The sea was not split. It was torn.

 

Micrography by Menachem Boas. Uses entire book of Shemot. 

עברית

 

Exercise: https://www.studystack.com/picmatch-3362462

https://www.studystack.com/picmatch-3132102

Amidah

  fried whaaa? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANADcsaNzxI

Ivan Aivazovsky  (1817–1900) Passage of the Jews through the Red Sea

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqCTq3EeDcY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX83ed0Tg6g   at 1:26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzRrEgkfhG8

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c3QvBYx6qI

and part two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCIbQ3BSvJk

 

 

To learn how a seiche works:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ-9FpISSls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYI1zIjJr4g

The Chief!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xo7Y1nn1cE

SHEMOT CH. 14: THE TEARING OF THE SEA OF REEDS

The king of Egypt was told that the people fled,
and Par’oh’s heart and [that of] his servants changed regarding the people, they said:  

“What, just what  have we done, that we have sent free Israel from serving us?”

He had his chariot harnessed,
while his fighting people he took with him,  and he took six hundred selected chariots and every [kind of] chariot of Egypt, teams-of-three upon them all….

As Par’oh drew near, Bnei Yisrael lifted up their eyes:
right here! Egypt marching after them!
They were exceedingly afraid.
And Bnei Yisrael cried out to Adonai,

they said to Moshe:
“Is it because there are no graves in Egypt
that you have taken us out to die in the wilderness?
What, now, have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?

Is this not the very word that we spoke to you in Egypt,
saying: Let us alone, that we may serve Egypt!
Indeed, better for us serving Egypt
than our dying in the wilderness!”

 

Moshe said to the people:
“Do not be afraid!
Stand fast and see
Adonai’s deliverance which he will work for you today,
for as you see Egypt today, you will never see it ever again!

Adonai will do battle for you, and you—be still!”

Adonai said to Moshe:
Why do you cry out to me?
Speak to Bnei Yisrael, and let-them-march-forward!

And you—
hold your staff high, stretch out your hand over the sea
and split it,
so that Bnei Yisrael may come through the midst of the sea upon the dry-land.

While I,
here, I will make Egypt’s heart strong-willed,
so that they come in after them,
and I will be glorified through Par’oh and all his army,
his chariots and his riders;

and the Egyptians shall know that I am Adonai,
when I am glorified through Par’oh, his chariots and his riders….

 

Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea,
and Adonai caused the sea to go back
with a fierce east wind all night,
and made the sea into firm-ground;
thus the waters were torn.

 

The Children of Israel came through the midst of the sea upon the dry-land,
the waters a wall for them on their right and on their left.

But the Egyptians pursued and came in after them,
all of Par’oh’s horses, his chariots and his riders,
into the midst of the sea.

 

Now it was at the daybreak watch
that Adonai looked out against the camp of Egypt in the column of fire and cloud,
and he panicked the camp of Egypt;

he loosened the wheels of his chariots and made them to drive with heaviness.
Egypt said:
“I must flee before Israel,
for Adonai does battle for them against Egypt!”

Then Adonai said to Moshe:
Stretch out your hand over the sea,
and the waters shall return
upon Egypt—upon its chariots and upon its riders.

Moshe stretched out his hand over the sea,
and the sea returned, at the face of daybreak, to its original-place,
as the Egyptians were fleeing toward it.

And Adonai shook the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

The waters returned;
they covered the chariots and the riders of all of Par’oh’s army that had come after them into the sea,
not even one of them remained.

But Bnei Yisrael had gone upon dry-land, through the midst of the sea,
the waters a wall for them on their right and on their left.

So Adonai delivered Israel on that day from the hand of Egypt;
Israel saw Egypt dead by the shore of the sea,

and Israel saw the great hand that Adonai had wrought against Egypt.
The people held Adonai in awe;
they trusted in Adonai and in Moshe his servant.

 

 

 

 

Questions on the Tearing of the Sea (the Hebrew means tear, not split).

 

1.    Our Ancestors complained “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt  that you have taken us out to die in the wilderness?”   What do you know that is famous about Egypt ( when it comes to graves) that would make this complaint very sarcastic?

 

2.    When in the Torah did our ancestors actually tell Moses “Let us alone, that we may serve Egypt!  Indeed, better for us serving Egypt  than our dying in the wilderness!” ?

 

3.    What is different about the tearing of the sea here in the Torah that differs from the presentation in the movies?

 

4.    What else does God do that slows the Egyptians down?

 

5.    What does it mean that as the sea returned to it’s place, the  Egyptians fled toward it?

 

6.   What did our ancestors see on the other shore of the sea that let them know they were not going back to Egypt and finally free to serve God? 

COMMENTATORS:

Rashi on Exodus 14:27:3

נסים לקראתו FLED TOWARDS IT — because they were thrown into confusion and were bewildered and on that account ran towards it.

 

Ibn Ezra on Exodus 14:27:3

FLED AGAINST IT. I have already explained that the Egyptians in fleeing thought that they were returning to dry land when in actuality they were going toward the sea.

 

Rabbeinu Bahya, Shemot 14:27:4

ומצרים נסים לקראתו, “and the Egyptians were fleeing towards it.” We would have expected the Torah to write that the Egyptians were fleeing מפניו, “on its account,” or “from it.” However, the meaning of the words is that they were fleeing on account of the sea in order to escape it. The water kept coming at them in spite of their attempts to run away from it. This is what the Torah means when it wrote: ”G’d poured the Egyptians into the sea.” Our sages understood this verse as “He poured them into the sea as one pours meat into a pot.”

 

Chizkuni, Exodus 14:27:2

נסים לקראתו, “fleeing toward it;” at the beginning the waters of the sea had frozen; when the Egyptians saw that the solidity of the water offered them a chance for escape they tried to use it as a route of escape seeing that climbing to the shore was too strenuous. When the waters started to melt, they realised that they had been fleeing in the direction of where the waves came from.

 

Or HaChaim on Exodus 14:27:4

ומצרים נסים לקראתו, while the Egyptians were fleeing towards it. Although the Egyptians were fleeing from the onrushing waters, they found that the sea was coming towards its original place. As a result they found themselves fleeing towards the waters regardless of which direction they were headed for.

 

 

 

  

Shemot 16-  Hamotzi Lechem Min Hashamayim

Adonai said to Moshe,  "I've heard the B’nei Yisrael complaining. Tell them, 'At dusk you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat all the food you want. Then you will know that I am Adonai your God.'"

That evening quails came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  When the dew was gone, the ground was covered with a thin layer of flakes like frost on the ground.  When the B’nei Yisrael saw it, they asked each other, "Maan Hu?/What is this?" because they didn't know what it was. Moshe said to them, "It's the food Adonai has given you to eat.  This is what Adonai has commanded: Each of you should gather as much as you can eat. Take an omer[1]  for each person in your tent."

 So that is what the B’nei Yisrael did. Some gathered more, some less.  They measured it by the omer. Those who had gathered more didn't have too much. Those who had gathered less didn't have too little. They gathered as much as they could eat.  Then Moshe said to them, "Don’t keep it overnight until morning."  But some of them didn't listen to Moshe. They kept part of it until the next morning, and it was full of worms and smelled bad. Moshe was angry with those people.  Each morning everyone gathered as much food as they could eat. When the sun grew hot [i.e. when it got closer to noon], it melted away.

But on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omer per person. All the leaders of the community came to Moshe and told him about it.  He said to them, "This is what Adonai said: tomorrow is a day of resting, Shabbat Kodesh to Adonai. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. Save all that's left over, and keep it until tomorrow morning."  So they saved it until the next morning as Moshe had commanded, but it didn't smell or have worms in it.  "Eat it today," Moshe said, "because today is Shabbat for Adonai. You won't find anything in the field today.  You can gather food on six days, but on the seventh day, Shabbat, you won't find any."`

On the seventh day some people went out to gather food, but they didn't find any.  Adonai said to Moshe, "How long will you refuse to do what I have commanded and instructed you to do?  Remember: Adonai has given you the Shabbat. That's why he gives you enough food on the sixth day for two days. On the seventh day you do not need to leave your place. Nobody should leave their place on Shabbat."  So the people never worked on the Sabbath day.

 

---

[1] Around 3 liters by volume. Some say less, some say more. 

 

TALMUD BAVLI, YOMA, 75a

(במדבר יא, ה) את הקשואים ואת האבטיחים רבי אמי ורבי אסי חד אמר טעם כל המינין טעמו במן טעם חמשת המינין הללו לא טעמו בו וחד אמר טעם כל המינין טעמו טעמן וממשן והללו טעמן ולא ממשן

The Gemara returns to the same verse, in which the Jewish people said about life as slaves in Egypt: “We remember…the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic” (Numbers 11:5). Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi debated the verse’s meaning. The first  said: They tasted the flavor of almost all types of food in the manna, but they cried because they could not taste the tastes of these five foods that they mentioned. And the second said: They tasted the flavor of all types of food, as well as their textures. The sensation was so strong that it seemed to them like they were eating those very foods. However, with the foods they listed, the people tasted only their flavor but not their texture, and so they complained about the manna.

 

---

[1] Around 3 liters by volume. Some say less, some say more. 

Don't bug out about the 8th plauge and other fun

 

IVRIT

Zeh oh zeh?

Give it a read: https://www.sefaria.org/Psalms.92?lang=he

Shoreshim,  Big 4, pronouns

PARSHAT BO: WHAT’S BUGGING YOU?

 

Quiz on Locusts

Locusts as a plauge

Kashrut and Locusts

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk-vFLYQoyo

What the text says about darkness.                                          

Mepharshim on Choshech

What does it take for a society to give up enslaving others? 

מָתוֹק

חָמוּץ

 

 

קַר 

חַם

 

 

גָּדוֹל

קָטָן

 

 

קָרוֹב

רָחוֹק

SHORESHIM---- THE ROOTS OF HEBREW

 

 Most Hebrew words have a three letter root, often presented in an

“X. X. X.”  format, X representing any Hebrew consonant. There are no vowels in this format, indicating that what you are looking at is not a word.  Each root is the foundation for numerous words- verbs, adjectives, adverbs and more.  Here are the ten most common roots in the Siddur, the Jewish book of prayer and a small sample  of what concepts they are connected to.

 

1.                 ע.ש.ה.   -  doing, making

2.                   י.צ.א.    -  exiting, bringing out

3.                 ע.ל.ה.    -  rising, going up

4.                 ע.ב.ד.    -  labor, servant, service,

5.                 ז.כ.ר.    -  memory, remembrance

6.                 א.ה.ב.   -  love, to like

7.                 ב.ר.א.   -   create

8.                 א.מ.ר.   -   say

9.                    ד.ב.ר.    -   speak, tell, a thing,

10.      י.ש.ע.    -    salvation, save

 

 

BIG FOUR

Verbs get complicated,  but almost nouns and adjectives always fall into this format in terms of  singular and plural.

 

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	Xxxx דּוֹד Uncle	הxxxx     הדָוֹדּ Aunt
Plural	יםxxxx יםדִוֹדּ Uncles	ותxxxx וֹתדּוֹד Aunts

 

 

 

Hebrew			English
אֲנִי			I
אַתָּה			you (m. sing.)
אַתְּ			you (f. sing.)
הוּא			He/Him
הִיא			She/Her
אֲנַחְנוּ			We/Us
אַתֶּם			You/Y’all (m. pl.)
אַתֶּן			You/Y’all (f. pl.)
הֵם			They/them (m. pl.)
הֵן			They/them (f. pl.)

 

 EXODUS 9-12

THE LAST THREE PLAUGES : BUGS, DARKNESS, AND DEATH

 

Moshe went from Par’oh, outside the city, and spread out his hands to Adonai,
and the thunder and the hail stopped, and the rain no longer poured down to earth. Par’oh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had stopped, so he continued to sin: he made his heart heavy-with-stubbornness, his and his servants’. Par’oh’s heart remained strong-willed, and he did not send  B’nei Yisrael free,  as Adonai had spoken through Moshe.

 -----------------------

Adonai said to Moshe:
Come to Par’oh!  For I have made his heart and the heart of his servants heavy-with-stubbornness,  in order that I may put these my signs among them, and in order that you may recount in the hearing of your child and of your child’s child how I have been capricious with Egypt,  and my signs, which I have placed upon them—

that you may know that I am Adonai.

Moshe and Aharon came to Par’oh, they said to him:
“Thus says Adonai, the God of the Hebrews:
Until when will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
Let my people go that they may serve me! 

But if you refuse to send my people free, here, Tomorrow I will bring the locust-horde into your territory! They will cover the surface  of the earth, so that one will not be able to see the earth; they will consume what is left of what escaped, of what remains for you from the hail, and they will consume all the trees that spring up for you from the field. They will fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all Egypt, as neither your acestors or your ancestors' ancestors’ have seen- from the day of their being upon the soil until this day.”

 

Adonai said to Moshe:
Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locust-horde,
and it will ascend over the land of Egypt and consume all the plants of the land, all that the hail allowed to remain.

Moshe stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and Adonai led in an east wind against the land all that day and all night; when it was daybreak, the east wind had borne in the locust-horde. The locust-horde ascended over all the land of Egypt, it came to rest upon all the territory of Egypt, exceedingly heavy; before it there was no such locust-horde as it, and after it there will be no such again. It covered the surface of all the earth, and the earth became dark; it consumed all the plants of the land, and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left; nothing at all green was left of the trees and of the plants of the field, throughout all the land of Egypt.

Quickly Par’oh had Moshe and Aharon called and said:
“I have sinned against Adonai your God and against you! So now,  prut up with my error just this one time! And plead with Adonai your God, that he may only remove this death from me!” He went out from Par’oh and pleaded with Adonai, and Adonai reversed an exceedingly strong sea wind which bore the locusts away and dashed them into the Sea of Reeds; not one locust remained throughout all the territory of Egypt. But Adonai had made Par’oh’s heart strong-willed, and he did not send B’nei Yisrael free.

 

DON’T BUG OUT--  IT’S THE LOCUST QUIZ!!!   

 

1)    How are swarming locusts like the transforming Dr. Jekyll who turned into Mr. Hyde?

a)   They change color

b)   Their muscles get bigger

c)    The swarms grow by socialization

d)   All of the above

e)    None of the above

 

2)   The main threat of locusts is that they

a)   Eat all plant material

b)   Eat all meat material

c)    Eat plants and sting people

d)   Spread disease

e)    All of the above

 

3)   One ton of locusts can eat as much as which?

a)   10 elephants

b)   2,500 humans

c)    25 camels

d)   All of the above

e)    None of the above

 

4)   Why are there so many locust swarms today?

a)   Repeated heavy rains in many of the world’s regions

b)   Lots of vegetation from farming for locusts to eat

c)    Increased droughts

d)   All of the above

e)    None of the above

 

5)   Which is the scientific name for the family of grasshoppers?

a)   Acrididae

b)   Thucydides

c)    Seleucids

d)   Madeupicus

e)    Hugebugicus

 

 

6)   Aside from the Torah, what other religions have locusts in their sacred texts?

a)   Shinto

b)   Korean Shamanism

c)    Hinduism

d)   Sikhism

e)    Just the Jews, dude, just the Jews.

 

7)   What killed off the Rocky Mountain Locusts by 1902?

a)   The eruption of Krakatoa

b)   The mining from the Gold Rush.

c)    The fertilizer used by settlers who came west.

d)   The testing of the atomic bomb

e)    The popularity of Locust Patties in California

 

8)   The difference between a grasshopper and a locust is

a)   The number of wings

b)   The ability to jump

c)    Living in grassy areas or not

d)   All of the above

e)    There is no difference

 

9)   What is the one crop that strangely, locusts do not eat?

a)   Bananas

b)   Sugar cane

c)    Millet

d)   Quinoa

e)    They eat everything

 

10)       Which is true:

a)   The Quran says that Locusts are NOT Hallal and the Torah says they are NOT Kosher

b)   The Quran says that Locusts are NOT Hallal and the Torah says they ARE  Kosher

c)    The Quran says that Locusts are ARE Hallal and the Torah says they NOT  Kosher

d)   The Quran says that Locusts ARE Hallal and the Torah says they ARE Kosher

e)    The Quran says that Locusts ARE gross and the Torah says they ARE gross and this quiz was disgusting.

Don’t let Grasshoppers bug you:  Judaism and Eating Locusts

VAYIKRA (LEVITICUS.) 11:20-23

"EVERY FLYING INSECT THAT USES FOUR LEGS FOR WALKING SHALL BE AVOIDED BY YOU. THE ONLY FLYING INSECTS WITH FOUR WALKING LEGS YOU MAY EAT ARE THOSE WITH KNEES EXTENDING ABOVE THEIR FEET, [USING THESE LONGER LEGS] TO HOP ON THE GROUND. AMONG THESE YOU MAY ONLY EAT MEMBERS OF THE RED LOCUST FAMILY, THE YELLOW LOCUST FAMILY, THE SPOTTED GRAY LOCUST FAMILY AND THE WHITE LOCUST FAMILY. ALL OTHER FLYING INSECTS WITH FOUR FEET [FOR WALKING] MUST BE AVOIDED BY YOU."

Mishnah, Chullin (Everyday Foods) 3:7

And with regard to locusts, whose signs were also not stated in the Torah, the Sages stated: Any locust that has four legs, and four wings, and two additional jumping legs, and whose wings cover most of its body, is kosher. Rabbi Yossi says: And this applies only if the name of its species is chagav/grasshopper.

                                                          

 

 

Rabbi Dr. Nosson Slifkin, a zoologist, rabbi, expert on animal life in the Bible and director of the Biblical Museum of Natural History in Israel:

“I have eaten locusts on several occasions. They do not require a special form of slaughter, and one usually kills them by dropping them into boiling water. They can be cooked in a variety of ways - lacking any particular culinary skills, I usually just fry them with oil and some spices. My wife, however, insists that I do not use her kitchen utensils for the task; she is locust-intolerant. It's not the taste that is distinctive, so much as the tactile experience of eating a bug - crunchy on the outside with a chewy center!

“The rationale for certain locusts being kosher may be a practical matter - when your crops are wiped out by locusts, at least you're not left with nothing to eat! But in modern Western society, eating bugs simply grosses out most people. Many probably see the Torah's laws of kosher locusts as a relic from a primitive, barbaric era. Yet an article in the New Yorker magazine (August 2011) noted that in a world with a burgeoning population of billions, insects provide a much more efficient and environmentally-friendly source of protein, amongst other benefits.  Can you imagine what an impact it would make if Jews were known not for exploiting animals in factory-farming and indulging in massive gastronomic excesses, but instead for adopting a more environmentally and animal-friendly approach? In fact, eating locusts doesn't even make you fleishig, so you could have a locust cheeseburger. I say, let's get back to our Biblical roots and tuck in. Bon appétit!”

 https://www.the-eucalyptus.com/cookbook/

 ========CHOSHECH/DARKNESS====================

 

Adonai said to Moshe:
Stretch out your hand toward the heavens,
and let there be darkness over the land of Egypt,
so that they will feel darkness!

Moshe stretched out his hand toward the heavens, and there was gloomy darkness throughout all the land of Egypt, for three days; no one could see his brother, and no one could arise from his spot, for three days. But for all the Children of Israel, there was light in their settlements.

 

 Three Major Commentators On The Plague Of Darkness.

Let’s consider:  What makes each viewpoint different when it comes to the darkness? What does each interpreter emphasize?  How does each interpreter make the plague more than just the lights going out? And which resonates most with you? Or do you have an alternative explanation to what make the three days of darkness so “plague-tastic”?

#1- Rashi  (France, 11^th century)

וימש חשך  "Vayamesh  Chosesch" signifies that the darkness mentioned in the preceding phrase, Vayehi Chosech ויהי חשך-- shall darken for them the natural darkness to a higher degree than the darkness of night: i. e. the darkness of night shall become even more black and dark…. A Midrashic statement explains it in the sense of (Deuteronomy 28:29) “groping (ממשש feeling) at noon-day”, so that the meaning would be that it was of such a double character and so thick that there was something tangible in it (Exodus Rabbah 14:1-3).

#2- Ramban (Spain and Egypt, 13^th century)

Man could not see his fellow man, nor could anyone rise. This darkness was not merely an absence of light like the darkness of night. Rather it was like a thick mist that descended from Heaven. For this reason Hashem instructed Moshe, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky” (v. 21). It even extinguished their fires the way that the air of a deep excavation does. That is why no man could see his fellow, for had this been an ordinary darkness they would have simply kindled lamps. Thus the meaning of the verse, “He sent darkness and made it dark” (Tehillim 105:28), is that Hashem actually “sent” them darkness rather than merely removing the light of day. 

#3- Rabbi S. R. Hirsch (Germany, 19^th century)   

Vayamesh is the hiphil  form of the verb with the root  Mem-vav-shin.  Sampson,  in his blindness, asks the attendant that was leading his hands (Judges 16:26) “Let me be here v’hamisheyni/and let me feel  the pillars that hold up this place.”  Accordingly, Vayamesh accordingly means: this darkness caused the Egyptians to feel their way around everything. They were completely unable to use their vision to identify anything and were completely dependent on their sense of touch.

-----------------------------

Adonai said to Moshe:
I will cause one more blow
to come upon Par’oh and upon Egypt;
afterward he will send you free from here.
When he sends you free, it will be finished—he will drive, yes, drive you out from here. Pray speak in the hearing of the people: they shall ask, each man of his neighbor, each woman of her neighbor, objects of silver and objects of gold.

So Adonai gave the people favor in the eyes of Egypt,
while the man Moshe was [considered] exceedingly great in the land of Egypt,  in the eyes of Par’oh’s servants and in the eyes of the people.

...Moshe said [to Par'oh]:  So says Adonai:
In the middle of the night
I will go forth throughout the midst of Egypt,

and every firstborn shall die throughout the land of Egypt,
from the firstborn of Par’oh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the maid who is behind the handmill, and every firstborn of beast. Then shall there be a cry throughout all the land of Egypt, the like of which has never been, the like of which will never be again!

But against all the Children of Israel, no dog shall wag its tongue, against either man or beast, in order that you may know that Adonai makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.  Then all these,  your servants,  shall go down to me, they shall bow to me, saying: 'go out, you and all the people who walk in your footsteps!' And afterward I will go out.”  He went out from Par’oh in flaming anger.

Adonai said to Moshe:
Par’oh will not hearken to you,
in order that my portents may be many in the land of Egypt.

Now Moshe and Aharon had done all the warnings in Par’oh’s presence, but Adonai had made Par’oh’s heart strong-willed, and he had not sent B’nei Yisrael free from his land.

 

 -------------------------------------

Moshe had all the elders of Israel called and said to them:
"Pick out, take yourselves a sheep for your clans, and slaughter the Passover-animal. Then take a band of hyssop-herb, dip [it] in the blood which is in the basin,  and mark the lintel and the two mezzuzot with some of the blood which is in the basin. Now you—you are not to go out, any person from the entrance to their  house, until daybreak.

Adonai will proceed to deal-blows to Egypt,
and [when] he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two posts,
Adonai will pass over the entrance,
and will not give the destroyer [leave] to come into your houses to deal-the-blow.

You are to keep this matter as a law for you and for your children, into the ages! Now it will be, when you come to the land which Adonai will give you, as he has promised, you are to keep this service! And it will be, when your children say to you: What does this service [mean] to you?  then say: It is the sacrificial-meal of Passover to Adonai, who passed over the houses of B’nei Yisrael in Egypt, when he dealt-the-blow to Egypt and our houses he rescued."

The people did homage and bowed low. And B’nei Yisrael went and did as Adonai had commanded Moshe and Aharon, that is what they did.

Now it was at mid-night:
Adonai struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt,
from the firstborn of Par’oh who sits on his throne
to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon,
and every firstborn of the cattle.

Par’oh arose at night, he and all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house in which there was not one dead.

He had Moshe and Aharon called in the night and said:
“Get up, get out from among my people, all of  you, all  the Children of Israel!
Go, serve Adonai according to your words: even your sheep, even your oxen, take, as you have spoken, and go! And bring-a-blessing even on me!”

Egypt pressed the people strongly, to send them out quickly from the land,
for they said: We will all be dead! So the people loaded their dough before it had fermented, their kneading-bowls bound in their clothing, upon their shoulders.

  

2x2 : עשר מכות

How do the greater punishments echo the lesser ones?

 

	Lesser Punishments	Greater Punishments
Physical discomfort	Blood (thirst)	Boils
Environmental Disaster	“The Frog”	Hail
Insect Infestation	Lice	Locusts
Immobilization	The Swarm	Darkness
Death	De’ver (Cattle disease)	Makat Bechorot (SOTFB)

 

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