In this weeks parsha, ה׳ commanded משה and אהרן to send plagues down on מצרים. The ten plagues that ה׳ cast on the people of מצרים seem to be a little random. Is it possible that these plagues symbolize something?
Rashi gave an idea about the first plague of turning the Nile river into blood: ולקחת ממימי היאור: רמז להם שבמכה ראשונה נפרע מאלהותם. He says that this is symbolic because the מצרים worshipped the Nile as a God. So turning it into blood is almost showing the people that their “God” isn’t real and is out of control. Do any of the other plagues have symbolic meanings?
Meira Baum
ReplyDeleteIn the Haggadah the Makot are put into three groups. Rav Hirsch explains that the first plague in each group was a punishment for the Egyptians for making the Jews feel out of place in Egypt. The Egyptians felt at home with the nile so the nile gets blood. They felt the wild animals protected the borders so that no one should get in or out of Egypt so they were turned against them. In Egypt the weather was aways predictable so Hashem made hail to make them uncomfortable.
Meira Baum
ReplyDeleteIn the Haggadah the Makot are put into three groups. Rav Hirsch explains that the first plague in each group was a punishment for the Egyptians for making the Jews feel out of place in Egypt. The Egyptians felt at home with the nile so the nile gets blood. They felt the wild animals protected the borders so that no one should get in or out of Egypt so they were turned against them. In Egypt the weather was aways predictable so Hashem made hail to make them uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteGenie Tokayer
Yosef Y. Jacobson thinks that the ninth plague, in which a thick darkness covers all of Egypt, reflects the inability of the inhibited "Egyptian" soul to think freely and openly. Qhwn someone is open to new ideas and different ways of thinking, the world is filled with endless opportunity and light. But if you are narrow minded and close your mind to different points of view, like the Egyptians were, you are in a way trapped inside darkness. This Plauge symbolizes the darkness the Egyptians were already living in in Egypt because of the limited opportunities of freedom of expression and speech.
I think that this is a really interesting way of interpreting this plauge. It is a really important thing to have different viewpoints and hear others perspectives and the fact that the Egyptians were closed off to that means that they were living in darkness all along.
Hashem specifically used frogs in the second plague to torment the Egyptians because they worshipped a frog headed goddess and it was meant to specifically offend the Mitzrim by displaying them all over Egypt in a disgusting and smelly way rather than a holy and sacred way.
ReplyDeleteI think this is appropriate to put upon the Egyptians since they were disrespecting our god and religious views and so they get what they deserve.
https://www.gotquestions.org/ten-plagues-Egypt.html
The ten plagues were chosen because the aspects of them seem that could easily be seen as just the works of nature,and therefore Hashem chooses to change those specific ones to show that really its not nature, rather Hashem is in control. For example, the blood in Nile showed that Hashem had control over all the water, and the boils showed that Hashem had control over who would suffer and who would be healed.
ReplyDeleteI really love this idea. I like how it goes through all the plagues, and show how Hashem’s hand can be found in every single one of them. I think it is a really cool idea that Hashem used the plagues to show the Egyptians and Binei Yisrael that He was in control. It also killed two birds with one stone. By having those speciric plagues, Pharoah ended up letting Binei Yisrael go, and Hashem reminded everybody that He is the one that rules over everything.
^^^ source was Chabad.org
ReplyDeleteThe Torah is not only a book of stories, but a book of lessons that we can all learn and apply to our lives. Therefore the plagues can teach us something valuable about ourselves, even thousands of years later. Kabbalah teaches us 10 Sefirot, or ten points of energy that make up a person. In mitzraim these ten inner attributes were distorted, therefore the 10 makot reflect the backwards sefirot of the mitzrim.
ReplyDeleteHere are some examples:
Blood corresponds to Destructive Confidence: The Nile was their source of confidence and power by turning it to blood Hashem is striking their destructive confidence down.
Devouring beasts correspond to Wild Ambition: The Mitzrim were too ambitious, they were willing to sacrifice lives in order to build their empire, figuratively they themselves turned into ‘wild beasts’.
Hail corresponds to Frozen Love: In Kabbalah water symbolizes love and kindness, so when frozen water hailed down on Egypt, it symbolized the lack of love and compassion in the society.
I think it’s really interested to relate these plagues to the mindset of the Mitzrim, we can also learn from this. We can see the perversion of the people and remember their sins in our own life.
Sources: Chabad, Rabbi Abraham Twerski, Rabbi Mattis Kantor
There are many reason behind the all the makot. One that I found especially interesting was the death of the firstborns. This plague was a direct attack on the Egyptian culture because the first born has the most power, especially in royal families where he would become king. This was especially significant to paroh who happened to be the son of the first born of the first born. This plague was not random instead it was a n attack on the Egyptian culture. The Nitziv comments quotes the song that was sung at kriat yam suf. In the song it says "The horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea." The Nitziv comments that the horses symbolize bnei israel and the riders symbolize the Egyptians. The killing of the firstborn foreshadows the killing of the "leading/first" riders.
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea because it shows that really nothing happens at random. This shows us the reason why killing the firstborn was significant and how its really affected the Egyptians. We already know that everything happens for a reason but it is really interesting to know the history of the Egyptians and how that helps explain the 10th plague.
Source aish: http://www.aish.com/atr/Why_First-borns_Killed.html
ReplyDeleteIn an article written by Yosef Jacobson, he says that the tenth plague of killing the firstborn symbolizes the Egyptians abuse of the human soul. The first born represents the initial/first motives of a person (initial instincts usually aren’t conscious thoughts). And the ongoing addiction to initial instincts will ultimately bring a death to the first born and the conscious elements of a person's soul
Source: http://ascentofsafed.com/cgi-bin/ascent.cgi?Name=j1462Plagues
^this is a really good example of what goes around comes around and although the Egyptians started out being the abusers they ended up getting payback. This also has a good message of not following ur initial instincts and always think it through
ReplyDeleteThe fifth plague, which was the death of livestock, also has a symbolic meaning. It was the judgment on the Egyptian goddess Hathor and the god Apis. They were both depicted as cattle and were worshipped by the Egyptians who prayed to them that their livestock would be healthy. Hashem chose to kill the livestock because he was "steadily destroying the economy of Egypt, while showing His ability to protect and provide for those who obeyed Him." Hashem was choosing plagues that would destroy the Egyptians economy and their everyday lives. Hashem chose Plagues that would really effect the egyptians lives and therefor cause them even more pain. I think this makes sense because Hashem would want to make plagues that would make the egyptians truly suffer while showing them that he helps and takes care of the people who follow him.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/amp/s/www.gotquestions.org/amp/ten-plagues-Egypt.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/ten-plagues-Egypt.html
ReplyDeleteFor the ninth plague, Hashem made the entire land of Egypt dark. Hashem specifically chose the plague of darkness because it was aimed at the sun god, Re, who the Mitzrim worshipped. The sun god was also symbolized by Pharaoh himself. For three days, the land of Egypt had complete darkness, but the homes of Bnei Yisrael had light.
I love this idea because it truly shows how powerful Hashem really is. By taking away their sun and light, it just proves to the Mitzrim how Hashem is the one and only, Almighty G-d, and creator of the world. I also love how the jews had light in their homes because it just further proved to the Mitzrim that Hashem is on our side :)
Naama Katz:
ReplyDeleteRashi talks about the plague of darkness - חשך. He asks why Hashem put the plague of darkness on the Egyptians. He says that there were bad Jews who wanted to actually stay in Mizrayim, so Hashem killed them as well. Hashem killed them during the time of darkness so that the Egyptians won’t see the Jews’ God killing His own people. I think this is really interesting because when one first hears about the plague of darkness they just think that Hashem just wanted to punish the Egyptians. We learn from this symbolic explanation that He was also punishing the bad Jews, but in a “secretive” way.
Ally Brandwein:
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the sins was to show G-ds powerful place, and how no one can even compare to Him. Ramban says that Paroh got punished not because he held us hostage, but rather because he didn't acknowledge G-d and His existence.
I agree with this because rather than giving a complicated answer, it's self explanatory and it makes sense!
Source: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-ten-plagues/