Va'eira- Does the timeline work?

For this week's post, I'd like to take a couple of different explanations regarding the course of the plagues that were brought on the Egyptians and see if these explanations actually piece together to work on a proposed overall timeline for the course of the plagues.

Regarding the plague of blood that was brought on the Egyptians:

"The seven-day period was filled after Hashem struck the river." ~Shemot 7:25

Rashi on this verse and Shemot Rabbah 9:12 explain that each plague spanned an entire month of time. This time incorporates both the time during which the Egyptians were plagued with each curse and the time during which they were warned or Pharoah was given time to change his ways. One interpretation explains that there was 1 week of plague and 3 weeks of warning/repentance time, while another interpretation says that there were 3 weeks of plague and 1 week of warning/repentance time. Either way, the full timespan for each plague was 1 month.

Regarding the plague of lice that was brought on the Egyptians:

"So they did: Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the land, and the lice-infestation was on man and beast; all the dust of the land became lice, throughout the land of Egypt." ~Shemot 8:13

The Midrash Says on the book of Shemot explains that once the plague of lice was inflicted on the Egyptians, their was no useable ground left for the Israelites to perform any of the slave labor that they had been forced to do in the past. They could not make bricks, because the land was unusable; they could not be made to sweep the streets, because the dust had all become lice. The Torah Anthology Me'Am Lo'ez Book 4 and The Midrash Says on this passage explain that even if someone dug 1 Amah (~24 inches) down into the ground, they still would only find lice- there was no dirt to be found at all. 

As The Midrash Says continues on through the plague of Wild Beasts, it explains that the Egyptians tried to make the Israelites continue working by making them carry their children far distances, but the beasts would come and take the children from the hands of the Israelites. In this way, the Israelites escaped another attempted form of labor.

In Ein Yaakov: The Ethical and Inspirational Teachings of the Talmud, compiled by R' Yaakov Ibn Chaviv, it explains that the Jews were redeemed from their hard work  6 months before their exodus from Egypt. 

Based on what we learn above, that 

• each plague spanned (in some form) an entire month
• the Israelites were unable to be forced into slave labor after the plague of lice ruined all of the dirt in Egypt
• the Israelites were unable to be forced into slave labor for the 6 months preceding their exodus

does this timeline fit together?

Let's establish a timeline that lines up with the series of plagues:

Month 1: Blood

Month 2: Frogs

Month 3: Lice **

Month 4: Wild Beasts 

Month 5: Pestilence

Month 6: Boils

Month 7: Hailstones

Month 8: Locusts

Month 9: Darkness

[Month] 10: Death of the Firstborn-- however, this was not actually a month, as there was no further time for repentance offered. The plague occurred overnight, and then the Israelites were sent out.

If we look through the timeline in this way, we can count backwards through the months. Keeping in mind that the final plague was brought at the beginning of what would have been the 10th month, there is no timespan there to actually count (see this post for a review on tracking time). By this count, the plague of lice ended exactly 6 months before the exodus. 

An additional component: Thinking back to the explanation of R' Yaakov Ibn Chaviv, he explains that the Israelites were freed from work on Rosh Hashanah and freed from Egypt on Pesach. Based on our method for tracking time, does this work for counting the Jewish months from Rosh Hashanah to Pesach? Are there 6 months between the two holidays? (Remember, to count complete months!)

Kedoshim- Tracking time

"When you shall come to the Land and you shall plant any food tree, you shall treat its fruit as orlah; for three years it shall be orlah to you, they shall not be eaten. In the fourth year, all its fruit shall be sanctified lauding to Hashem. And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit- in order to increase its crop for you- I am Hashem, your G-d." ~Vayikra 19;23-25

Rashi explains on 19;23: "...three years it shall be orlah to you..."
From when does he begin to count the three years for it? From the time of its planting, i.e., from the time that it was planted. 

Counting:
The first number sets that we learn, beginning from a very young age, are the set of counting numbers- 1, 2, 3,...- and the set of whole numbers- 0, 1, 2, 3... We learn that when we have none of something, we label that as 0, and when we count items, we assign each item a number in counting order, and we can label the whole group with the number of items using the highest counting number used to count the group. So, if I have a group of pens, the first one is 1, the second one is 2, and so on. If I count up to 13 in labeling them all, then I would say that I have 13 pens.

When counting the passage of time, we enter into a more complex concept, which can be difficult to understand. Just like with other units of measurement (pounds, inches, etc.), "0" indicates that no time has passed, but we don't have "1" until we reach one completed unit of time. So, if we're counting days, the beginning of the counting of time would be 0 days. However, we cannot count 1 day until a full 24 hours has passed, we cannot count 2 days until a full 48 hours has passed, and so on. 

So how do we refer to the time in between? There are two ways of dealing with this. The first way, similar to other units of measure, is to break the intermediate time into either fractions (5/24 of a day, 1/2 of a day, etc.) or a smaller unit of measure (hours, minutes, etc.). With this method, 8 hours after the first full day would be 1 and 8/24 days or 1 and 1/3 days. The second way is to refer to the entire time in between two full cycles as "the 1st day", "the 2nd day", etc. So, from the moment we start counting the days, 0-24 hrs is labeled as the 1st day, but we only have 1 complete day after a full 24 hours. After 24 hours, we are then in the 2nd day, but we only have 2 complete days after a full 48 hours. After 48 hours, we are then in the 3rd day, but we only have 3 complete days after a full 72 hours. And so on...

Parsha Connection:
When we look at the directions we are given related to orlah, we are told that fruit from trees may not be eaten for three years, in the fourth year the fruit is given to Hashem, and in the fifth year it may be eaten. So how do we know when to start counting? Rashi explains that we start counting from the time that the seeds are planted. Now Rashi has given us our 0 point. One year later, we can count 1 yr; after a full cycle of another year, we can count 2 yrs; and finally after one more full cycle of a year, we can count 3 yrs. During this time, any fruit that is harvested may not be benefited from in any way. After we have counted 3 full, complete years, we are then "in the fourth year". Using our understanding of counting time to understand the verse, it seems that once we have counted 3 complete years, we will then be "in the fourth year". At this point, fruit may be harvested, and throughout this 4th year, the fruit is all sanctified to Hashem. Once we count the 4th complete year, then we enter into the 5th year, at which time we can eat the fruit ourselves. 

Everyday Connection:
Have you ever noticed how children (and even some adults) get flustered when they try to figure out how old they are in between birthdays? Or how to refer to the age of a newborn baby in its first year of life? The next time you find yourself trying to calculate the age of something, try thinking about it as explained above, and see if that helps make more sense of it. 

So, for example, that newborn baby is in his/her 1st year of life from the moment that they're born all the way until their 1st birthday. The day after their birthday, they begin their 2nd year of life, which continues all the way until their 2nd birthday (signifying 2 completed years of life).