The Great Frog

The past few posts we have discussed the frogs.  What is so great about the frogs, why are they the one’s to mete out punishment to the Egyptians?  What is unique about the frog?

The Gemorah Sanhedrin (67b) brings a debate between Rebbe Akivah and Rebbe Elazer ben Azaryeh.  The possuk says ותעל הצפרדע, there were many frogs, not one?  Rebbe Akivah says it was one frog and many frogs came out of it.  Rebbe Elazer ben Azaryeh says don’t busy yourself with aggadeh, stick to the (difficult – Rashi) laws of negaim and ohalos.  He says that there was one frog that whistled to announce all the other frogs should come.  Why is Rebbe Elazer so animated about this point and tells Rebbe Akivah quit the derush and stick to halacha? 

The Tanna D’ve Eliyahu Ch. 7 tells us that the wordצפרדע  is a contraction of the wordsציפור  andדעה  for the frogs alert the birds to know which waters they can drink from.  As we know from the Nefesh Hachaim and the Tanya, the wordדעת   means a connection, וידע אדם את חוה אשתו .  It is the frogs that bear the secret of unity between the heavens and the depths of the earth.  They are the one’s who proclaimברוך שם  as we cited earlier this week, from Perek Shirah, here.  They bear the message that all the things in the world that seem to be many, have one source.  The Egyptians believed that there are many sources of power in the world.  This belief in the “the many” is especially represented by the frog.  

Heqet (Egyptian ḥqt, also ḥqtyt "Heqtit") is an Egyptian goddess of fertility, identified with Hathor, represented in the form of a frog.  To the Egyptians, the frog was an ancient symbol of fertility, related to the annual flooding of the Nile. Heqet was originally the female counterpart of Khnemu, or the wife of Khnemu by whom she became the mother of Heru-ur. It has been proposed that her name is the origin of the name of Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft (from here.)  The fertility is ריבוי, which indeed is a characteristic of the frog like other שרצים, see Malbim Genesis (1:21.)  However, as opposed to the Egyptians who believed there was no single source controlling all the forces in the world, the frogs teach us that there is a connection, the many is an extension of the One.  The many forces of nature come from One.  That’s why it is the frog that is chosen to teach this lesson.

The Tanaim are arguing how to to view this yichud.  Rebbe Elazer is of the opinion that indeed there are many frogs, there seem to be things in this world that don’t come together, there is good and evil, tammeh and tahor.  It is behind this mask of seemingly contradictions that there is the one whistler, One source.  Rebbe Akiva says no, there is no evil, no tammeh.  The evil, tammeh can also be transformed into good and taharah.  The many frogs all emanate from one frog.  This debate isn’t just about frogs, it’s about two entirely different weltanschauungs.  That is why Rebbe Elezar gets agitated about Rebbe Akiva’s view.  He feels that is only a message for the future days, it is not a truth that can be understood currently (based upon the teachings of Rav Tzvi Einfeld.)