A vort from the Rebbe on this week's parshah, Parashat Vaera. In Parashat Vaera, when the Torah tells us about the makkah of ברד, of hail, it says when that happened, Paroh said, חטאתי הפעם, this time I sinned, Hashem' הצדיק, ה' is the righteous one, ואני ועמי הרשעים, and me and my nation are the wicked ones. And the Rebbe in the Reshimot asks, what was so special about this makkah that this made Paroh admit that Hashem' הצדיק and he's wrong and Hashem' is right?

So the Rebbe explains it like this: One of the differences between Mitzrayim and other countries is that in other countries, they need to come onto rain. In order for things to grow, you have to have rain. And in Mitzrayim, you don't need rain, because naturally, the Nile overflows every year and irrigates the fields. And because of that, the Mitzrayim, the Egyptians, thought that they don't have to come onto Hashem', they don't have to their existence doesn't depend on Him. That's why they made the Nile as their god. Nature of the Nile, that's their god. But they didn't feel that they need anything from above, from Hashem', because that gave them all their needs. And as Rashi says on the pasuk in Yechezkel, where Paroh It says that Paroh said, לי יאורי, the river is mine, Rashi says, איני צריך לעליונים. Paroh said, \"I don't have to come onto anything from above. כי יש לי יאורי, I have my river, מספיק כל צרכי, and that gives me everything that I need.\" And basically, it says this is a difference really between Eretz Yisrael and Mitzrayim. In Eretz Yisrael, it rains, and in Mitzrayim, it doesn't. And it says in Chassidut that when it rains, you always have to look up because the rain comes from above. Plus, sometimes there is no rain, so you have to look up and ask Hashem' for rain. But when the Nile overflows naturally, you don't feel that. So that's why the Nile became the avodah zarah of Mitzrayim, that this made them believe that we don't have to come up to the עליונים, to the Aibershter, and it's enough the Nile that they have down here. When the barad came down, the hail came down, that came basically, it's like rain that comes from above. The Aibershter brought down the rain, which showed him that, yes, it comes from above, but the main thing is, He showed him not only do you have to come onto above, the Eibershter is in control, and the rain that He sent made it turn into a hail. Rain is good and it irrigates the fields, and here the Eibershter showed, \"It's in My hands. If I want, it could be disaster.\" And the Eibershter made that the rain should become into hail, which destroyed everything that grew.

Now, since the whole philosophy of Paroh was based on this idea that ארץ מצרים does not need rain, and like Rashi: איני צריך לעליונים, so which מכה showed the opposite of what is the philosophy of מצרים? Davka the מכה of ברד. מכה of ברד proved that even מצרים is under the control of the עליונים. And that completely disproved Paroh's Paroh's stand, Paroh's idea that you don't have to come onto עליונים. And therefore, this מכה is the one that caused Paroh to realize his mistake, and that's why only here פרעה admitted, and he said, Hashem' הצדיק ואני ועמי הרשעים, because he saw his whole philosophy was broken, because here the Eibershter showed that I do bring מלמעלה rain, and the rain that could destroy, because it's all in My control. And that made Paroh realize his mistake.