Parshas Va'eiro Erev Shabbos Shabbos Day Mincha 6:50pm Shacharis 9:00am Plag Hamincha 7:13pm Latest time for Shema 9:43am Latest Candle lighting 8:27pm Shabbos Mincha 4:30 / 8:15pm Shkiya 8:45pm Shabbos Ends 9:34pm Reminder - please register for Shabbos Kiddush This weeks Kiddush has been kindly sponsored by R' Danny Gold and Binny Klein on the occasion of completing Meseches Yoma Short Vort on the Parsha The first time that Moshe and Aharon stood before Paraoh, Aharon threw down his staff and it turned into a snake. Paraoh summoned his magicians, they too turned their staffs into snakes, and then Aharon's staff swallowed the rest of the staffs. The Medrash fills us in on what went on behind the scenes. When Aharon threw down his staff and turned it into a snake, Paraoh laughed. He ridiculed them and said, "Generally people bring their merchandise to a place where there are buyers. Why would you try to "sell" your magic in Egypt which is the hotbed of black magic?" He then proceeded to prove his point. He called four and five year old children out of school and they turned their staffs into snakes, and he summoned his wife who followed suit. Moshe responded that someone who has top quality produce will specifically come to the marketplace where everyone is selling produce, so that he can confirm the superiority of his produce before all the experts in the field. In a similar vein, Moshe was demonstrating his "magic" before the experts so that they would ultimately agree that they simply cannot compete. Rav Wolbe elaborates that Hashem created the world in a manner where the forces of goodness and holiness must battle (and overcome) the forces of evil and impurity. Avodas Hashem must triumph over avodah zarah. Indeed, every generation has its own unique form of avodah zarah. In Egypt it was black magic, in later generations it was statues and deities and, after Chazal destroyed that specific yetzer hara, avodah zarah reared its head in the form of Greek philosophy.