The Story of Passover: Part 2 - The Ten Plagues of Egypt - Rabbi Lazer Brody

Amuna my Lord. Amuna, it's from you my [Music] Lord. It's all good. My Lord. Oh Lord. This's loving grace. Welcome to part two, the story of our Passover series here on Amuna Hour. Uh in this lesson, we are going to learn how the Almighty chose Moses as the leader of Israel and he sends Moses on a faithful mission to Egypt. It's after last week we learned about slavery in Egypt, how the Israelites became slaves in Egypt. You can see the replay of all our lessons either on laser beams in YouTube or on laserbeams.com. So I suggest you go back and pick that up. But these lessons are designed to prepare us for seder night so we know exactly what happened where and after learning these lessons the hagut will come completely crystal clear. So let's preface tonight's lesson. We left off last week with our introduction to Moses. So at the end we talk about slavery. Moses was born and the circumstance of his birth and his childhood in the palace as Pharaoh's stepson and his subsequent escape from Egypt after he killed the Egyptian taskmaster. Now the Torah is very brief on words. The Torah stops when Moses was 21 years old and he killed the Egyptian taskmaster. He had to flee Egypt. And then we find Moses again in the Midian desert after 60 years of sjouring. And Moses was 80. Moses was 80 when he went down to uh to when Hashem sent him down. Moses was 80. Aaron was 83, his older brother. Okay. So we look what happened to 59 or 60 years in the interim. So after wandering for many years in the desert when Moses escaped Egypt, uh some sources say that he became king of Ethiopia. The midress says that Moses was king of Ethiopia for 40 years and then afterwards he had to leave that that uh people the evil people wanted to overthrow him. So he had to leave there also and he arrived in Midian. Midian is uh uh souththeastern corner of the Sinai desert. That's where Jethro lived. And this is the the Red Sea area that includes what today is Saudi Arabia and southern Israel and Jordan and the eastern portion of the Sinai Peninsula that borders in the Red Sea. So here Moses meets Jethro. Jethro also fled Egypt. Jethro was one of three chief adviserss of Pharaoh. Jethro was the number one idolatrous priest in the world. Jethro knew all every type of idolatry. He threw it all away to get close to one God. And there he sees Moses that the Hebrew comes by him. Hashem sent him a Hebrew and he loved it. So finally saw that Moses, he had special powers as a Hebrew and he tested Moses several different ways and ended up saying that uh he wants Moses to be a son-in-law. So Moses married Jethro's daughter, Seora. Seor was Jethro's daughter. And so once again, Jethro 2, he had to flee Egypt because together the other two advisers were Job and Bilam. Okay, so Job, he fled Egypt all together. And uh uh Job didn't deny the bad. So Job ended up having uh tremendous uh tribulations. Bam, he was bad all the way through. Bam had a tragic ending. uh when he was also he killed he tried to give bad bad advice. He was killed in in the war the midionite war. Later Moses and the Israelite army killed him afterwards on the way on the way to the 40 years from Egypt on the way to Israel and uh that was Job and Bilan and Jethro. Jethro fled altogether and fled the evil. So Jethro was entitled to come under the wings of the divine presence because Jethro completely threw away the bad notes. So Jethro once a world master of idolatry he's now a monotheist and becomes Moses' father-in-law. All right. So uh as a monotheist whole rest of the world again is still idolatrous especially in the Sinai desert especially in Egypt. So Jethro and his sons or Jethro he didn't have sons then his daughters they were completely shunned. After Moses came he was blessed and he had sons. But we see Moses uh saves the Jethro seven daughters when they're trying to water the flocks and the other shepherds don't let them get near the water. Okay. And Moses comes on the scene and Moses was tremendous. Moses was not only mighty in his soul, he was mighty in body. Uh the midish tells us that Moses was 9 and 1/2 ft tall and a very broad shoulder. They he watered the flocks and all the other shepherds didn't dare uh play around with Moses. Okay. So while Moses he became he married Supora and Moses is now a shepherd. He heard he tends his father-in-law's flocks and Moses loved that just like our forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were all shepherds. Why did our forefathers love being shepherds? Because it enabled them to be alone in the wilderness and just alone with Hashem and not something you have to concentrate on. You see the sheep but more they're guarded. convene with Hashem all day long. And Moses liked this also. So when Moses uh as walking in the desert and he stumbles across this burning thorn bush, see this burning thorn bush. Now usually a thorn bush when it burns burns right away and it's extinguished. So they could it was amazing that it wasn't extinguished. So he comes and he comes close to it and then a voice comes and this a heavenly voice and tells Moses that there's this holy ground and he's now together with Hashem. Okay, let's go back a year and a year before Passover night and the Exodus from the Israelites from from Egypt. This is exactly a year before Passover night. This is when Moses was on Mount Horeb. This is Mount Si. This is ultimately where the Torah is going to be given. And this is when Moses encountered the burning bush and had his first rendevu with Hashem. Okay, this burning bush is called Rotim in Hebrew. And it burns brightly, but it's not extinguished. So here, Hashem reveals himself in this bush to Moses. And Moses has proven himself as a trustworthy shepherd. Most already comes and after he's been in in the winter this very cold night Sinai is freezing at night and it's super hot in the day and it's not easy being a shepherd there. This extreme heat and extreme cold and there's wild animals and there's snakes and there's all types of nasty critters that would love to get their uh fangs on on the tender sheep and Moses protect them all. So Hashem saw that as Moses was a worthwhile shepherd that he could tend what's called Hashem's flocks, the children of Israel. So at this time the children of Israel have been enslaved for 115 years and every year was harsher and harsher and harsher. Now they ultimate but they've been 209 years in Israel. When in Egypt when they leave Egypt it's two after 210 years. Okay. So the first 95 years, one of the 12 sons of Jacob was still alive. So they weren't enslaved. But finally when the last son Ley, he he died. That's when they became enslaved. Okay. So now Hashem encounters Moses encounters Hashem. And Hashem told Moses that he hears the cries of the children of Israel in distress and that he is going to deliver them from the hands of the Egyptian oppressors and bring them back to the promised land of the Hashem, the land of Israel that Hashem promised to Abraham, Isac, and Jacob. And he wants Moses to go down and lead the people and to take the people out of Egypt. So, as mighty as Moses is and as brilliant he is, that's how exceedingly humble he is. The Torah later tells us that Moses is the most humble individual that ever walked the face of the earth. So, Moses, he hesitated to accept his great mission. He was afraid that he was neither worthy or capable of fulfilling such a great task, being the emissary of Hashem, being God's emissary to do this fantastic thing. So Hashem assured said, "Don't worry, I'm going to be with you. When I'm with you," Hashem told Moses, "You could do anything." So Moses argued that the children of Israel aren't going to recognize his authority and to speak as their leader. And he told them that if he told them that God sent them, they'd say, "Well, he's crazy. It's some kind of hippie. What he smoke? What imagine that Hashem sent him." So at that point, Hashem told Moses that to identify him to the children of Israel and he spoke to the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had now come to redeem them from slavery and take them from the land of bondage to the promised land of their ancestors. This is what Hashem told. This is what this is why you talk to the children of Israel. So Moses, he's still he's debating with Hashem for an entire week. Here's Hashem. Moses was in front of that burning bush on the top of Mount Si for an entire week and already here what did he didn't say okay Hashem it's lunchtime Hashem I'm thirsty no he didn't eat he didn't drink he's debating with for an entire week and this was exactly the seven days of Passover we see this is the template that l for for the seven days of Passover Moses went up to uh he encountered the burning bush on Passover Eve of the seder eve He was with Hashem for seven days. He argued with Hashem for seven days. This corresponds to the seven days of Passover. So like a lawyer in court, Moses presented two more arguments. He said, "Look, Hashem, I'm an an accused criminal. I'm a convicted murderer in Egypt. I can't go back to Egypt. Soon as I go there, they're going to murder me. And second, so he's got this death sentence hanging over his head. And second, I've got a heavy tongue. I I stutter. There's a Moses. Why a Moses stutter? When Moses was a little boy that we explained this last week, that Moses was a little boy, he was tempted with a plate of gold, the plate of hot coals. And the soothsayers told Pharaoh, if he chooses the gold, that means he wants to choose your throne. And if he chooses the hot coals, then that means that uh he'll be loyal to you. So he wanted to pick the goals but they wanted to choose the coals but then he he wanted to choose the gold. Then the angel moved his hand and he picked up a hot coal and touched his burned his hand touched his tongue and he burned his tongue. For burning his tongue he stuttered after that. Okay. But even so Moses said I I can't I I I can't talk. So Sheb said that's no problem. I'm going to send your brother Aaron your older brother as your mouthpiece. Moses couldn't understand. Why is my mouthpiece? Why can't he? He's my older brother. He's three years older than me and he's more holy than I am. Why? He should be the leader. Shem said, "You you don't argue with Hashem." Moses did not win the argument. So, he lost the argument on both counts. And he said, "Nobody's going to touch you because the people that wanted to kill you, they're not there anymore. They're not there anymore. They should put them away." Uh, so the Torah asked a question, but the Torah commentators ask a question. What does Shm mean that the people aren't there anymore? They're not alive anymore. Dawson and Avirum, they're the ones that uh informed on Moses that he was the one that killed the Egyptian and they're still alive. But what happens? They lost all their money and the Gmor trackim says that a person that loses all the money come bankrupt. That's a lot like dead. So they had no more power. They had no more influence and they're like dead people. Nobody can hurt Moses anymore. So now Moses is 80 years old and Aaron is 83 when they go down to Egypt and they confront Pharaoh in a palace. They said walk right at the palace. Can you imagine foreigners and you get on a plane and you go to London or you go to Washington DC and you get to 10 Downing and walk in 10 Downing or go to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC the White House walk right in the White House past all the guard something unheard of here. The Egypt was so well guarded and here Moses come they don't ask permission from anybody and they walk right into the palace undaunted. They walk past the guards and get see that Hashem is with them showing with them. You go to Pharaoh. You go to Pharaoh. Like they say monopoly. You don't pass go. You don't collect $200. You go directly. Go directly to Pharaoh. Go directly to Pharaoh. And they walked in as if they own the palace. So finally they walked past a paralyzed company of guards. Hashem paralyzed them. And the reinforced lions. The guards. If in Peru's palace there was a first level of guards. find the guards were these roaring lions that if somebody got past the guards they'd have to get through the roaring lions. The lions were like pussycats. Nobody Moses and Aaron they were aed by Moses and Aaron. We could see whenever someone has an aura of holiness the animals respect him. That's why Daniel who was a perfect sadic when Daniel was thrown into lion's den the lion hungry lions the lions they they they purred. This is this is the power of power of holiness. And Moses and Aaron were were very very holy. So a place that no uninvited visitor ever went into. Here they are, the two Hebrews, they come right in. And nobody had ever been able to see the king of Egypt to see Pharaoh without an appointment, that waiting and the proper things. So Pharaoh tried to hide himself from public eye because he sold himself off as a deity. In other words, uh people thought that though Pharaoh doesn't need to go to the bathroom. Why? Because he's not human. This what he tried to do. So Pharaoh would wake up very early in the morning when everybody was sleeping. He would go down to the Nile and relieve himself. This is the type of things that Pharaoh did to try and sell himself as as a deity. So he couldn't let anyone else know that he had human functions and he was also embarrassed by his size. Look at the juxiposition here. Hashem is Shem has got a fantastic sense of humor. Moses is nine and a half feet tall. Okay, Moses had he would be too big to play in the NBA, but the eight-footers, they'd be dwarfed by him. Moses was 9 and 1/2 ft tall. Pharaoh was a Pharaoh was about 4 and 1/2 ft tall. So, here comes in Moses and he towers over Pharaoh. Pharaoh was this this little and and he was small and this was it was intimidating. It was intimidating Pharaoh. Pharaoh didn't want to put situated like that. So, Pharaoh was both astonished and frightened. He was scared out of his wits that here comes this tremendous Hebrew and really threatening. Look at Moses. Moses, it was a holy man. Moses didn't touch a fly. Moses was a gentle shepherd, but just walked in and his stature. And this is what the Torah says. When you have Hashem's divine light reflecting from your forehead, people are they're a by you. They're afraid of you. Okay? So, the two brothers, they walked right in and they asked what they wanted and the message sounded like a command and they said, "Thus spoke the God of Israel, let my people go." This was Moses was relaying a message from Hashem, but it sound like it was a a drill sergeant in the Marine Corps in Paris Island. So Pharaoh, he hardly refused. He had to show that he's the big man. It's an audience of all his guards. Okay. So Pharaoh took a puffed up his his little four and a half ft tall chest and say that he never heard of. He says, "Who's Hashem that I should listen to him?" Oh, that that expression get him into big trouble. He says, "Here you are, You a little idoltor and you're blaspheing Hashem. Who is Hashem that I should listen to him?" that's talking about like, you know, who's the who's the the the clerk in city hall. I should pay attention to him when I'm the king. This is Hashem. That's the God of the Israelites. And the name of the Pharaoh could do this as he looks in his registry of names of deity. And there wasn't Hashem there. There wasn't the four ineffable letters Yud V. And he looks so he further accused Moses and Aaron of a conspiracy against the Egyptian government and interference with the work of the Hebrew slaves. Sounds like today. Sound like today. So in retaliation, what did Pharaoh do? He kicked Moses and Aaron out of the court and says they leave right away or else they're going to be in trouble. Well, they didn't challenge him. They didn't they left. They left. And what Pharaoh did to turn the Israelites against Moses and Aaron, he doubled their workload. And from here on until freedom, every day their workloaders get doubled. And we see that children of Israel, they were unable physically to cope with an impossible task. Before they would be provided with straw, they had to make bricks. Now they were taken the straw for and Egypt is not Iowa. Egypt, this desert, try and find some straw. I walk all across the country, the savas, the deserts, and look for a bit of straw. And so Moses and Aaron, after their visit with Hashem, the situation, the children of Israel was even worse. Now, we have to pay attention to this before we see the light of whatever salvation we need. Often times, our tribulations are worse. Whether it is a health challenge, whether it's a financial challenge, don't this is but a sounded light show from the evil inclination to get you discouraged. Oh, Hashem's not with you. Islam's not here. This what happened to the children of Israel. And Moses and Aaron, even Moses and Aaron eventually ask Hashem. Hashem, what what good did we do? We made life worse for them. So now they're deeply hurt and they're disappointed that they didn't succeed. And the first time around despite what they did, they they they had they had tricks that Shem gave them to do. Their rod turned into a snake. Well, the Egyptians could do that, too. But then Aaron's rod ate up the all the other rods that made up the snake, swallowed the other snakes, and and they they turned they turned water into blood. They they did things. And Pharaoh says to him, "What you come to? The whole country is with witchcraft. you impress us with a bit of witchcraft and he he made fun of their tricks. So they didn't succeed. They didn't succeed in in their first uh their first time around as as messengers. And so now Pharaoh on purpose didn't let them succeed because now that Pharaoh is refusing to listen to Hashem and refusing to let his people go. Now Hashem is about to throw the book at them. And this is what we're learning tonight. the 10 plagues. Okay. So when Moses relayed Hashem's message, let my people go to Pharaoh, the Egyptian monarchy snarled back and he said, "Who is Hashem that I should listen to him?" And he says, "Besides, I never heard of Hashem before." You can see that this is right in the words in the Torah in chapter 5 of Exodus in verse two. And with such unprecedented, this is real insulence. Pharaoh was begging for punishment. So, excuse me. We've got a we looked at the offices in in a bomb shelter, but there's a siren in the background is what the incoming missile from the hood. These are live broadcast here. Okay. Unfortunately, many Jews were influenced by Pharaoh's attitude. See what that the evil inclination doesn't want us to give tonight. Sure. So it's worth to getting getting our our enemies in in Yemen to fire ballistic missiles at us to the shore. But okay, we took a step ahead of that. We moved everything into our our bomb proof office. Okay, bashm. So we keep on going. All right, excuse me for the interruption and says, "Well, blame the Houthies that this ask uh the Americans to put another bob load on the B-52s down in Senna in Yemen for interrupting us." Okay, back to our lesson. Unfortunately, many of the Israelites were influenced by Pharaoh's attitude. They thought that uh that there's no way out. And not only that, they were influenced by Egyptian culture, by Egyptian idolatry. And they saw their lives, they didn't see Hashem, they saw their lives in Pharaoh's hand. They saw their fate. Pharaoh made life harder for them. Pharaoh could make life easier for them. Pharaoh could kill them at at will. Heaven forbid. So Hashem therefore sent the 10 plagues and there's a message in each these 10 plagues not only as a punishment for Egypt but for the benefit of Israel. So as we see in the 10 plagues the 10 plagues were designed to accomplish three major tasks to teach three lessons and these three lessons is number one that Hashem is creator of the world. Every one of the plagues denies nature. Nobody could possibly do it. Only Hashem, Hashem's created the world. The lesson number two that we learn is that Hashem directs the world in a precise manner of divine direction down to the tiniest detail that nobody else could do. Nature can't. Only Hashem. Only Hashem. And lesson number three is our three words of Amuna. There was no one but Hashem. And Hashem does whatever he wants whenever he wants. So once again, lesson number one in the 10 plagues, Hashem has created the world. Lesson number two is Hashem's divine direction of the world call. And lesson number three is that anode there's no one but Hashem. So Pharaoh is a king of idolatry and he fashioned himself as this deity and he denied all these three points. But now Pharaoh is going to these three points are going to be shoved down his throat. Okay. The 10 plagues is going to show who's right, Hashem or Pharaoh. Pharaoh denies one by one. Pharaoh and his susayers and everything and okay so now we have a showdown. Pharaoh thinks that consider a deity in his blindness spiritual blindness and arrogant arrogance makes people blind. So Pharaoh in his arrogance everybody bowed down to him. Everybody gives him homage. He thinks he's king of the universe. He couldn't he couldn't create a fingernail but much less run the world. So now he thinks he can overcome Hashem. So now we're going to see a competition between Pharaoh and Hashem. And Pharaoh invited all this with his hutbah, his arrogance, and his insulence. Okay. So now we're going to give a brief description of each plague. And not only we're going to talk about what each plague was, the physical manifestation of each plague, but we have to look at Hashem's fingers in each plague. Where was the message? What was the measure for measure message in each plague? measure for measure that we call the atfat principle a turn for a turn. Uh the gummor tells us everything does is measure for measure. Okay. So let's start with plague number one and that's dumb. That's the blood. So Moses and Aaron they walked down to the Nile riverbank and Aaron raised his staff and he struck the water and he converted the water into streams of blood. So as the Nile turned into blood all the water in Egypt turned into blood. So Pharaoh and all the people of Egypt, they saw this miracle and they saw the fish die. Fish can't live. You know that there they couldn't they could the gills could take the oxygen out of water. They couldn't take it out of the blood. And it's dead fish all over the place. And this was an offensive stench that affected the entire land of Egypt. Entire lands of Egypt. It was a disgusting smell. And it was impossible for them to drink the water of the Nile. They worshiped the Nile. The Nile was one of their deities because the Nile was they thought the Nile was their source of life. The water is a source of life. But Hashem sends the water. But they this is what they uh uh when a person idolatry is when a person worships the cause and not the source the worship of the Nile but not the source of the Nile which is Hashem. Okay. So it's impossible for them to drink. And unfortunately for the Egyptians, not only were the floods of the flood waters, the Nile turned into blood, but all the waters of Egypt the blood. Whenever they went, there was blood. And this was it went on for an entire week. And so the Egyptians and their animals suffered horrible thirst. But Hashem let them usually a person doesn't drink for seven days. Hashem extended their lives so that they could exist without water for seven days to make them suffer. Hashem gave them the ability to suffer more. So what's the measure for measure in the plague of blood that the Egyptians spilled the blood of so many Jewish babies into the Nile that now became a river of blood in memory of all the murdered babies that were thrown into the Nile. Number two, the Egyptians spilled blood like water. They spilled Jewish blood like water. So now their water became like blood. Uh lesson number three is that part of the forced labor of slavery was that the Jews had to be water carriers for the Egyptians. So the first relief of slavery is that they long have to do that. I know longer they're now exempt from carrying water to the Egyptians because there's no water the Egyptians carry. Have to understand the same water that was blood for the Egyptians would continue to be water for the Israelites. But even if an Israelite would take a cup of water and even if he liked the Egyptian and give the Egypt the cup of water, as soon as the cup passed the Egyptian's hand would turn into blood. That's another one of the miracles. So the fourth lesson is that the Egyptians tried to prevent Jewish women from ritual immersion to and ritual immersion is at the end of the menstrual cycle. A woman goes to mikvah and right then she's most fertile. two weeks after she gets her cycle, she goes to mikvah. And then conception is usually very easy. And the Egyptians, they prevented the Israelite women from going to the mikvah because they want to have the babies. Uh they got around that also. Hashem able to get around that. Like they got around all the decrees, but they the fact that they prevented Israelite women from bathing in the mikvah. Now they could not bathe. That's also measure for measure. And the fifth is that Pharaoh claimed that he and the Nile were the co-ods of Egypt. Pharaoh said he wasn't the exclusive god of Egypt. He's 50% partner with the Nile. That he and the Nile are the guards of Egypt. And he claimed that the Nile was his and he created it. This is insulence. Who could believe such a thing that Pharaoh says that he said the Nile is mine and I created it. So, Hashem slaughtered the Nile as if the Nile was bleeding and they slaughtered Hashem's claim. We go on to plague number two, which is the frogs. In Hebrews fela, Pharaoh, he remained obset in refusal to capitulate to Egypt, to capitulate to Hashem, excuse me. And after ignoring due warning, he sent the second plague. Hashem sent the second plague. So, Aaron stretched forth his hand over the waters of Egypt and the waters dropped forth. Okay. Now, why did Aaron affect the first plague turning the water into blood and the second plague bringing the frogs out of the water? Because the waters of the Nile saved Moses as a little baby. So, Moses had gratitude. This is something a deep lesson of gratitude that one of the first principles in serving Hashem. In fact, the word for Jew, Yehoudi, means a person has gratitude. This is the basic. If a person doesn't have gratitude, he or she cannot have a muna. First thing is gratitude. Moses had gratitude to the Nile and Hashem knew that it was not proper to ask Moses to punish the Nile because the Nile uh gave refuge to Moses as he's a little baby on Moses in his little uh straw crib that floated in in in the Nile. Okay. So, Aaron affected the first two the first two plagues. So, now the frogs they become more and more every time the Egyptians try and kill them. They killed one frog. The frog would splitter into another 10 frogs. And they multiplied. They covered all of Egypt. There were frogs in their bedrooms. Frogs in their in their sinks. Frogs in their ovens. Frogs everywhere. Frogs. Frogs. Frogs. And the croaking of the frogs all day long. Ribbit. Ribbit. Millions and zillions of frogs. It made the Egyptians crazy. And it brought them to the brink of insanity. During 24 hours, the croaking of frogs. When you go by the river early in the morning and you hear a croaking of frogs, it's very settling and this that. But when the frogs are there, if you surrounded by millions of bullfrogs croaking, it's deafening and it they made them crazy. So there was nowhere that an Egyptian could escape the frogs. The Gomorrah says that the frogs were so dedicated to dom's will that they plunged into the hot ovens. So when an Egyptian would try and bake his pitha, the hot bread, they would come out and he would have frogs embedded in the hot bread and they couldn't eat that. The frogs were in the dough that their bread would come out green. So, Kanana, Misha and Aaria, Shadrach, back then Mach and Abednego that we also learned in the book of Daniel. They were the three Jewish heroes who later and first after the destruction of first temple, they defied the Babylonian ruler. Uh because erected a statue of himself like Pharaoh, he would consider himself a deity and they refused to bow down and rather that they cast himself into a fiery furnace. And if we learn about this in the third chapter of Daniel and they said uh they they said we shall not serve your god told uh nor should we bow down to the golden statue that you've erected. So they boldly declared that before being thrown to a flaming death that they were miraculously saved like Daniel from lion's den. Uh they they they were saved they were saved uh from the they were saved from the fiery furnace. Misha Lazaria that they were from the tribe of Judah. Some say the same as as as Daniel. Some say they're King David's King David's descendants. But they were tribes of Judah. They were the tribe of Judah. So the frogs, why mention this? The frog. Where did they where did they learn this from? They said, "If a frog in Egypt can jump in a fiery furnace for Hashem's honor, we certainly can." So the plague of the frogs it gave later subsequent generations and we're talking about let's see 2448 and then there we're talking about uh n 700 years later 650 years later it gave Mishel Nazaria the courage to jump in the fiery furnace and not be afraid because a frog do it we certainly can do it. If a frog can serve a sh like that we certainly can. So the frogs, they terrified Pharaoh. He was scared stiff of the frogs. And he asked Moses and Aaron to pray for Hashem to remove this nuisance. And he promised this after the second plague, Pharaoh promised, "Get rid of the frogs and and I'll let the Jewish people go. Let the Israelites go." But as soon as the frogs disappeared, Pharaoh broke his promise and he refused to let the Israelites go. This reminds the story of a person is downtown in Piccadilly Circus and he's got an in downtown London. He's got an emergency meeting at the bank and he says, "Hashem, let me have a parking space." He's not he's going to lose a big so right away before the meeting, a parking space opens up in front of the bank and he says, "Okay, Hashem, I I'm okay now. You can go." This what people do. They pray and yearn for salvations. And once they get the salvation, they say, "Okay, bye-bye, Hashem." That's not the way it work. This is this is what Pharaoh did. And let's see. It's not the way to go. So, what's the measure for measuring the frogs? We have four lessons. measure measure and the frogs first that the Egyptians forced the Jews to bring them all types of snakes, frogs and lizards despite the fact that Jewish people these are uncosher uncosher critters and Jews said they're revolted by this and ritually unclean. So they go bring us reptiles, go bring us this, go bring us snakes. And so Hashem brought the Egyptians all the frogs and all the rep they ever wanted. Number two, the Egyptians robbed the Israelite slaves of their sleep. Made them work in the middle of the night. So the croak and the frogs robbed the Egyptians of their sleep. Measure for measure. Number three, the Egyptians screw the Egyptians threw screaming babies into the Nile. And measure for measure, zillions of screaming frogs emerge from the Nile. Let's see what what do they say down home? What comes down goes around. Okay, what what you do for other people, you get that right back. And this is measure for measure. It's not something natural. It's a what it's embedded in creation. It's the way Hashem runs the world. It's all from Hashem. But that's what Hashem does. A person brings good into the world. Hashem will bring good into that person's life. A person brings the opposite. Brings pain and suffering in the world. It looks like that person might be driving a Maserati and have a lot of mail. That's is only very temporary. person's going to have a bad bad downfall. As we see with all the tyrants, they never have a happy ending. The fourth lesson of measure for measure in the frogs is the Egyptians tried everything to prevent the Jews from multiplying. And the frogs did the same thing to the Egyptians by filling their beds and the midri tells us that the frogs in their beds, they bit their genitals and they were unable to they were unable to to multiply. We now go on to the plague number three which is Kenim that's the lice. So Shem ordered Aaron again to struck the dust of the earth the staff. Why Aaron and not Moshe? Because the dust of the earth hid the dead Egyptian Moses buried the dead Egyptian that he that he killed uh the taskmaster when he was he was torturing a an Israelite slave. So Moses with one there's two accounts. One says he gave him one chop to the solar plexus. He was done. Another thing didn't hit him at all, but used Hashem's name. Just killed him with Hashem's name. But one way or the other, the dust hid the body of the Egyptian and gave Moses enough time to run away. So now Moses owes a debt of gratitude to the dust. Look at this. We have four levels of creation. We have the mineral, the plant, the animal, and the human. We're talking about the lowest level of creation, the water and the dust. They did a favor for Moses. Moses does not forget. Hashem does not let Moses forget. Moses, you can't do this because you owe the dust a favor. So therefore, Aaron will do it. Aaron didn't have Eden know the dust. So Aaron strikes the dust with this rod. And lice sworn from the dust and blanketed the entire land of Egypt. The whole land of Egypt was covered with lice and people and animals every untold misery from this terrible pl terrible plague. Pharaoh's eggs pointed out that this was surely Hashem's punishment. Why? Because the witchcraft Egyptian witchcraft had no control over any creature that was less than the size of a lentil. And here a lie is the lyser are much smaller than that. So they couldn't they couldn't do anything about it. Still, Pharaoh remained relentless in his determination not to surrender and not to free the children of Israel from bondage. That Pharaoh kind of reminds you of Kamas. As much as Kamas is getting hidden out, they don't want to surrender. They're willing to burn the whole people. Pharaoh, he willing to burn the whole country. Okay, there's no problem that the shamat did continue. And this is we see this Passover comes alive every single year. So the measure for measure and and lice there's two. The Egyptians did everything to expose the Jews to lice. They had to sweep filth and work in dusty and lice ridden conditions. So Hashem gave the lice right back to the Egyptians measure for measure. second that the Egyptians prevented the Israelites from doing Hashem's mitzvot and the lice prevented Egyptians from doing their daily task. Now we go on to plague number four which is the the wild animals. The next plague tormented the Egyptians. It was hordes of fierce wired animals roving all over the country. Everything from dinosaurs to rid and in Egypt they found skeletons of of dinosaurs. There's a skeleton of of Tyrannosaurus Rex was found in in land of Egypt. Well, we're not surprised. That was the part of the arrows that they done. There were wild wild boores and wild lions and fierce animals that terrified all of Egypt. Only in the land of Goan where the Israelites lived, there was no there's no wild animals because everything like all the other plagues, Israelites were immune from all the plagues. Once again, Pharaoh promised to let the Hebrews go out in the desert on condition that they don't go too far. They don't go too far away. That they they want to worship Hashem. Okay, they go out a few miles in the desert and then come right back. So Moses prayed even for that minor promise. Moses prayed to Hashem and the wild animals disappeared. But as soon as they had gone, Pharaoh comes, right? He's got a short memory and Pharaoh comes back to his old antics and he withdrew his promise to Moses and that so the plague came directly from Hashem with no intervention from Moses Aaron. This first plague, the fourth plague, the plague of the wild animals, they Moses and Aaron didn't do anything. It's a one word. Hashem sent this right away. So it not only included wild animals but killer birds. Can you imagine the killer birds? Reptile birds. Take a a really deadly uh Florida Everglades crocodile and give it wings. The big put a flying crocodile, flying alligators. This was the snakes, scorpions, all types of of of killer critters. So what's the measure for measure here? The first is that the Egyptians treated the Israelites with untold cruelty and they were as cruel as wild animals. So with the Arab measure for measure, Hashem sent them cruel wild animals that had no mercy on them. The second measure for measure is that the Egyptians hunted Israelite babies. And so the arose, the wild animals, they went and they hunted out the Egyptians. They would break it down. They would hunt out the Egyptians. The third measure for measure is the Egyptian task masters. They intruded uninvited into the homes of the Israelites like fierce lions and wolves breaking in. And the fierce animals did the same exact thing to the Egyptians. Knocked down their doors, walked in whenever they wanted. And this is exactly what they did to the Hebrews. So the fourth lesson of the Eru measure for measure lesson is that the Egyptians enveloped the Israelites at constant fear and cruelty, constant fear of more work, fear of being beaten, fear of more torture. And so the arov enveloped the Egyptians likewise. and there was nowhere to escape. That brings us to plague number five. Plague number five is the deor. That's the killer cattle disease. Uh after researching this, I think it's what we call in in Europe render pest and we call in America anthrax. It's anthrax. This was probably at the very same that what the way the Torah describes the Torah describes this pest. It's like anthrax. this uncontrolled plague that just affected all the animals. So now that the wild animals disappeared, Pharaoh felt relieved. And for three weeks, Moses had warned him and said, "Listen, if you don't let us go, your own animals are going to suffer." So many of these animals such as cattle and sheep were considered deities by the Egyptians. The Egyptians, they they weren't carnivores. They were herbivores. They they ate only they were vegetarian because they worshiped the sheep and that's another reason they hated the Israelites that the Israelites were shepherds the son of shepherds and meat eaters. Uh so with Pharaoh's again continued refusal, Hashem sent a fatal pestilence. This uh what with like like the anthrax, the cattle disease, the dever what we the Torah calls and the devil was uh enabled Egyptians to witness their own gods being killed. Here's Hashem killing all these false gods. And this what Hashem does when Hashem goes to war. First thing Hashem does is kill the idolatry of the nation he's attacking. So while all this happening here, the Israelite animals, the Israelite cattle, their horses and donkeys, whatever they had, their sheep, fat, plump like uh suffic and and some and some Midlands UK meadow and that's the plump sheep and that Egyptian flocks are all dying. Hashem showed this mind-boggling Divine direction, precision divine direction. You have two sheep standing next to one is Egyptian owned sheep and one is Israelite owned sheep. The Egyptian owned sheep is dying. It's a it's it's diseased and dying. And the Israelite owned sheep. That's healthy as could be. Okay. This is to differentiate between the cattle of Egypt and the cattle of Israel all through its amazing divine direction. All through the 10 plagues, there's complete differentiation between the Egyptians and the Israelites. So, Pharaoh is still hard in his heart. He doesn't wake up. And Hashem is showing us this unprecedented stubbornness and see how people that they suffer and they say, "Well, maybe you should turn to Hashem." No, no, not that. Not that that the people are stubborn. This is this is from arrogance. And this is Pharaoh is showing this is the arct type arrogant tyrant and turning form. So what is the measure for measure with the dev the killer cattle disease that number one the Egyptians forced the Israelites to tend their flocks. So Hashem freed his chosen people from this task by killing the Egyptian flocks. Okay the Israelites don't have to tend Egyptian flocks because there's no more Egyptian flocks that all the cattle and sheep are are dying. They're dead. And the second lesson is they took Israel away from their traditional vocation of shepherds. Once again, why did Israelites love to be shepherds? It takes them out in the wilderness, takes them far and spend time with Hashem. You don't have to concentrate on what you're doing. You can guard your sheep. Pay attention. Spend time with Hashem. And therefore, Hashem took the Egyptians animals away from them. And the third measure formeasure lesson with a different is that they forced the Hebrews to work as beasts of burden pulling wagons and plows and to spare their own animals. So Hashem killed the very animals that they wanted to spare. They said, you know, why should we make our oxen work hard? Let the let the Israelites pull the wagons and pull the pull the plows and terrible terrible labor. Okay. Say what they what we're trying to save. killed. Brings us to plague number six. Plague number six is the that's boils. Boils that come up on the skin. The sixth plague was horrific beyond description. Pharaoh and the Egyptians enjoyed three weeks of resppite after the plague number five. But now again they had a chance to do chuva. They had a chance to uh make penitence but they refused to do it. So Aaron and now now at the onset of plague number six, we now see Aaron and Moses returning to Pharaoh's court. Now this time they're walking in I don't know what word to use, but if you can imagine two super rambos where they were strangers when they first came in, even though the Moses big that all of Egypt, all of Egypt was terrified by Aaron and Moses, especially by Moses. And Moses walked in at the like the sheriff and okay Carell everything just sides if the nobody could stop him. So Pharaoh once again he refused to flee the Israelites. So now Moses and Aaron they take a handful of black oven soot. So the the ash from the oven and they throw it up into the sky and a cloud descended on land of Egypt. a cloud that was 1,000 miles long and 1,000 miles wide. And we're talking about 1 million square miles. And this was a cloud of black dust turned into a terrible boil that as soon as it a grain of dust touch the skin of Egyptian, it would turn into a boil. See, imagine a boil that someone would burn really bad. And there's I don't want to be too graphic because it's not not so pleasant, but turns out this really blistered infested blister. Their whole body was covered with these painful blisters, the boils because it's as if their body was burnt. And this was more painful than all the previous plagues. So the midish tells us that there were 20, not one type of boil, 24 types of boils. The Egyptians couldn't heal themselves because any medication or herb that was beneficial for one type of boil, it made the other type of oils worse. So if person Egyptian uh susay or Egyptian physician said this is good for boils maybe it would one of the time but the other would make the other 23 much more infected infested and painful. So the Egyptians were walking around with these open inflicted wounds infested wounds and it was repulsive beyond description. Excuse me being graphic but we're have to explain what the how terrible this was what these plagues were. These players were no joke. And these wounds included every type of skin disease. It would be a a dermatologist danger dermatologist uh it could learn any type of skin disease and because they had all the types of skin diseases known including leprosy. This was the worst punishment for Pharaoh's uh kartumim. Hartum are the Egyptian idolatry priests and according to their beliefs they couldn't perform their idolatry unless they're the fifth if a if a priest had a lesion or a cut or something he had to let his his colleagues do the work. He couldn't do it. It was not accepted. This wasn't and and their belief they had to be unblenmished. But now all the priests were not only they were blemished beyond repair. So that way they couldn't perform any idolatry. So the all the idolatry all the idolatrous services and land of Egypt they stopped they stopped. So if a person was looking for some type of idolatry to pray to or something to leave they couldn't find it. Couldn't find it. So none of them were cured. None of the kartumi were cured until the day they died. And this is the priest they died from this particular ailment. So even though the priests the Kartumim they already recognized after the third plague plague of lice they said to they said they told Pharaoh this is the hand of Hashem we can't do anything against that because once again like we mentioned before that this critter was below the size smaller than the size of a lentil. They were powerless against that. So now they couldn't even show their faces in front of Moses and Aaron because it was an asthma that an Egyptian idolatrous priest should show himself with wounds. And this was terrible for them. So with all the boils and all the lesions on their skin, Hashem showed that everything and everyone is powerless against Hashem. No one has any power. Ain't no there's no one to. So here on from now from plague 6 to 7 8 9 and 10 Pharaoh no longer has any free choice. At the end of plague six Hashem takes away Pharaoh's free choice. Now person can say wait a second that's not fair. That's not fair. Why does Hashem take away Pharaoh's free choice? Pharaoh had plenty of chances to repent. Hashem gave him more than one chance. That's why there's 10 plagues. Once Pharaoh refused and refused and refused, Pharaoh is making a statement that this is his free choice. His free choice is to go against Hashem. Ahm says if it's your free choice to go against you, now we are going to use you for an example in the he says that everyone in the world sanctifies Hashem's name. But some people do it out of choice and some people do it against their own choice. So Pharaoh is a negative way. Pharaoh doesn't want to do it. But by way of Pharaoh being the archetype of evil and going against Hashem and see what happens to him. This is the sanctification of Hashem's name. Everyone in the plagues would sanctification Shem's name. So we learn and the boils that ever the measure for measure that first is each day the Israel Israelites would come home from their dusty and backbreaking work with crack, bleeding and painful skin. Now all of Egypt suffered much worse with cla ble beating and painful skin and with the addition of boils. Second the Egyptian slave drivers whipped the Israelites until their skin was a flamed and excrucially painful mess of bleeding wounds. No Egypt suffered from just equally minimally painful wounds that the minimum was like be being we beaten with a whip what they did to to the Israelites. The third lesson is that the Egyptians treated the Israelites like lepers. Now all of Egypt suffered from leprosy and even worse brings us now to plague number seven. Plagues number seven is the H. So with this plague, Hashem really defies nature and shows the world that there is no one but Hashem. So Moses declared to Pharaoh that it's going to suffer a hail storm of unprecedented fury that's going to sweep the land. And this is not regular hailstone, but rocks of ice that supernaturally filled with raging flames. That's like a grenade. What Hashem did that the archangels Gabriel and Michael, they came together. Michael is from the side of water is the side of Gabriel is the side of stern judgment. Fire. The water and the fire came together in unison to do Hashem's will. So what you have, you don't have a chocolatecovered donut, you have a an ice covered fire. So here you have a ball of ice inside a blaming fire. When it would hit the ground, it would explode like a grenade and set whatever on on on whatever it landed on would set it on fire. So this nature decides nothing. We learn here decides everything. And to do Hashem's will, nature was overridden. So no living tree or no living thing, no animal, no tree, no plant could survive the fury of the hail. It destroyed everything. The only shelter was in their houses. So if the Egyptians feared Hashem enough to hide in their houses, then they were spared. And if they had any animal that was still alive, then it was spared also. And this was the reward for fearing Hashem enough to believe in the plague and and to hide from it. But the reckless, the agnostic, and the idolatrous Egyptians that they ignored Moses, they said, "We're not going to listen to the Jew." And they left their cattle and their servants out in the field. When Moses stretched forth his shaft as as his staff, hail poured down from the heavens with unprecedented violence and deafening thunder rolled through the heavens. It was really scary. The hail would hit the ground at night fires all over the place and the hail did its work of destruction and man and beast that were exposed to this particular plague died on the spot. Okay. The herbs all anything herbus was was destroyed and the trees lay shattered on the ground. The trees it was enough that the the ice ball it was like a bomb. It hit the tree enough to break a tree. didn't even have to burn it when it by the time it caught on fire. It was a it was a broken tree were knocked down. So once again, the land of Gan where the Israelites drilled it was untouched by the ravages of the storm and it bloomed like a garden amidst all this devastation all around. So this time Pharaoh summoned Moses and confessed his sins. We're now in in the Torah we're in the chap in chapter nine of Exodus verse 27. So now Pharaoh makes his first confession. He says, "This time I've sinned. Hashem is the righteous one, and I and my people are guilty ones. Beg Hashem to stop this thunder and hail, and I will let your people go." Okay, this is Pharaoh after uh the hail. And Moses replied, "Okay, take your word. I'm going to believe you, Pharaoh, but uh when I leave the city, I'm going to spread my hands to Hashem." Why did Moses have to leave the city? He couldn't pray to Hashem in the city because city was full everywhere you went. Idolatry and you're not allowed to pray within uh within 2 meters of idolatry. You couldn't go there. So Moses had to go out into the desert and speak to Hashem and he extended his arms to Hashem in prayer and the fa the thunder ceased, the hail ceased, everything stopped. But just as Moses said, the storm ceased, but Pharaoh's hardened heart refused to yield. So what do we learn measure for measure in plague number seven that this plague of the hail that the Egyptians all the time they would throw rocks at the Israelites while they work? This was a that they did this for fun. They'd throw rocks at the at the Israelites and now the hail were terrible stones and it got thrown at them, hit them hard. The second lesson is the Egyptians forced the Israelites to sleep in the outdoors with the flocks they tended. So the Egyptians therefore had to sleep indoors with their animals. Not nice to bring your animals at home if you want your animals to live. The third measure for measure was that the Egyptians denied the Israelites the slightest rest in the shade of a tree. And so the hail left them with no trees. Okay, the Israelites can't have a tree. You can't have one either. And the fourth is that Pharaoh, remember what Pharaoh first said when Moses first came into the court. He says, "Who is Hashem? I should listen to his voice." So he said, he didn't want to listen to Hashem's voice. So now he heard, he and the Egyptians had to listen to the deafening voice of the hail and the thunder. Brings us to plague number eight, which is the locust Arab. So the next time that Mosar appeared before Pharaoh, Pharaoh seemed a little bit penitent. Maybe it looked like he's going. He asked them uh who who's going to participate in the worship that the Israelites were to hold in the desert. So Moses and Aaron said everybody young and old men and women animals we don't know what Hashem wants us to make the sacrifice where to take everybody. So Pharaoh agreed that only the men should go but not the women and children they should remain in Egypt and their possessions should remain in Egypt. So Moses and Aaron they denied this offer again. It's like a kamas offer. We'll give you back two hostages and you give us complete peace. This is what Pharaoh wanted. Okay, this the same thing. You can see you can see the the undertones of our history and what goes on like King Solomon tells us nothing new under the sun. You can see if we look at Pharaoh's behavior, it's just like Kamas's behavior from today. So ranting, Pharaoh offered them, Pharaoh ordered them to leave the palace. And before leaving the palace, Moses warned that Pharaoh, you're in big trouble because the plagues up till now, they were Sesame Street. They were kids games and compared what's going what's in store for them. So Pharaoh made Adam. And so as soon as Moses and Aaron left the palace, Moses raised his arms toward the heaven and the east wind brought swarms of locust into Egypt. It covered the sun. It looked like made the sky look black. It devoured everything green that maybe the hail or previous plagues left over. And never in the history of mankind was there such a a a plague of of locust. Have you ever seen a locust cloud? Uh it it's very ominous. It's very threatening. This was a locust cloud that was the thickest ever in history and it brought complete ruin to Egypt. And the whole country of Egypt was completely ravished with this plague. So once more obsinate Pharaoh he says go bring me Moses and Aaron and he begged them to play again and to stop the plague. Moses again pa complied. So Hashem they prayed to Hashem and Hashem sent a strong east wind. They drove every one of the locustes out into the Mediterranean and relief came. Now there's not a single locust. Some people eat locust. They chocolatecovered locust. something. There wasn't a single locust left for a locust lover to eat. Okay. But uh as that pharaoh's obstinency returned to him, became stubborn again and he refused to free the people of Israel. So what do we learn? Measure for measure with the locust. That first the first lesson is in forced labor. The Israelites had to plant and they had to cultivate and they had to harvest Egypt's crops. So now that the Egyptian the locust devoured all of that and this freed the Israelites from that task. Second measure for measure the Egyptians stole the bit of grain and vegetables that the Israelites that the Israelites grew for themselves. So now the locust they stole it from Egypt. And the third measure for measure is that the Egyptians did everything to prevent the Israelites from multiplying and rid them from the face of the earth. So locust multiplied beyond all limits and covered the face of the earth. Which brings us now to plague number nine, which is the darkness. Okay, apparently the plague of darkness is going to be the easiest. Well, it doesn't hurt. Okay, so it's dark, but now it's the worst up till now. The Egyptians suffered extreme emotional and mental torment. We're talking about darkness, jet black darkness. So we have an expression in Hebrew, the darkness of Egypt, where you can't see your hand in front of your nose. You can't see anything. Everywhere a Jew went there was light. But in the same place, it was absolute darkness for the Egyptians once again and Hashem's uh mind-boggling divine direction. Hashkah. So even though there was light in the land of Gan, 80% of the Jews, they died during the three days of darkness. This is because they still they were influenced by Egypt and they doubted. They see all these plagues, they still doubted. Can Hashem really take them out of Egypt? 80%. We're talking about a 15 million people the major 12 million people died in the three days of in the three days of darkness. So why is Passover night? Why is it not Holocaust night? The Holocaust 6 million people died here and 12 million people. Our sages teach us that for someone that denies Hashem and that denies Hashem's redemption when they leave the world, that's not a tragedy. That's not tragic because the whole purpose of the world is to correct corrected to uh advertise to publicize Hashem's monarchy and amuna to learn amuna. So people go against the muna we go against the muna that's going against the creation of the world. So they denied in the full redemption and they too died. So that's why only 3 million people some say 2 million it was 2 million out of 10 million and the major opinion says 3 million out of 15 million. Okay. But either way that had quite a few whether it was 10 million that died or 8 million that died or that 12 million that died there were millions died. Okay. So Pharaoh once again he tried to bargain with Moses and Aaron and to what the conditions of leaving and Moses and Aaron informed him that they'd accept nothing less than complete freedom. And this what Israel's got to do. Tell him nothing less than all the hostages back right now and not that do what Hashem learned from Hashem and just level Gaza. This is this this exactly you could see it exactly happening here. Okay. So Pharaoh became furious and he ordered Moses and Aaron to leave and never to return. He threatened to kill them. He is such an insulence. He warned that if they were to come before him again, they would die. So Moses replied that it's not going to be necessary to see Pharaoh again. And after that, Pharaoh would give us unconditional permission to uh for the children of Israel to leave. So exactly at midnight, Moses continued, Hashem would pass over the land of Egypt and smite the firstborn man and beast. Okay? But not a single Israelite would die. And a bitter cry would go through all of Egypt. We're now up to the beginning of chapter 12 of Exodus. And then Pharaoh in his pajamas in the middle of the night. He's going to look for the leaders for Moses and beg them to leave. So with these words, Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh who was seething with rage this after the ninth plague. And this brings us to the 10th plague and the pascal sacrifice uh 10th of the Exodus of Egypt which God willing will be the subject of our lesson next week. Uh next week we continue with lesson three. Our lesson four will be two nights before the sad night or three nights before the sad night. We'll learn about the the Passover sedan night with this. We have two more lessons. Once again, next week we will all be on wintertime. Israel and Europe go on to wintertime and uh excuse me going to daylight savings time going we leave winter time going to summertime. So, in Israel, next week's lesson will be at 9:00 p.m. The lessons in the UA in the USA, they stay the same time, 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard, which is uh 11:00 a.m. in LA. Uh, next week, Israel will be at 9:00 p.m., Europe at 8:00 p.m., the UK 700 p.m. Okay, 7 p.m. That'll be our time for lesson three. We'll see you on the poster comes out. So meanwhile, have a wonderful week and with Hashem's loving grace, we'll continue on next week with the story of Passover, our our third lesson. [Music]