Moses and Pharaoh, Good and Bad Speech - Parsha Va'eira

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Moses and Pharaoh, Good and Bad Speech : Parsha Va'eira

The Torah tells us (Exodus 7:7) "Moses was 80 years old... when he spoke to Pharaoh." The number 80 is represented in Hebrew by the letter "pei" which hints to the word "peh" meaning "mouth." It was at this age that Moses confronted Pharaoh--the letters of whose name spell "peh rah" or "mouth of evil."

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Topics:	Pharaoh, Moses, Parshah, Pey, Va'eira

Rabbi Aaron L. Raskin is the official Chabad emissary to downtown Brooklyn, rabbi of Congregation B’nai Avraham in Brooklyn Heights, New York and Dean of Brooklyn Heights Jewish Academy. He is the author of the books, “Thank You God for Making Me a Woman", "Letters of Light", "By Divine Design", and "Guardian of Israel", and the co-author of "The Rabbi & The CEO".

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Joan Johnson via JewishTV iOS May 11, 2026

Thank you Rabbi, I enjoyed your talk. I struggle with sharing emotions. I can talk forever about esoteric ideas, but it is hard for me to be affectionate. I will work harder at verbally sharing my love for my daughter and grandson. I remember as a child my father speaking to us for hours that we would be divorced and homeless and worse. All of the things he said happened, some on the metaphysical plane, but all happened. I recently thought about it and realized that he had created evil in my life with his words. What if we could create righteousness and kindness and success in our children the same way? If our words create, perhaps they are also creating to some extent our children. Reply

Dovid Klein Chicago, IL February 7, 2012

Rabbi Aron Raskin is a superb speaker and he truly fulfills the
concept of words that go out of the heart (of the speaker) enter into the hear
(of the listener). Rabbi Raskin really has a great wisdom in G-d's Holy Torah
and it is very clear from his speaking that he has a true inner desire to give
the benefit of his wisdom to other people who stand to greatly benefit from
his wisdom. Reply

L Suitland, MD January 19, 2012

Oneness of Mouth Yes - Now the whole body is active.
One cannot speak as though he is the only One, but Know that the One is the All and the all are as One = Oneness

The Child is born into a Whole New World. Reply

Mr. Jorge Munuzuri January 18, 2012

Not to say something we have to recant later. Very beautiful words, and a very rewarding advice about our personal speaking. Better to meditate before speaking in order not to say something we have to repent for later: better to imitate Moshe Rabbeinu instead of imitate Pharaoh. Reply