred in Nissan, Ibn Ezra commented that 3-4 months occurred between the plagues of hail and locusts and Ramban stated that hail occurred in Adar. If one matched the plagues at one month per plague, I got Tammuz-Blood, Av-Frogs, Elul-Lice, Tishrei-Wild Beasts, Cheshvan-Cattle Epidemic (Murrain), Kislev-Boils, Tevet-Hail, Shevat-Locusts, Adar-Darkness & Nissan-Death of the 1st Born. Why have the above sources detracted from one month per plague or changed the order of when certain plagues occurred such as Hail in Adar instead of Tevet? Is my reasoning somewhat correct for which month contained certain plagues and does there continue to be any significance to which months had specific plague within them in the modern era (Obviously Pesach in the spring month of Nissan does) or are these one-time-only miracles without any monthly connections? By my reasoning, were there no plagues in Iyar and if true, is that the case since the month Iyar contains the counting of the Omer leading to Sivan which contains Shavuot? Anything else that can be learned from the above would be appreciated as well as where my logic needs correction. Thanks!
Answer
Generally, Chassidic commentaries will use the connections between events which happened in certain months and the other aspects of the month (holidays, other Halachot) to make homiletic points, while more classical commentaries refrain from that sort of speculation. As with any generalization, there are exceptions to what I just wrote. There is no answer to the question of the significance of these correlations, but I do believe that they provide food for thought and material for Drashot.
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