Transcript
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A very very long time ago in the far
away land of Egypt, there was a famous
king. His name was Pharaoh. And Pharaoh
was a wicked king, but also a little bit
strange. According to Khazal, Pharaoh
was as small as a dwarf, about half a
meter tall, and he had a very long
beard, also half a meter long. Yes,
really, a beard so long that sometimes
two servants had to stand next to him
just so it wouldn't drag on the floor.
But despite his impressive beard,
Pharaoh refused to free Bet Israel from
their glavery. And then Hashem sent
Egypt 10 plagues.
Chazal explained that the plagues did
not come randomly.
They came measure for measure. Midach
Mida exactly according to what the
Egyptians had done to B is.
And there is an interesting midrash that
says that when a plague arrived,
its name would appear on the bodies of
the Egyptians.
So everyone immediately knew. Oh no,
which plague is this now?
Plague of blood. One morning the
Egyptians woke up and discovered
something very strange. The Nile, the
great river of Egypt, had turned
completely into blood. The water became
red, the fish died, and no one could
drink. One Egyptian looked at his hand
and saw written on it blood. And he
shouted, "Oh no, even my hand knows."
But why blood? The Abarbanel explains
something shocking. The Egyptians threw
the Jewish babies into the Nile as it
says, "Every son that is born, you shall
throw into the river."
So measure for measure the river itself
turned into blood and in midrash toim
bubber something amazing is told. If a
Jew and an Egyptian filled water
together the Jew would get water and the
Egyptian blood even if they drank from
the same cup. The Egyptian drank blood
and the Jew drank water. One Egyptian
tried to be clever and said, "Fine, I'll
just buy water from you."
Rabbi Ain says in Midrashim
that the Egyptians had to buy water from
the Jews for a lot of money. So, Bet
Israel even became rich from this
plague.
But the smell of the river was so
terrible that even after the plague
ended, the Egyptians still couldn't
drink from it for many days.
And Pharaoh, he just fixed his beard and
said, "I'm not letting them go."
The plague of frogs. Then came the
second plague. The Nile began to shake.
And according to Rabi in the Midrash,
at first only one frog came out, but
what a frog as big as a crocodile.
The Egyptians tried to hit it, but every
hit caused more and more frogs to come
out of it. Suddenly, there were frogs in
the kitchen, in the bed, inside the
pots, and even in the soup, and even
inside the cups. According to Countress
Matyami Hashul Chan, the frogs even
jumped into ovens and fire. And when
they jumped into the fire, the Zohar
Hakadosh says it was as if they said the
verse, "We came through fire and water,
and you brought us to abundance,
and they even sang songs to Hashem."
The Balmau of Ashamesh writes that the
frogs constantly sang praises to Hashem.
And Pharaoh didn't know what was worse,
the frogs or their singing.
The Zohar Hakadosh also explains why
frogs because Pharaoh thought that B is
praised Hashem all day. So now the frogs
praised Hashem day and night.
And Pharaoh said enough, enough with
this choir.
plague of lice.
Then came a small plague, but very, very
annoying. The dust of Egypt turned into
tiny lice. Shemote says that the
Egyptians were covered in lice up to
their knees. They tried digging into the
ground, but even a cubit deep, there was
no dust left, only lice.
Why did this happen? Shimotra Rabbah
explains, "The Egyptians forced P is to
be street sweepers. So now there was no
more dust to sweep. Everything turned
into lice." And Midrash
adds another reason. The Egyptians
didn't let the Jews bathe or wash their
clothes, so now everyone was scratching.
One Egyptian said to his friend, "I'm
itching everywhere." His friend said,
"Check if it's written on your hand." He
looked and said, "Yes, it says lice,
plague of wild animals."
And then wild animals came. Lions,
leopards, bears, wolves.
The Midrash Hagadul explains why the
Egyptians used to send Jews into the
desert and say, "Bring us animals for
our wars."
So now the animals came by themselves,
but to Egypt. And Yelkuch Shimoni tells
a funny story. An Egyptian gave a Jew 10
of his children to watch. On the way, a
lion came, took the first one. Then a
leopard came, took the second, then a
bear, took the third, then a wolf, took
the fourth.
When the Jew came back alone, the
Egyptian asked, "Where are my children?"
The Jew answered, "Sit. I'll make you a
calculation."
The lion came and took the first. The
leopard came and took the second. The
bear came and took the third. The wolf
came and took the fourth. The Midrash
also says that some Egyptians locked
their doors.
But then a creature from the sea came
with a very long arm and opened the door
from the inside and the animals came in.
Plague of livestock.
Then came a terrible disease for
animals. But why the animals? The
Abarbanel explains that the Egyptians
would harness Jews to plows instead of
animals so their animals wouldn't get
tired. So now
the animals of Egypt died. And Midrash
Hagadul adds that the Egyptians forced
the Jews to take care of their animals.
So now that ended too. And for P Israel,
not even one animal was harmed.
plague of boils. Then came painful itchy
soores.
Midrashada explains why. Because the
Egyptians worked b Israel so hard that
they didn't even have one minute to
scratch. So now the Egyptians scratched
endlessly.
And the magicians,
Shimot Rabbaz says they suffered the
most because they were the ones who gave
Pharaoh the bad ideas.
Plague of hail. Then giant hail fell
from the sky. Yal Kuchimoni explains
that the Egyptians used to throw stones
at Ben Israel. So now stones came down
on them from the sky. And Midash Hagadul
says something amazing.
Each hailstone was made of two layers on
top fire on the bottom ice. And the
kakar adds pharaoh once said, "Who is
Hashem that I should listen to his
voice?"
So now Hashem made him hear terrifying
thunder and lightning so that he would
listen.
plague of locusts.
Then millions of locusts came. Shemotra
explains that the Egyptians forced Ben
Israel to plant their fields. So now the
locust ate everything. The Ababanel adds
that the Egyptians also stole the Jews
crops. So now that ended too. And
Midrash Hagadul tells something funny.
The locust even ate clothes, jewelry,
things inside the house. And the
Egyptians tried to salt locusts in jars
to eat them. But when the plague ended,
even the locust in the jars disappeared.
Plague of darkness. Then came darkness.
But not normal darkness. Darkness you
couldn't move in. Midrash Hagodal
explains why the Egyptians would place a
candle on the head of a tired Jew and
say, "If the candle falls, we will kill
you." So now they themselves could not
move. And Yaluchimoni says they were
stuck in place and they couldn't even
find food.
Plague of the firstborn.
Then came the final plague. All the
firstborn of Egypt died. The gleakar
explains why because Hashem said bene
Israel is my firstborn.
And the Egyptians tried to harm Benet
Israel. So now their firstborn were
struck and the plague came exactly at
midnight because the Egyptians used to
wake Ben Israel for work in the middle
of the night.
And then
after all the plagues,
Pharaoh with his long beard finally
said, "Get up. Leave Egypt."
And so the 10 plagues ended. The plagues
that showed Egypt. Then Hashem runs the
world. And Pharaoh with his long beard
finally understood that he cannot fight
against Hashem.
He called Ben Israel and said, "Leave my
people."
And so Ben Israel left slavery and began
their journey to freedom.
But the story doesn't end there. From
then until today, Am Israel remembers
the great miracles Hashem did for us in
Egypt.
Every year on Leila Seda, we tell this
story again. We sing, ask questions, and
tell the children about the 10 plagues.
And we learn something very important
that Hashem runs the world with measure
for measure.
Meaning, just as a person treats others,
that is what eventually comes back to
them. Whoever does good receives good,
but whoever hurts Hashem's children and
does them harm, in the end, Hashem makes
sure justice is done. And that's why we
remember this story every year. To
always remember that Hashem protects his
people and helps those who do good. And
if you ask,
they say that on that night, Pharaoh
finally found a use for his long beard
to wipe his tears.