We always get stuck on the part of the Haggadah where the rabbis argue about how many plagues the Egyptians suffered. First it says there were Ten Plagues. Then Rabbi Yehuda makes them into three groups: Dtzach Adash Beachav. Then we hear there were ten plagues in Egypt and fifty additional plagues at the Red Sea. Rabbi Eliezer then says that each plague was really four plagues, so there were 40 in Egypt and 200 at the Red Sea. Finally Rabbi Akiva says each plague was actually five plagues, so there were 50 in Egypt and 250 at the Red Sea!!! Can you shed any light on what in the world is going on here?
Answer:
The Exodus from Egyptian slavery represents the soul's liberation from evil forces. In every generation we have to see ourselves as if we are leaving Egypt, leaving behind our own inner resistance to goodness, our evil inclination, so we can march to Mount Sinai and receive the Torah.
But to truly be free from slavery, your Egypt has to be afflicted with plagues. Before you can express your inner goodness, you have to clear away layers of resistance that get in the way. For every positive impulse there is a negative counterforce that attempts to quash it. Every time I want to do a good deed, my inner Pharaoh, my evil inclination, has an excuse why I shouldn't do it. I have to break through these blockages in my heart to open myself up to goodness.
This is the deeper meaning of the plagues. Before the Jewish people could receive the Ten Commandments, there were ten layers of evil that had to be vanquished, each layer being the blockage to fulfilling one of the Ten Commandments. After the ten powers of evil were subdued through the ten plagues, the Ten Commandments could be received and observed, and the powers of goodness could reign free.
But the Torah has more than ten commandments. There are in fact six hundred and thirteen commandments. The Ten Commandments are ten general categories, under which all the other commandments fall. "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy" includes all the festivals. "Do not steal" includes all business ethics and laws of commerce. "Do not murder" includes all moral obligations to our fellow human beings, and so on. They are parent categories, under which lie hundreds of offshoots.
So the ten really includes six hundred and thirteen. Therefore the ten plagues must also include six hundred and thirteen plagues, because for each and every commandment there is a negative counterforce that needs to be nullified for us to be able to perform that commandment. Now we understand why the Haggadah lists various ways our sages extrapolated more plagues than the original ten.
Let's look at the numbers in the order mentioned in the Haggadah:
There were 10 plagues
Rabbi Yehuda groups them into 3 - Dtzach Adash Beachav
Rabbi Yose lists 10 plagues in Egypt and 50 at the sea
Rabbi Eliezer multiplies it into 40 in Egypt and 200 at the sea
Rabbi Akiva finds 50 plagues in Egypt and 250 at the sea
Now add up the sum total of all these numbers of plagues mentioned in the Haggadah:
10+3+10+50+40+200+50+250 = 613
The Haggadah is teaching an amazing lesson. The Ten Plagues came to clear the way for the Ten Commandments. But being that the Ten Commandments include within them 613 commandments, so too the ten plagues actually add up to 613. When the Jews left Egypt, every single layer of resistance was obliterated, and the Jewish soul was left open to accepting all of the commandments.
On Seder night, as we read through these plagues, we can each think of a mitzvah we have been resisting to do, and allow the power of telling the story of the plagues to rid us of any resistance to goodness, and free us to do what's right.
Good Shabbos and a Happy, Kosher and Liberating Pesach,
Rabbi Moss
(Source: Sfas Emes)
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