THE TEN PLAGUES

It saddens us that any struggle for freedom involves suffering. Generally, we drink wine to rejoice. Therefore, for each plague we take out a drop of wine from our cup. This way we do not rejoice over the suffering of others. The plagues that, we are told, afflicted the Egyptians were:

 (Take a drop of wine out of your cup for each plague)

Blood                           Dom                                       דָּם

Frogs                           Tzfardeyah                        צְפֵרְדֵּע

Lice                               Kinim                                    כִּנִים

Beasts                           Arov                                     עָרוֹב

Cattle Plague                 Dever                                    דֶּבֶר

Boils                                Sh’chin                                שְׁחִין

Hail                                   Barad                                    בָּרד

Locusts                            Arbeh                                  אַרְבֶּה

Darkness                          Choshech                            חשֶׁךְ

Slaying of First Born       Makat Bechorot         מַכַּת בְּכוֹרוֹת

In every generation, today in this generation we are facing plagues. So now we spill drops of wine and name what currently oppresses us.

   Racism, sexism, hatred of "the other".

 Antisemitism and anti Islam.

   Exclusion of immigrants and foreigners.

Rejection of LGBTQ+ people.

   Greedy theft of the earth's resources.

Denigration for learning, culture and science

   Incitement of war and aggression.

Despair of human goodness.

   Apathy and silence in the face of evil.

Justice delayed, justice denied, democracy ignored.

Many people perished during the plagues and the suffering was great. Pharaoh remained obstinate. However, with the tenth plague, the death of the first born, a great cry went up throughout Egypt. On that night, the Hebrews marked their door posts with the blood of the paschal lamb so the Angel of Death would 'pass over' their homes. Thus, the name Passover for this holiday. Pharaoh finally ordered Moses to take the Israelites out of Egypt.

After the slaves hurriedly left, the Pharaoh had a change of heart and the Egyptian army pursued them. Legend has it that when Moses and his people came to the Red Sea, the waters parted to allow them to cross. The Egyptians followed and were engulfed when the waters returned. Thus, the Exodus from Egypt was complete. When the Hebrews reached the edge of the desert and found the courage to continue, the Sea of Obstacles parted and they walked toward freedom.


haggadah Section: -- Ten Plagues