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18 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Egyptian drank blood. Only when the Egyptian paid the Jew a large sum of money did the water remain intact and not transform into blood. In this way, Gd ensured that the Egyptians would repay the Jewish slaves for all the funds they stole and embezzled from them, and for all the financial losses that Benei Yisrael incurred during the period of bondage. Frogs When armies engage in warfare, they generally employ the ele- ment of surprise by devising tactics and strategies that the enemy will not anticipate. Gd, however, in His “war” against Egypt, gave advance warning of the “tactics” that He would enlist in this cam- paign. He thereby sought to demonstrate that a battle waged against the Almighty is bound to fail regard- less of how well one prepares and mobilizes in advance of the conflict. We can easily imagine that when Moshe warned Pharaoh of the onslaught of frogs that would descend upon Egypt, he immediately met with his advisors and cabinet members to devise a strategy to best deal with the invasion. Presumably, the experts advised the citizens of Egypt to remain in their homes and keep their doors and windows shut throughout the plague. They would thus be able to function normally at home during the invasion, and then, after the plague’s end, they could leave their homes and resume regular activity. However, their plan was not des- tined to succeed. The Midrash cites one of the Sages as commenting that Gd had frogs ascend from underneath the ground. If the floor in an Egyptian home was tiled, the frog would declare to the tile, “Give me space so that I may rise and perform the will of my Creator!” The tile would immediately crumble to allow the frogs to enter the home. This showed the Egyptians the sheer futility of any attempt to outma- neuver the Almighty, and that regard- less of any strategies they devised, they were powerless against Him. Lice Upon reading the narrative of the third plague, the plague of lice, one immediately notices that Pharaoh does not summon Moshe and Aharon to beg that they end the plague, as he did in response to the frogs. He rather seems to ignore the plague, making no effort to bring it to an end. The Rabbis explain that after the plague of frogs, Pharaoh thought he had arrived at a sound plan for dealing with the plagues. When a plague struck, he would promise Moshe to release Benei Yisrael after the plague ended, and then, when Moshe would end the plague, he would persist in his refusal. Once again, however, Gd showed that He had the upper hand. The Rabbis teach that even in the region of Goshen, where Benei Yisrael resided, the earth turned into lice. However, unlike in the rest of Egypt, the lice did not crawl onto the people; it remained in the ground. When the plague struck, Pharaoh immediately sent his officials to Goshen to observe whether or not the Jews were affected by the lice. The officials reported that indeed, the ground in Goshen, as in the rest of the country, had been overtaken by lice. Pharaoh was thus misled into thinking that the plague struck In memory of Mrs. Rae Semah v"g   ” 