The Breslov Haggadah

Appendix A - The Story of the Exodus

To have truly fulfilled the Mitzvah of reciting the Haggadah, it is necessary to reminisce the wonders and miracles of both the Bondage and the Exodus (Orach Chaim, 473, 481).

We present a selection of Talmudic and Midrashic teachings on the themes of the Seder night, beginning with the Decree of Exile and concluding with the Children of Israel journeying in the desert and the Revelation at Mount Sinai. These teachings have been selected from Talmud, Midrash, Zohar, Sefer HaYashar and Yalkut. Source references have not been given except where texts other than these have been used, as most of the material already appears in translation (e.g. Rashi, Me'am Loez Torah Anthology, The Midrash Says, Artscroll,etc.). It is worth noting that there are times when, at first glance, the opinions of the commentators seem to be incongruous, or even contradictory to one another. This, however, is not so. Our Sages addressed this very point when they said that these and those are the words of the living God! The Talmud asks: Why did Esther invite Haman to her feast? No fewer than thirteen different Tannaim and Amoraim offer reasons for Esther's actions. Indeed, when Reb Noson asked Eliyahu the Prophet which reason Esther herself actually had in mind, he replied, Like all the Tannaim and all the Amoraim! (Megillah 15b). The point is this: When each individual statement is understood according to the intended meaning of the one who said it and in the context of when it was said, we find nothing but agreement and harmony among the differing opinions.

The Decree of Exile

The ARI (Sha'ar HaPesukim, Shemot) teaches that the First Man's soul encompassed the souls of all mankind. Had he succeeded in heeding God's command, thus fulfilling his mission, Adam would have rectified all of Creation. But Adam ate from the Tree of Knowledge and was banished from the Garden of Eden. Feeling remorse for what he had done, he separated from his wife, Chavah. However, as the holy ARI tells us, he experienced nocturnal emissions and his wasting of seed caused many souls to be blemished. The first incarnation, for the rectification of these souls, occurred during the Generation of the Flood. But, instead of cleansing themselves of the blemish caused by Adam, they committed their own misdeeds and repeated Adam's sin; resulting in the loss of many more souls. Except for those in the ark with Noah, all humanity was wiped out _ man was turned back into clay by the waters of the Flood. These blemished souls were reincarnated again, first as those who built of the Tower of Babel and later as the inhabitants of Sdom. In the generation of the Tower of Babel, they were not guilty of Adam's sin, but they rebelled against God. Their efforts in building the Tower with bricks and mortar, increased the power of evil. As the people of Sdom, their wickedness prevented them from undoing the blemish. Ultimately, the city was overturned, reduced to clay and rubble.

After this, the rectification of Adam's sin began in earnest, in Egypt. These blemished souls reappeared as Egyptians who sold themselves to Pharaoh during the famine and as the Children of Israel born into slavery. In order to clear themselves of the blemish which began with Adam's wasting of seed, it was necessary for these souls to undergo the misery and suffering of bondage: toiling with the clay of the Flood and Sdom, laboring with the bricks and mortar of the Tower of Babel.

The decree of 400 years exile upon Adam's seed had already been made known to Avraham at the Brit bein HaBitarim, the Covenant of the Halves, during the 2,018th year of Creation, and 30 years prior to Yitzchak's birth. With this pact between God and Avraham, the first positive step was taken towards the rectification of these blemished souls.

Actually, all of Avraham's descendants were originally included in the decree of exile. Ishmael, however, left Avraham's home, leaving the decree to fall upon the offspring of Yitzchak. When Yaakov told his brother Esav that the decree could apply to either of them, Esav went away to Mount Seir, leaving Yaakov to bear the brunt of the exile.

The period of this Exile began with the birth of Yitzchak in 2,048. The calculation is as follows: Yitzchak was 60 when Yaakov was born in 2,108, and Yaakov was 130 when he came before Pharaoh (in 2,238). Hence, 190 years passed from Yitzchak's birth to the descent of the Jewish People into Egypt. Now, Rashi (Exodus 2:1) tells us that Yaakov's grand-daughter, Yocheved, was born when her grandfather brought the entire family to Egypt and that she was 130 years old when she gave birth to Moshe. We also know that Moshe was 80 when the Exodus took place (in 2,448). Thus, the 190 years before entering Egypt together with the 210 years in Egypt give a total of 400 years of exile.

Interestingly, Yaakov was 130 years old when he descended to Egypt. Yaakov embodied the soul of Adam, and for the first 130 years of his life he toiled ceaselessly to rectify Adam's 130 years of separation. Thus, Yaakov's descent to Egypt completed his contribution towards the rectification (Sha'ar HaPesukim, VaYigash). In a similar vein, Moshe was born to Yocheved only after she was 130- years-old. Moshe was the incarnation of Sheth, the son born to Adam after his abstention from Chavah for 130 years. Yocheved was the incarnation of Chavah. Just as the First Woman gave birth to Sheth at the age of 130, Yocheved was that same age when she gave birth to Moshe (Ibid., Shemot).

Also at the Brit bein HaBitarim, God promised Avraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth. This wealth was amassed during the seven years of famine. Yosef had warned the Egyptians to prepare for seven lean years. They stored food, but their supplies rotted away. They had no choice but to purchase everything from Pharaoh's storehouses, which Yosef controlled. Eventually, this depleted all the Egyptians' personal wealth, which filled Pharaoh's coffers in exchange for food. Then, when the Egyptians had also sold their land and no longer had any means to continue buying, they were forced to sell themselves to Pharaoh, for which Yosef gave them their daily sustenance. Also during the years of famine, people from all countries came to Egypt to buy food and grain. This, together with revenues from the heavily taxed Egyptian income, enabled Pharaoh to amass huge treasures. These treasures subsequently became the booty the Jews took with them when they left Egypt.

At the time the Egyptians were selling themselves to Pharaoh, Yosef used his position of authority to insist that they circumcise themselves. He knew that these Egyptians were the same souls which Adam had blemished, and saw this as his role in their rectification. Yosef the Tzaddik understood that through the Covenant he would be able to initiate the purification which had eluded them in both Babel and Sdom (Sha'ar HaPesukim, Miketz). And, it was their descendants, the offspring of these circumcised Egyptians, who formed the mixed-multitude that left Egypt together with the Jews during the Exodus (Ibid., Shemot).

Yaakov and Lavan; The Birth of the Twelve Tribes

Years before our forefather Yaakov led his descendants down to Egypt, he himself was given to taste the bitterness of exile when forced to leave the place of his birth and his parents' home. Seeking refuge from Esav, whose birthright and blessing he had rightfully pirated, Yaakov eventually made his way to the house of his uncle in Aram Naharayim (Mesopotamia, some 400 miles from the Holy Land). But his mother's brother, Lavan, only reluctantly allowed him in.

At the time of Yaakov's arrival, Lavan was so poor that he could not even afford to hire a shepherd. This is why we are told that his daughter, Rachel, tended the flocks. However, Yaakov's coming brought a blessing upon the entire city and Lavan's house in particular, from which Lavan became a very wealthy man. In order to gain permission to marry Rachel, Lavan's younger daughter, Yaakov offered to tend Lavan's flocks for seven years. On the wedding night, Lavan expressed his gratitude for all that Yaakov had done for him by putting Leah, his oldest daughter, in Rachel's place. In so doing, he knew that Yaakov would be willing to remain in Aram Naharayim for an additional seven years so that he might marry Rachel as he'd intended. After the fourteen years, Lavan contracted Yaakov for an additional period of labor, and during the next six years the appreciative father-in- law altered the contractual terms 100 times over, each time to his own advantage.

Lavan's attempts to deceive Yaakov were not merely for financial gain. They were aimed at something of much greater import: the undermining of the Jewish nation's spirituality at its inception. This is what Lavan hoped to achieve by denying Yaakov the opportunity to marry his wives in proper order. When this proved unsuccessful (not because his trickery failed, but because kabbalistically Yaakov had to marry Leah first and therefore Lavan actually helped him), he tried to cheat Yaakov out of his wages. Here again, Lavan intended more than just a gratifying victory over a son-in-law to whom he owed all his personal prosperity. No, Lavan was not going to be satisfied with anything less than seeing to it that the Jews would forever be poverty stricken and unable to expand their influence. This too failed.

When the Haggadah discusses the topic of exile, it makes reference to all the exiles, beginning with the very first one: Yaakov in the house of Lavan. Yaakov's personal exile is a prototype for all the Jewish exiles; his encounter with Lavan a prototype of all the different attempts by those who hoped to destroy the Jewish People down through the millennia.

The events surrounding the birth of the Twelve Tribes are also to be reckoned among the miracles of the Exodus. Our forefather Yitzchak had two sons. His brother-in-law, Lavan, had two daughters. Leah, the elder daughter, was destined to marry Esav, the elder son. However, word of Esav's wickedness had reached as far away as Aram Naharayim, and Leah constantly prayed that this not be her fate. Leah's prayers were answered. Though Lavan and even Yaakov presumed otherwise, it was actually her prayers and not her father's machinations which won her a place as a mother of the Jewish People.

After Yaakov married Leah and Rachel, Lavan's daughters from his wife; he married Bilhah and Zilpah, Lavan's daughters from his concubine. The Matriarchs knew that Yaakov would have twelve sons, twelve tribes; corresponding to the twelve permutations of the Tetragrammaton (YHVH). And here again, the power of Leah's prayers was to be seen. Though Yaakov's wives were four, Leah was blessed with being mother to half of his twelve sons.

All of the brothers (save Binyamin) were born during Yaakov's second seven-year period in Lavan's house, each following a seven month pregnancy. Leah gave birth to her first four sons: Reuven, Shimon, Levi and Yehudah; after which, Dan and Naftali were born to Bilhah, and Gad and Asher were born to Zilpah. Leah then gave birth to Yisakhar and Zevulun. Only then did Rachel give birth to Yosef. Dinah, Leah's daughter, was born at the same time as Yosef. In fact, during the pregnancy, Leah prayed for a girl. She knew that because she herself already had six boys and Bilhah and Zilpah had two each, were she to now have another boy, her sister Rachel would have a lesser portion in the Twelve Tribes than the handmaids. The Yerushalmi (Berakhot 9) tells us that Rachel was actually carrying a girl and Leah another boy, but an angel came and switched the children around before they were born.

After Yaakov's eleventh son, Yosef, was born (Binyamin was born after Yaakov returned to the Holy Land), and a long fourteen years had passed, Yaakov asked Lavan's permission to return to his father's home. Lavan, not yet satiated by the prosperity Yaakov had brought him and not yet willing to forgo his deception, requested that he stay on, and Yaakov agreed to remain for an additional six years. Again, he dutifully watched Lavan's flocks and brought his father-in-law even greater prosperity. God then appeared to Yaakov and told him to leave Lavan's house. Yaakov quickly gathered his family and possessions and ran away. When Lavan learned that it was he who had been deceived, he gave chase and quickly caught up with Yaakov's slowly moving camp. Lavan intended to destroy Yaakov and his entire family. Only the angel Michael's raising his sword against Lavan stopped him from carrying out this final treachery.

Unable to carry out his desire to ensure the ultimate destruction of the Jewish People, Lavan resigned himself to a peace pact with Yaakov. He would no longer seek to harm his own family. Yet, even this was not to be. Yaakov's departure from Lavan's house also saw the departure of the blessing which had only resided there in the Tzaddik's merit. Lavan returned home to find that in his absence thieves had come and taken all his possessions. He was beside himself and sent a message to his nephew Esav, informing him of Yaakov's return to his father's home. Lavan accused Yaakov of having absconded with all his valuable possessions, and implied that Esav would soon suffer a similar fate. His own evil scheming having been defeated, Lavan hoped that he could at least rekindle the burning hatred which Esav felt for his younger brother.

Thus, the Haggadah makes a point of recalling Lavan's wickedness and his thwarted attempts at destroying the Jewish nation. The bitter taste of exile must still have been in Yaakov's memory as he prepared to return his family to a foreign land. Had God not assured Yaakov that He, too, would go to Egypt and that He would bring him back, it is inconceivable that Yaakov would have ever willingly done so.

The Descent into Egypt

As his sons grew, Yaakov taught them all the teachings he had received from his father. Yet, he favored one. Though Yosef was the second youngest of the brothers, he was his father's main disciple. Yaakov did not even attempt to hide his great love for Rachel's oldest son, honoring him with an ornamented robe of fine wool. This led to the brothers becoming jealous of Yosef, which, in turn, brought them to sell him into slavery. And it was Yosef's forced descent into Egypt which eventually caused the brothers to descend there and, ultimately, to the enslavement of the Jews. Thus, in a certain sense, Lavan's plan did in fact succeed. Had Yaakov first married Rachel as he intended, Yosef would have been the eldest of Yaakov's children. His receiving of their father's special attention would have then been acceptable to the brothers. But, the switching of Rachel with Leah delayed Yosef's birth, so that his inheritance of the birthright caused jealousy and brought about the Exile.

It had been Heaven's decree that Avraham's offspring, the Jews, be the ones to rectify Adam's sin. Accordingly, they would have, in any event, been obligated to experience the exile in Egypt. However, the sale of Yosef added the necessity for this exile to be under oppressive conditions and with great suffering, which would not have otherwise been included. The 210 years of exile and bondage correspond to the blemish in the Holy Name of God, EHYeH. This Name, which accompanies the Jews in exile, has the numerical value of 21. Each of the 10 brothers was held responsible for the sale of Yosef to Egypt and had to atone separately for this sin. Thus 10 times 21 totals the 210 years of the Exile (Zohar Chadash, VaYeshev).

Yaakov himself did not want to leave the Holy Land, he was forced to! If Yaakov had not gone willingly, he would have been brought to Egypt in chains. This was because the bondage in Egypt was a necessary part of the Covenant of Avraham, a debt which he and his offspring were obliged to pay. Esav and Yishmael, also Avraham's descendants, refused to acknowledge this debt and withdrew from the Covenant. This can be understood from the following parable: There was once a man who had two sons. The man was in debt. One of the sons ran away while the other served his father. When the man died and the creditor came demanding payment, the remaining son argued, Do I have to pay the whole debt just because I served my father? You are right, the creditor answered. Therefore, when your brother is caught, I will give him to you as a servant! So too, in reward for Yaakov's assuming responsibility for the payment of this debt, the descendants of Esav and Yishmael will be subservient to Yaakov's children when Mashiach comes.

Yaakov's children only intended to go down into Egypt temporarily, for the duration of the famine. Even so, Yaakov was not willing to spend any amount of time, even a few short years, in a land which was completely void of holiness. Therefore, as he made his way to Egypt, Yaakov sent Yehudah on ahead. He wanted his son to establish Yeshivot for Torah study and thus prepare the land spiritually.

When they arrived, the Children of Israel settled in Goshen. Many years earlier, Pharaoh had given this land to Sarah (Yalkut Reuveni, VaYigash). It was a fertile land, ideal for grazing, and the Jews had many cattle and sheep. Goshen was a suitable location for another reason. The sheep was the abomination of Egypt. By living in this province, the Jews were able to remain as far away from the Egyptians as possible.

...and even though they intended to stay only a short time, and were living separately from the Egyptians, the Jews eventually bought homes and settled there; making their sojourn a permanent one (Targum Yonatan, VaYigash). And this, unfortunately, has been an oft repeated mistake in the history of our People.

Nevertheless, the Haggadah tells us that while in Egypt, the Jews stood out. True, their temporary stay had turned into a permanent settling in, but they were always careful not to assimilate. And it was this which made them worthy of salvation. They never changed their Jewish names, their language (the Holy Tongue), or their Jewish apparel, which kept them distinctive and apart.

The Torah tells us that Yaakov lived in Egypt for seventeen years. (He was 130 years old when he descended to Egypt and passed away at the age of 147 years.) Although he had arrived in Egypt with only 70 family members, Yaakov did not pass away until after he had seen 600,000 descendants. In those generations people were capable of procreating from the age of eight. With his offspring multiplying so quickly, every day saw Yaakov going to a brit or a kiddush, a wedding, bar-mitzvah or some other simchah. Thus, after all his years of suffering, at the hands of Lavan and Esav, with the tribulations of Dinah and the disappearance of Yosef, etc., he lived for seventeen years.

Actually, the Talmud and Midrash differ as to just how fast the Children of Israel multiplied. Some are of the opinion that there were six children in a womb at one time. Others maintain that twelve children were delivered with each birth. Still others say that the births were so miraculous that the Jewish women resembled Sheratzim (insects) and gave birth to seventy children at one time. A similar debate is found concerning the amount of people who died in Egypt during the Plague of Darkness. The verse reads, And the Children of Israel went up chamushim from Egypt (Exodus 13:18). Rashi sees in this word the word chamesh (five); thus, one out of every five Jews left Egypt. Since 600,000 ascended from Egypt, 2,400,000 died there. (Why they died is explained in the Plague of Darkness.) The Yalkut states that the word chamushim could mean one of out of five, one out of fifty, or one of five hundred. Rabbi N'horoi takes this even further. He suggests that not even one out of five hundred Jews left Egypt; as the Haggadah tells us, You were abundant as the grass that grows in the fields.

Bondage and Slavery

As Yaakov's children multiplied, so did the envy and contempt which the Egyptians had for them. The Egyptians feared becoming a minority in their own land. Soon enough, the Children of Israel would become so numerous and powerful that they would take over and expel them from their land. Drastic measures had to be taken. Pharaoh took counsel with his advisors. It was decided to enslave the Jews. Degrading labor, poverty and harassment would keep them under control.

At first, the cunning Pharaoh spoke softly to the Jews, asking them to help him build the cities of Pisom and Ramses and offering them high wages for their labor. Pharaoh himself initiated the work. He mixed the mortar for building, while his Egyptian subjects assisted. To prove their own superior industriousness (a typically Jewish characteristic even today), the Jews readily joined in the building. The amount they produced surpassed that of their Egyptian counterparts. This is exactly what Pharaoh had anticipated. He then decreed that whatever each Jew had produced on that first day would be his daily quota. A further decree had the men doing household chores, while the women were forced to chop wood and do other work in the fields. This disproportionate distribution of workloads was designed to weaken their spirit and further sap their strength. Furthermore, despite Pharaoh's grandiose promises, the Jews received absolutely no pay for their hard labor. They were expected to find a way of supporting themselves.

Yet, even this did not satisfy Pharaoh. He appointed cruel guards who inflicted severe beatings and whippings upon the helpless Jews. In addition, the Jewish men were forced to sleep in the fields, as the Egyptians hoped that through attrition the Jewish population would diminish. The Shney Luchot HaBrit adds that the Egyptians knew that with prayer, the Jews could nullify the decrees against them. They therefore pushed the Jews mercilessly and with ever increasing cruelties and afflictions, so that the Children of Israel would be too frail and weak to pray.

Despite all this, God had promised Avraham that his seed would multiply as the stars, and multiply they did! The Midrash adds that Pharaoh tried to outsmart God, telling the Egyptians to stop the Jews from multiplying. But, God countered, I said they would multiply and you say they should not! We will see whose word stands, yours or Mine! Our Sages tell us that it was in the merit of the righteous women that the Jews deserved to be redeemed from Egypt. God miraculously caused the water which the women would draw from the wells to be half water and half fish. Cooking the fish and boiling the water, they brought food and drink to their husbands in the fields. While there, they comforted their weary husbands and aroused them to marital relations. And so, even with all of Pharaoh's machinations, the Jewish women bore more and more children.

When it came time to have their babies, these righteous Jewish women went out to the fields, and gave birth under the trees. God Himself administered the childbirth and sent angels to care for the infants. Before long, the Egyptians discovered that the Jewish women were giving birth in the fields and went out to kill the babies. Miraculously, the earth swallowed up these infants before they could be found. The Egyptians began plowing the earth, hoping to uncover them. God made certain that all their efforts were futile. For sustenance, each baby was given two stones which turned into fountains, one flowing with milk and the other with honey. When the child reached the age of three, he would sprout forth from the earth like a flower, and then accurately make his way to his own parents' home. Thus, even with all their evil intentions and harassment, the Egyptians could not destroy the Jews, who were compared to the grass of the fields....

Nevertheless, the bondage took a very severe toll on the Jews, especially on the spiritual life of the nation. The Haggadah says that the Children of Israel were naked and bare _ they did not perform mitzvot in Egypt. Even the mitzvah of circumcision was forgotten. When the time for the redemption finally arrived, God gave the Jews two mitzvot to perform: the Paschal Lamb and circumcision, both of which involved blood. The mitzvah of the Paschal Lamb required sprinkling the animal's blood on the doorposts (a sign which protected the house from the Angel of Death) and the act of circumcision entails a loss of blood. In reward for these two bloods, God said: Live! because of the blood of the Paschal Lamb. Live! because of the blood of circumcision.

The Zohar teaches that the primary affliction of the exile was the inability of the Jews to have clarity of thought, clarity of Torah. Thus, the Torah tells us that the Egyptians made their lives bitter with:
avodah KaSHA (hard labor) _ this is KuSHyA, difficult questions;
b'CHoMeR (clay) _ this is CHuMRe, difficult issues;
u'viLBaiNim (bricks) _ this is LiBuN hilkhata, clarifying the laws;
all works in the fields _ this refers to the Braiytot or unclassified laws;
all of their labors _ referring to the Toseftot which are similar to the Braiytot;
that they worked them b'PHaReKh (hard labor) _ this is PiRKHa, extremely difficult questions.
In this way, the Egyptians successfully prevented the Jews from prayer and Torah study, this being the major cause of Jewish suffering in all our exiles.

The Birth of Moshe Rabeinu

Before long, Pharaoh realized that he was incapable of stopping the Jews from growing in numbers, even by forcing the men to sleep in the fields. He sought counsel from his three chief advisors, Yitro, Iyov and Bilaam. He hoped they could suggest ways of eliminating the Jews completely. Yitro, who fled rather than plot against the Jews, was rewarded by God: he converted and generations later his descendants were members of the Sanhedrin. Iyov advised Pharaoh to enslave the Jews and take their possessions. For this suggestion he was later made to endure great suffering. Bilaam alone agreed to advise Pharaoh, suggesting that the Jewish midwives be made to kill the newborn infants. For this advice, Bilaam was rewarded by Pharaoh. Divine Retribution saw to it that he was later killed by the Jews themselves.
Br> Pharaoh's star-gazers had told him that a male child would be born to the Jews, a child who would one day lead them out of Egypt. In addition, Pharaoh presumed that the reason Esav had not succeeded in killing his brother Yaakov was because he waited until Yaakov was married and had offspring before making his attempt. Not wanting to make the same mistake with this future leader, Pharaoh's solution was to have all the Jewish males killed at birth.
Br> The Midrash further relates that Esav ridiculed Cain for killing Hevel during Adam's lifetime. If Cain wanted the whole word for himself, he should have realized that Adam was still alive and could have other children? No, Esav was not going to make the same mistake. He would wait until Yitzchak's death and then kill his brother Yaakov. Later, it was Pharaoh's turn to scoff at Esav. Didn't Esav know that Yaakov could have children during Yitzchak's lifetime? There would be little gained by killing Yaakov if he had children to follow after him. Pharaoh thought himself smarter than this. He would kill all the Jewish males at birth. Generations after this, it was Pharaoh's turn to be thought a fool, by Haman. Didn't Pharaoh understand that even if one Jew were left alive, he could bring about the rebirth of the nation? Haman's plan was to destroy the entire Jewish nation! The Midrash concludes by teaching that, in the future, Gog and Magog will deride Haman. Was not Haman aware that the Jews have a Father in Heaven? He would never let them be destroyed. Gog and Magog will first do battle with God (i.e., make the Jews forget Torah and mitzvot and their closeness to God). This will enable them to destroy the Jews. But God's answer to this will be clear: I have many messengers whom I can send into battle. But this battle against Gog and Magog I shall wage Myself. Their destruction shall be complete.

Pharaoh wasted no time in carrying out Bilaam's advice. He called for the Jewish midwives, Yocheved and her daughter Miriam, and ordered them to kill all males born to the Jewish women. But Yocheved and Miriam were truly God-fearing and they ignored his command. Not only did they assist the births, they also brought food and drink and did everything they could to help the mothers and infants. Lest the baby be born with a defect, Yocheved and Miriam would pray to God: If this child is born with a defect, the Jews might say we caused it in order to please Pharaoh. Please, God, allow this infant to be completely healthy. God listened to their prayers and the babies were born without any defect. Then again, the Midrash tells us of an even greater miracle accomplished by the prayers of these midwives. If it happened that they delivered a still-born baby, Yocheved and Miriam would protest to God that the mothers might accuse them of abiding by Pharaoh's decree. As a result of the midwives' prayers and their self- sacrifice on behalf of the Jews, these infants were given life by God! As was the case with Pharaoh's enactment of forced hard labor and sleeping in the fields, this additional harsh decree against the Jews also failed to inhibit the growth of the Jewish People.

Seeing that he could not rely on the midwives to assist him in preventing the birth of the Jewish leader, Pharaoh took another approach. His advisors had also told him that the leader destined to redeem the Jews would meet his fate through water. (Moshe, in fact, was denied permission to enter the Holy Land because he struck the rock to produce water, rather than speaking to it.) Pharaoh's third cruel decree was to have all the Jewish male children drowned in the river, a fate similar to the one suffered by these same souls in the Generation of the Flood (Sha'ar HaPesukim, Shemot). A total of 600,000 infants were thrown into the Nile. On the day that Moshe was born, Pharaoh's astrologers informed him that the redeemer of the Jews had come into the world. Having no indication as to whether this was a Jew or an Egyptian, he decreed that even the newborn Egyptian infants be drowned. The Midrash tells us that all of the 600,000 Jewish infants thrown into the Nile were saved in Moshe's merit (Likutey Halakhot, Birkhat HaShachar 5:62).

As for the newborn Jewish females, their fate was not to be the same as the males. Though Pharaoh wanted males drowned, he insisted that the newborn females be allowed to live. His intention was to either to sell them to other nations or keep them as slaves for the Egyptians.

When Pharaoh issued his decree for the Jewish infants to be killed, Amram, then the leader of the Jews, divorced his wife, Yocheved. Amram reasoned that it was senseless to bring children into the world only to see them killed soon after they were born. And, once their leader had done this, all the Jewish husbands followed his example and divorced their wives. Miriam, Amram's five year old daughter, rebuked her father. Your decree is harsher than Pharaoh's! she told him. Whereas Pharaoh's decree only applies to the males, yours is against males and females! Pharaoh's decree only affects this world, your decree affects this world and the next! (Without being born into this world it is impossible to attain the World to Come; once born, however, even if one is killed or dies prematurely, it is possible to achieve the next world.) Pharaoh issues a decree, and perhaps it will be carried out, perhaps not; however, as a Tzaddik, your decree must be fulfilled!

Being the true leader that he was, Amram accepted his five-year-old daughter's rebuke and agreed to remarry Yocheved. But not only this. In order that his fellow Jews see and learn from his example, Amram arranged for the marriage to be announced publicly, and the wedding was conducted with great ceremony and pomp. Afterwards, all the other Jewish men remarried their wives as well. Miriam, who was a prophetess, foresaw that now that her parents were back together, they would have a son who was destined to free the Jews from their bondage.

From the day Amram and Yocheved remarried, the Egyptians began counting the months, waiting for a child to be born so that they could kill him. However, Moshe was born on the first day of the seventh month of Yocheved's pregnancy (7 Adar, 2368). This enabled Yocheved to keep her baby's birth a secret, and she was able to hide Moshe for a full three months. At his birth, Amram and Yocheved knew that their son was destined for greatness. The entire house was filled with radiant light.

On the 6th of Sivan, when Moshe was three months old, Yocheved put him in a basket made of reeds and placed him in the water. Pharaoh's astrologers immediately informed him that the destined leader of the Jews had been thrown into the Nile, and the decree to drown the babies was voided. This prompted Amram to question the validity of his daughter's prophecy, and so Miriam went to the river to see what fate awaited her brother Moshe.

Now, Pharaoh's daughter had decided to convert to Judaism. On the same day that Moshe was placed in the water, she had gone down to the river to immerse, as in a Mikvah, in order to purify herself from her pagan beliefs. When she saw the basket, Pharaoh's daughter wanted to retrieve it. Her maidservants attempted to block her way, but the angel Gavriel descended and moved them aside. Though the basket was a distance of 60 cubits (a cubit is about one-and-a-half feet) from where she was standing, another miracle occurred and her hand extended to the basket. When she opened it, she saw the boy and understood him to be a Jewish child. Immediately she decided that she would take the baby home in order to save him. Because she had shown compassion and was ready to take her father's future adversary into her home as her son, God called Pharaoh's daughter Bat-YaH _ My Daughter _ and promised her that she would never experience the taste of death.

When Batyah's attempts to nurse the crying Moshe failed, she had others try, but without success. God had said, The mouth that will one day speak with the Divine Presence should suckle only pure milk. Miriam, who had been watching all this, offered to bring a wet-nurse from the Jews. This suggestion pleased Pharaoh's daughter and Miriam brought Yocheved, the baby's own mother, to nurse him. Moshe was kept by his mother for twenty-four months, after which she brought him to Pharaoh's palace, where he was brought up.

Thus, Pharaoh himself, the arch-enemy of the Jews, helped raise Moshe Rabeinu, the hope and salvation of the Jewish People. It is worth noting that similar situations have developed more than once in Jewish history and continues to occur even today. Though we have numerous enemies, many times they themselves unwittingly provide us with the means for our salvation. Furthermore, this will also be the case in the future. As mentioned earlier, Esav and Yishmael rejected Avraham's Covenant and refused to participate in the suffering implied therein. In so doing, the burden fell solely upon Yaakov. However, because he paid the debt and accepted the Covenant, Yaakov alone will receive the reward, a reward which will be provided by none other than Esav and Yishmael themselves!

The Torah tells us that when Moshe was a young man, he went out among the Jews. Seeing their suffering, and the hardships which the Egyptians inflicted upon them, Moshe tried to lessen their burden. He advised Pharaoh that working all seven days of the week was too much and that the slaves would produce more efficiently if they were allowed to rest. Pharaoh agreed to permit the Jews to take off on Shabbat. In addition, Moshe was able to arrange for an equitable distribution of the work, so that the strong and able-bodied were given the heavier loads while the weaker were given smaller loads.

Once, while walking, he spotted an Egyptian mercilessly beating a Jew. Moshe pronounced the Ineffable Name and the Egyptian died. Moshe then hid the body in the sand. Though he did not know it, his act was witnessed by two evil Jews, Datan and Aviram. The following day Moshe found these two Jews fighting, with one ready to strike the other. He rebuked them. In retaliation, they went to Pharaoh and testified that Moshe had killed the Egyptian. Moshe was sentenced to death by beheading. But, when Moshe's neck was struck by the executioner's sword, it became as hard as stone. God then sent an angel in the likeness of Moshe to replace him in captivity. This allowed Moshe to flee, after which the angel itself disappeared. When Pharaoh asked about Moshe whereabouts, his servants were stricken blind, deaf and dumb, so that no one could give him an answer. Moshe meanwhile fled to Ethiopia where he remained for many years. Afterwards, he moved to Midian. There he married, Tzipporah, the daughter of Yitro, the sheik of Midian.

Salvation

While Moshe was in Midian, Pharaoh was stricken with leprosy and his physicians told him to bathe daily in the blood of the Jewish children. Pharaoh ordered the slaughtering of a hundred and fifty children each morning and another hundred and fifty each night so that he could immerse his body in their blood. Mortified by this extreme cruelty, the Jews finally began sighing and screaming for God to save them. Others teach that Pharaoh died and when all of Egypt, including the slaves, attended the funeral, the Jews had a small respite from their work. Seeing the Jews following the coffin and crying, the Egyptians thought they were bemoaning the loss of Pharaoh. Actually, the Jews had at long last found themselves with an opportunity to cry out to God. And this was the beginning of their salvation.

According to the opinion that there was now a new Pharaoh on the throne in Egypt, this crying out to God was brought on by a further decree which had been issued against the Jews. To dispel any notion that he would be more lenient than his predecessor, the new Pharaoh ordered that any Jew who failed to produce his work quota would have his children implanted as stones in the walls which the Jews were erecting.

The Egyptians had expected that all their decrees would weaken the Jews physically and morally and deprive them of any hope for the future. When these enactments proved unproductive, the Egyptians appointed Jewish guards who were made responsible for meeting the quotas. These guards were ordered to whip those Jewish slaves who failed to produce according to Pharaoh's wishes. This was intended to further demoralize the Jews by having them participate in their own destruction, much as the Nazi's appointed Jewish kapos to do much of their own dirty work. But, the Jewish guards in Egypt refused to whip their brethren and were themselves severely beaten when the quotas were not met. For this, they were later rewarded, becoming the Elders and leaders of the fledgling nation. However, when they complained to Pharaoh about the beatings, he decreed that an additional burden be placed upon the Jews. Without diminishing from their daily quotas, the Jewish slaves were now required seek straw and other supplies for making the mortar, which the authorities would no longer provide. As a result of this decree, the Jews and their Jewish guards had no way of avoiding the daily beatings which the Egyptians inflicted upon them.

During this period some descendants of the tribe of Efraim calculated that the 400 years of exile were over and forced their way out of Egypt. Their mistake was calculating the decree of exile from the Brit bein HaBitarim and not 30 years later from the birth of Yitzchak. Their escape was premature and they were all killed on their way to Kanaan by the Philistines.

Moshe, meanwhile, was tending to Yitro's flocks in Midian. One day, he led them to Mount Sinai, where he saw the Burning Bush. Though the bush was on fire, it was not being consumed. This was meant as a sign, telling Moshe that though the Jews were suffering, they would not be destroyed. The Holy One then appeared to him and commanded him to go down to Egypt and redeem the Jews. God told Moshe that His promise to Avraham that your descendants will suffer exile and oppression for 400 years had already been fulfilled, and that now the time had come to fulfill the second part of this promise: I will bring judgment against the nation that enslaves them, and they will then leave with great wealth. God also told him that after the Exodus, He would give the Torah on this mountain, Mount Sinai.

Moshe deemed himself unworthy of such a mission and sought to avoid being sent. God told him that the reason Pharaoh's servants had been struck blind, deaf and dumb, thereby keeping Moshe from harm, was so that he could carry out this present mission. Moshe Rabeinu then complied with God's command and descended to Egypt. He gathered the Elders of the Jews and informed them of the coming Exodus. The Jews expressed their belief in God and were filled with gratitude for His promise to put an end to their enslavement and bondage.

Moshe, together with his elder brother Aharon, then went directly to Pharaoh's palace; a place where no Jew was permitted to go. Entering the great hall where Pharaoh sat on his throne, the ruler of Egypt gazed at them in awe. They were tall and straight, and very majestic in their appearance. Pharaoh sent his trained lions to attack Moshe and Aharon, but Moshe tamed the beasts before they could carry out their master's bidding. This impressed Pharaoh and he asked them the purpose of their mission. Moshe Rabeinu declared that he had come in God's Name, requesting Pharaoh to release the Jews from bondage. At the time, Pharaoh was the most powerful ruler in the world, and Egypt the strongest land. It was so fortified, no slave had ever succeeded in escaping from there.

When Moshe, in God's Name, requested that the Jews be given their freedom, Pharaoh laughed at him. Pharaoh considered himself to be a deity and boasted that he had never heard of the Jewish God. Angrily, he chased Moshe and Aharon from his palace, declaring that he would never release the Jews from his control. It was at this time that he issued his fourth decree: using Jewish children as bricks and requiring the Jews to seek their own supplies.

Moshe was angered by Pharaoh's rejection and complained to God over his having been sent on a futile mission. His appearance before Pharaoh had only succeeded in making things worse for his brethren. God's response was that Moshe would now see the miracles and wonders He was about to perform. The Egyptians would not only set the Jews free, they would chase them into freedom.

The Ten Plagues

God instructed Moshe to return to Pharaoh and repeat His request for the release of the Jews. This time, God gave Moshe a miracle to perform. This was to be his sign that he was the Almighty's messenger. When Moshe appeared before Pharaoh, he threw down his staff and it became a serpent. When the Egyptian magicians did likewise with their staffs, Moshe's serpent swallowed up the other serpents. The Egyptian magicians scoffed at this, claiming that if he were indeed a true messenger, his staff would swallow their staffs. Moshe turned his serpent back into a staff and it swallowed the Egyptians' staffs. Even though they were impressed by Moshe's powers, the magicians attributed it to sorcery. The Midrash teaches that Moshe's staff was actually the Ministering Angel, MeTaT, who is known as MaTeh, a staff. Despite the miracle he had witnessed, Pharaoh refused to release the Jews, and Moshe departed.

BLOOD. Pharaoh wanted the Egyptians to believe that he was a deity and offered as proof the fact that no one had ever known him to relieve himself of human waste. Early each morning Pharaoh would go down to the Nile, where he would relieve himself without anyone seeing. At God's instruction, Moshe went to meet Pharaoh at the Nile, to expose Pharaoh's secret and warn him of the severe punishment which would befall him if he continued to deny the Jews their freedom. Ten terrible plagues would be visited upon Egypt, the first being the Plague of Blood. God was about to turn the entire Egyptian water supply into blood.

Pharaoh, however, refused to heed Moshe's admonition. Every morning, for three consecutive weeks, Moshe repeated his warning, yet Pharaoh paid no attention. Then, without any further notice, the plague struck. Every drop of water suddenly turned into blood. Whether in the rivers, reservoirs, wells, storage or drinking vessels, all the water became blood. Even the Egyptians' spittle turned to blood. The water in the dough turned to blood. New wells dug by the Egyptians produced only blood. The Nile river entered Egypt as water, turned to blood, and after crossing the Egyptian border turned back into water. And, whereas the Egyptians thirsted for water, the Jews were totally unaffected by the plague. The people of Egypt could not help but see the Hand of God in this.

A number of opinions have been offered to explain why God saw fit to send a plague on the Egyptian water supply. Firstly, the Egyptians worshipped the Nile, which was their only source of water and a symbol of their power. Other reasons given are that God wanted to punish Pharaoh's water, either because he slaughtered three hundred Jewish children daily to wash in their blood, or because he issued a decree to drown all newborn Jewish males. Yet another explanation is that the Egyptians knew that the Jewish women kept the laws of family purity. Hoping to curtail the growth of the Jewish population, the Egyptians refused to allow the women to perform the ritual immersion in water, thereby preventing them from having relations with their husbands.

According to some opinions, as soon as this plague began, the Jews ceased working. The Egyptians could no longer control them and the slavery stopped. (Others say that only the cruelest forms of servitude stopped now, but the enslavement of the Jews only came to an end with the Plague of Pestilence). However, the time had not come for the Jews to leave Egypt, and they had not, as yet, been given the great riches promised them by God. This wealth only began to materialize during the Plague of Blood. Though the Egyptians could find no water in all of Egypt, the Children of Israel had plenty of water. When an Egyptian observed a Jew drinking water, he would take it away. But it would do him no good. As soon as the Egyptian took the water, it turned into blood. When he handed the blood to the Jew, it turned back into water. If the Egyptian would then command the Jew to drink from the glass together with him, the Jew drank water and the Egyptian drank blood. The only way the Egyptian's water would remain water was if he had purchased it from a Jew. This way, the Jews began to collect the wages due to them for all the years of labor they had been forced to perform. The Plague of Blood, as well as all the other plagues, lasted for one week, after which, Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to release the Jews.

FROGS.Again Moshe warned Pharaoh that a plague was about to descend upon Egypt. Pharaoh did not listen and the land of Egypt was invaded by an army of frogs. The Egyptians had mocked the Jews, forcing them to collect vermin and insects for the Egyptians to play with. In return, God sent the frogs to play with the Egyptians. The frogs would enter their bodies and croak from their innards.

The Plague of Frogs began with Moshe extending his staff and the appearance of one huge frog. This frog then called for many more frogs to join him. God made the frogs amoebae-like, so that when an Egyptian tried to kill a frog by striking it, the frog would split and multiply. As a result, there were frogs everywhere. They entered the beds, the clothing and the ovens of the Egyptian People. There was no possibility of hiding from them. Even walls of marble split open for the frogs to enter and fulfill God's command.

With the Egyptians' ovens invaded by frogs, all the cooked foods they ate were mixed with frogs. The Egyptians had not even allowed the Jewish slaves enough time to break from their work in order to eat. Because of this, the Jews had no choice but to eat their meals while mixing the mortar, and the filth and dust which covered their food disgusted them. In return for this, the Egyptians now found all their food disgusting, as everything they ate was layered with frogs. And, once swallowed, the frogs were resurrected in the bellies of the Egyptian oppressors, causing them unbearable discomfort. Just as the Jews had suffered under their yoke without a minute of rest, so too, the Egyptians were not given a moment's peace during the Plague of Frogs.

God concluded the plague not by having the frogs disappear, but by having them die instantly. This meant that the frogs died where they were, in the clothes, the food and the stomachs of the Egyptians. It was therefore very difficult to remove the carcasses, and the terrible stench which filled Egypt proved insufferable. The only place which remained totally unaffected by the frogs was the Land of Goshen, where the Jews resided.

Ten times the word frogs appears in the verses relating to this plague. Our Sages tell us that from this we can learn that the Plague of Frogs was as severe as all the ten plagues together. Nevertheless, Pharaoh still did not heed the warning; he only became more obstinate, and hardened his heart all the more.

LICE. In addition to the building which the Jews were made to do, they were also forced to do housework for their Egyptian masters. They were constantly being given chores such as sweeping and cleaning the Egyptian homes, gardens, streets and fields. And, even though they were filthy from this work, the Egyptians never allowed them to wash and clean their bodies. Measure for measure, God sent the Plague of Lice upon the Egyptians, infesting their earth and their bodies. In fact, the earth itself turned into lice. These earth-lice were two cubits (about 2 feet or 50 cm) above the earth and a cubit into it. Now, when the Egyptians themselves tried to sweep their houses, there was nothing to sweep except lice. The lice also infested their bodies, causing them to itch intolerably. For relief, the Egyptians began scraping themselves against walls and tearing at their skin. Yet the lice continued to be imbedded on their faces and between their eyes. Even washing their bodies had no effect on the lice.

The Hand of God was clearly revealed in this plague. During the first two plagues, the Egyptian magicians partially duplicated Moshe's acts. They too were able to turn water into blood and they brought frogs. As a result, they were convinced that Moshe was nothing more than a sorcerer, albeit greater than they; for the afflictions which came through Moshe were much more severe than anything the Egyptian sorcerers could reproduce. However, when it came to the Plague of Lice, the sorcerers were incapable of duplicating Moshe's actions. This was because lice are minute, and sorcery has no power over anything that small. It is a finger of God! the magicians were forced to admit. But they would only admit to a finger. As with the other plagues, Goshen was untouched and the Jews were not affected by the lice. Even so, Pharaoh again hardened his heart and did not heed Moshe Rabeinu's warnings.

WILD ANIMALS. This plague was brought upon the Egyptians because they would send the Jews into the forests to bring back wild animals for sport and hunting. God said to the Egyptians, I will now bring you the animals directly to your home. I will make it so that you no longer have any need for hunting! The Hebrew word for this plague is Arov, a mixture. The Plague of Wild Animals comprised all sorts of wild beasts: lions, leopards, wolves, bears, apes, snakes, scorpions, insects, frogs and any other animal or beast that was either very annoying or deadly. Even birds of prey were among the attacking animals. This itself was a miracle. Usually, each animal remains with its own kind, never mixing with other species. Birds, in particular, will not hunt together with animals. Yet in the Plague of Wild Animals, all the species acted in unison to fulfill God's command.

With the advent of this plague, the Egyptians began to shutter their doors and windows. But the animals would break through the roofs and open the doors from the inside, allowing the rest of the beasts to enter and wreak havoc and destruction in the Egyptians' homes. God also caused dense forests to appear in the Egyptian cities so that the animals would feel comfortable in their environment. Our Sages tell us that Egyptian parents would send their children for a walk with one of their servants. When the servant would return home without the children, the parents would cry, Where are our children? I'll tell you, the servant would answer. The lion took one, the wolf a second, the bear a third, and so on.

Goshen was unaffected by the Plague of Wild Animals. The Jews were also able to roam about Egypt freely, as the beasts would not harm them. This time Pharaoh called Moshe and asked him to remove the plague, promising to release the Jews as soon as the animals were gone. However, after the plague ended Pharaoh again hardened his heart and refused to keep his promise or heed Moshe Rabeinu's admonitions.