Miracles Beyond Imitation
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Said the Belzer Rabbi: "We find that Pharaoh's magicians were able to perform by their secret arts the miracles of turning water into blood and of bringing up frogs. The other miracles they were not able to duplicate. The quesiton arises: Why did the Lord cause Moshe to perform miracles that could be duplicated by magic? Could He not have enjoined that all ten plagues be beyond imitation?"
"The answer is as follows: The Lord knew that in later times non-believers might arise and say: 'The Egyptian soothsayers were possessed of little sagacity, and hence Moshe was able to deceive them. We, however, would not have been victims of his chicanery.' Then we believers might retort: 'If you are wiser than the Egyptians sages, accomplish at least as much as they. Turn water into blood and bring up frogs. If you cannot do this, you must admit their superiority, and at the same time recognzie that they acknowledged the divine power resident in the acts of Moshe."
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Source: Dover Shalom
