עשר מכות

Ten Plagues

-  Igor Klibanov

 

Although G-d had performed miracles before, the ten plagues are the most significant and the most spectacular. In these plagues, He displays His power for both Egyptians and Israelites to see.  Yet,  the plagues bring up quite a few questions.

            If, at the burning bush, G-d told Moses that Pharaoh will release the Jews after the plague of the firstborn, why did he not just do that one first, instead of going through the other nine plagues? Since the Egyptians were polytheists, and believed in many gods, each plague was to show that the L-rd, our L-rd is one. Furthermore, it was not only to show that our G-d is superior, but also to show that their gods simply did not exist. Each plague targeted a different god.

            The final plague raises difficult moral questions.  Why does HaShem kill Egypt's first born? How can G-d's killing innocent children be justified? Rashi brings a very interesting answer. He says that since Egypt enslaved G-d's firstborn (B'nei Israel), G-d will kill Egypt's firstborn. How does this justify killing innocent children? Rashi explains the punishment is  "Mida K'Neged Mida" - Measure for measure. The Jews were enslaved for 210 years, a slavery in which Pharaoh purposely tried to make the life of the Jews progressively harder and sentenced all the male children death.  HaShem sentenced only the first born.

Rabbi Eli Teitelbaum notes that, during the course of the plagues, Pharaoh promised freedom to the Jews many times, and each time took back his permission after the plague had passed.  It was for this reason that on the night of the exodus, HaShem commanded the Jews to eat their meal so quickly. Rabbi Teitelbaum illustrates with a story:.

            A prisoner that had spent a good part of his life in a Russian prison located deep in Siberia was suddenly informed by the prison commander that he would soon be freed. One can just imagine the prisoner’s great joy to hear this fantastic news. He started making preparations and waited impatiently for the day that he would finally be let out from the dreadful prison. Just imagine his great letdown when after a month he was informed that it was all a mistake and that it had been decided that he would not be released. All his hopes were now dashed and he felt even worse than before. He had been riding on a high, and now all his dreams were shattered. Two months later, the same thing happened. Another month passed, once again, the prison commander played the same cruel joke on him. By now, he had gone into a severe state of mental depression. For the tenth time, the commander told the prisoner he would be let out of jail. The prisoner thought that this was just another hoax.  The only way he could be convinced  would be if everyone made him a big party and gave him a beautiful set of new clothes in exchange for his old prison clothes and told him to eat very quickly because the wagon was waiting to pick him up.

            Similarly,  HaShem needed to demonstrate to the Jews that the time of freedom had finally come. He told the Jews "so shall you eat it: your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; you shall eat it in haste..." (Shemot 12:11).

 

  Sources:  Rabbi Teitelbaum http://www.campsci.com/hagadah/whats_the_big_rush.htm