Pesach 5780

The answer is to be found in how we see the overall count of the plagues. If we look carefully at the way in which the ten plagues are described in the Torah, one will see that they can be divided into two groups of five plagues each. In the first grouping of five plagues, Pharaoh hardens his own heart but in the second grouping of five plagues, God causes Pharaoh’s heart to be hardened.
Pestilence is the fifth plague. Therefore the Egyptians experienced this plague, they had experienced an entire “hand” of plagues (especially when we consider that the third plague is referred to as “The finger of God”). The expression “the Hand of God” is also used in reference to the tenth plague. ”

With an outstretched arm - This refers to the sword… Commenting on the verse in I Chronicles 21, the Zohar says that we should understand it in an allegorical fashion. God does not have a “Sword…drawn in His outstretched arm.” Rather, this means that the forces of retribution are given ‘permission’ to act against those who commit evil acts. This is the intention of the Maggid as well. We can conclude from the similar use of language, “With an outstretched arm,” that the verse in Deuteronomy also implies that God has given reign to the forces of retribution. The sword here is a reference to the last five plagues. During the first five plagues Pharaoh was given the opportunity to repent and to stop the plagues. During the second set of five plagues Pharaoh lost his ability. Retribution was inevitable.
We see then that the two expressions in this verse, “With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,” make up all ten plagues. With a mighty hand refers to the first five plagues and “with an outstretched arm” refers to the second series of five plagues. The nature of these two series of plagues was different from one another.

With a mighty hand - this refers to the pestilence, as it said: “Behold the hand of Adonai strikes your cattle...” (Exodus 9:3): The verse in Exodus helps us understand the connection between pestilence and the hand of God but it does not explain the figurative connection between these two images. Why is this particular plague singled out as being caused by “the hand of God” while some of the others are referred to being caused by “the finger of God?” Since Pestilence is the fifth plague it represents “the hand of the Lord” and not just a finger of the Lord. The plagues were cumulative and by the fifth plague, the Egyptians no longer had any doubts about a pattern of destruction so they looked at this plague as the fulfillment of this pattern. Each plague was a little worse than the one before it so that the Egyptians might have also felt that they were being struck not just by a single finger but by the entire hand of God. The verse in Deuteronomy does not just say “hand” but with “a mighty hand.” How is this plague worst than all the other plagues? Pestilence is the worst of the plagues because there is no way to escape it. When pestilence strikes anyone can become its victim. Rabbi Epstein proves this by quoting a story which appears in the Second Book of Samuel, Chapter 24, in which King David is punished for conducting an unauthorized census of the Jewish people. The prophet comes to David and gives him a choice among three types of punishment: he can endure seven years of famine, spend three months under attack by his enemies, or three suffer from three days of pestilence. David chooses the pestilence. According to the Midrash, David reasoned that if he chose famine people would assume it was because he was wealthy enough to avoid starvation. If he chose attack people would think that it was because he felt safe because his soldiers would protect him. Only pestilence would equally affect everyone including the king. Since this was a punishment for his wrong doing he went out of his way to choose a punishment from which he would not be immune. Pestilence is, therefore, one of the worst plagues because there is no escaping it, whether one is rich or poor, great or humble.

The Types of Plagues
“With a mighty hand – this is a reference to pestilence. / With an outstretched arm – this refers to the sword. / With great terror - this refers to the revelation of the divine presence. / With sign – a reference to the staff. / And wonders – this refers to the blood.” (Deut. 26:8) There are many questions regarding this passage. How does the Haggadah connect all these things together: pestilence, sword, revelation of the divine presence, the staff and the plague of blood? Why does it single out pestilence and blood from the plagues? What is the connection between an outstretched arm and the sword? To which sword is the Haggadah referring? If “sword” is a reference to the death of the first born, why does it appear after the reference to pestilence and before blood? ^*The plagues should have appeared in their proper order: first blood, then pestilence and finally the death of first born (the sword). Even if the staff was used to perform the other plagues, why single it out with the plagues? There is great wisdom to be derived from this passage as we shall see!
The verse, “God took us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders,” suggests that there were five types of plagues which were brought upon Egypt.
Some plagues take place because of God’s absence. All of creation is ordered through God’s protective presence so that when God’s presence is hidden, creation become susceptible to chaos. The plague of pestilence took because the authored of creation was removed. This aspect of God is referred to as, “A strong hand.” The world is maintained through God’s providential presence, called the power of “God’s strong hand.” It is like a mighty person who supports a building and keeps it from falling. As soon as he removes himself for even a second the entire structure collapses.
There are some plagues that are only take place through God's active intervention against the recipient. This is reference to as “the outstretched arm.” For these plague to take place God must act, just as someone must take hold of the sword and strike with it.
"The revelation of the divine presence" is in between these two types of plagues; it is not carried out by God directly, like the death of the firstborn, nor is it completely out of God's control, like pestilence. The Divine Presence which is referred to as mora gadol, great terror,^*How do we get from mora gadol (great terror) to the appearance of the Divine Presence? The word mareh means appearance and the word Mora (or yirah) means terror or fear. In true Midrashic fashion, the Haggadah plays on the similarity of these two words in Hebrew. Terror and awe result from the revelation of God through the plagues. does not come about because of an act performed against people. Rather the Divine Presence only causes terror to the extent that it inspires fear in the one who witnesses it. Still, one could say that without the Divine Presence there would not be yira’ah, fear of God, either. That is why it is in between the sword and pestilence. It can be compared to a king who visits a certain place and the people come to show reverence to the ruler. It is not the king himself who causes people to express reverence; it is the people's response to His presence. Yet it if king’s presence was not there they would not feel reverence for him, so, in a sense, he is responsible for it. It only occurs when the king appears in the place.
• A strong hand refers to pestilence and all those plagues that happen when God’s presence is removed.
• An outstretched arm refers to the sword and the plagues when God strikes the other party.
•And with great terribleness refers to the appearance of the Divine Presence and all the plagues like it. ^*Three types of plagues occur:
1. Some plagues result from God’s withdrawal from the land.
2. Some result from God’s active intervention in Egypt.
3. Some result from the sense of the immediacy of God’s presence.
The Maharal doesn’t tell us which plagues fall into each of these three categories. How would you categorize the plagues?
All the plagues that occurred in Egypt fell into these three categories: either they occurred when God removed the divine presence from them or God acted against the Egyptians with great might, or in some fashion acted in a way between these two.^*We see, then, that there are five categories of plagues. If signs refers to naturally occurring plagues and wonders to supernaturally occurring plagues then we have the following
1. Natural - strong hand
2. Supernatural -strong hand
3. Appearance of divine presence
4. Natural “outstretched arm”
5. Supernatural “outstretched arm”
The Maharal does not appear to designate the various plagues into these categories – I leave to the reader to figure out how the plague would be divided up!
Another way of thinking about the plagues is as signs and wonders. Some plagues happened through purely natural occurrences and not through a supernatural divine act. Pestilence, the sword and the appearance of the Divine Presence did not occur through natural phenomena.
Generally, in the Midrash, sign (ot) is associated with the heavens while wonders (moftim) are associated with the earth. Thus, we read, “Behold I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if the dew is on the fleece only and it is dry on all the ground elsewhere then shall I know that you will save Israel by my hand as you have said.” (Jud. 6:37) Yet in the Haggadah the staff is associated with “signs” and these signs are not in heaven! ^*The wet fleece appears to be a sign from God – since it occurs from the dew, it is taken as a sign from the heavens. But the Maharal now wonders if “signs” are heavenly, what is the connection to the plagues and the staff?
Rather otot, signs, refers to natural occurrences which are apparent in the world while moftim, wonders, refers to occurrences are not natural. Thus, with the heavens we see the occurrence but not necessarily see the outcome while with the earth we see the outcome but we don’t necessarily see the events that led to the occurrence.^*The expression here is signs poalim v’ein mitpa’alim vs. wonders, Mitpaalim v’ein poalim. Think of it this way: no one sees the flower blossom – one day it is there and the next it is a beautiful flower. That is a wonder. On the other hand, we can actually watch the occurrence an eclipse in the sky even though the outcome does not affect us directly. When something occurs in the heavens telling us that such and such will occur, it is considered a “sign.” Similarly, the staff was a sign that the plagues would occur (and not the agent of the plagues). But when the event actually occurs and it is something completely new, outside the norms of nature, then it becomes a wonder.
There was no wonder like the plague of blood; it was completely outside of nature. The rest of the plagues could be explained as natural occurrences. It is natural for frogs to come out of the river or lice to rise up from the land. Wild animals are found in the land – it was just a matter of them finding their way to Egypt. The same can be said of pestilence, boils, hail and locusts. Even darkness was not unnatural, it was an absence of light. So there was nothing unnatural about these plagues. Similarly, the death of the first born was not outside of nature – something had to cause the natural death of the firstborn.
These were the two means of causing the plagues: natural and supernatural. Only the first plague was supernatural and outside nature. It would not have been fitting for the staff to be the cause of the plagues. The staff was simply a sign of the plagues. The staff was a sign of natural events. We see, then, that the Haggadah tells us that the plagues occurred in three different manners and that each category of plagues can be divided into two categories: signs and wonder.

אשר בשדה, which are in the field, etc. This is to be taken literally; they all died because the Egyptians left them in the fields as mentioned in 9,6.

1. Regarding washing the hands in the morning upon awakening from sleep. This can be understood according to the Rebbe z"l's teaching in Likutei Moharan 250 regarding the necromancer who answered the question (Berakhot 59b) "What is an earthquake?" by saying "When Hashem recalls His children who are in distress among the nations, He sheds two tears into the great sea, and the sound reverberates through the world. See there. The essence of all of the tribulations that befall mankind, G-d forbid, is only from a lack of da'at/knowledge. He who has da'at and knows that everything is divine providence from Hashem Yisbarach has no tribulations and does not feel any suffering, etc. The essence of the Jewish people's pain in exile is only because they fell from da'at and attributed things to nature and fortune, G-d forbid {Note: R' Nassan means here that instead of believing that everything is determined by Hashem, we have relied upon the natural sciences}. Because of this they {we} have sadness/pain. And this is because we have dwelt among the gentiles and learned from them, etc. In truth, the Jewish people are above nature, only when they sin, G-d forbid, then, etc. {This sentence is unfinished}. When Hashem wants to save the Jewish people from their exile, he then bestows upon them divine providence from the ends of the earth. In the future, nature will be nullified completely and there will be nothing except divine providence alone, as it is written (Isaiah 51:6) "for the heavens shall vanish like smoke", etc. In other words, nature - which depends upon the arrangement of the constellations - will be no more, etc. Then the Jewish people will be above {nature}. Therefore even now, when Hashem Yisbarach wants to bring down the gentiles and lift up the Jewish people above, He evokes divine providence upon them from the ends of the earth, so then there will be nothing but providence. Because of this divine providence, Israel is elevated and makes, etc. See there very well. And this is 'G-d recalls', see there.

2. And when da'at disappears, as seen above - in other words, no one knows, G-d forbid - that everything {in the world} runs only on the providence of Hashem Yisbarach, and {they} believe that things take their natural course, G-d forbid, this is the aspect of sleep, which is the absence of da'at, the aspect of night and darkness. The essence of the light of day is the aspect of da'at, as shown. In other words, light is only {from} Hashen Yisbarach, so to speak, in the aspect of (Psalms 27:1) "The Lord is my light and my salvation", corresponding to (Psalms 118:27) "The Lord is G-d, and He gave us light". This is the essence of the sun's light, the aspect of (Psalms 84:12) "For a sun and a shield is the Lord G-d". In other words, when one knows that Hashem Yisbarach rules the world only with providence, this is the essence of light. For the essence of light, in every place where light is found, like the light of the sun and similar {places}, is only the Light of Hashem Yisbarach, so to speak, that illuminates us, as explained above. When we fall, G-d forbid, from this knowledge and we attribute things to nature, G-d forbid, this is the aspect of the absence of light. Then it corresponds to night and darkness, G-d forbid. And this is the aspect of (Isaiah 13:10) "the sun has become dark in its going forth", etc., the aspect of (Joel 2:10) "the sun and moon darken", etc. and other similar verses like these. All of them were said regarding the time of the exile; in other words, because in exile it seems like the light of the sun has darkened because the exile is similar to night, as explained by Rashi. In other words, in the time of the exile, which is evoked only because we attributed things to nature, G-d forbid. Then 'the sun has become dark in its going forth' because immediately when we relied on nature, G-d forbid, then the light escaped from the sun, as if the sun actually darkened. For in reality, the sun has no light at all except from Hashem Yisbarach, as explained above. Therefore the exile resembles night and darkness. For the essence of the exile is only because we attribute things to nature, G-d forbid. The it is the aspect of night and darkness, the disappearance of the light, as explained above. This corresponds to sleep, the disappearance of da'at to know that everything is divine providence, which is the essence of the light, etc., as explained above. Therefore, at the time of sleep, the forces of evil descend upon a person, and the essence is on the hands, as is written in the Holy Zohar (Vayeshev 184b). For the essence of the Other Side is the aspect of the gentiles as is known, who draw nourishment only from the aspect of heresies, which is the essence of the Evil Inclination, which is called 'going after atheism', as is brought; in other words, they attribute {everything} to nature, as explained above. Then the aspect of the gentiles increases, the aspect of power of the exile which resembles night and sleep and which they absorbed from the aspect of the strengthening of nature, as explained above. This is the aspect of the spirit of impurity which rests upon a person {at night}. Therefore, the essence of the rectification of sleep in holiness is through faith, as is brought in the words of Rabbeinu, z"l (Likutei Moharan 35). In other words, when da'at disappears, corresponding to sleep, when man sees that his knowledge is confused and is not perfect, and he is not able to ascertain and to understand that everything is by divine providence from Hashem Yisbarach alone, as it is now in exile amidst the gentiles who resemble night and darkness, and when the knowledge of natural science has increased, G-d forbid - then it is incumbent upon every Jew to cast out and to remove his knowledge completely and to strengthen himself in faith alone, to believe with perfect faith that everything is only through divine providence alone and there is no nature in the world at all. This is the aspect of rectifying sleep through faith. In other words, at the time of sleep, as explained above one must enter into the midst of the aspect of faith, to rely on faith alone after his da'at has fled, just as now in the exile. We must always strengthen ourselves in faith alone, since now we have not elevated da'at perfectly to know that everything is done with divine providence. Therefore, one must clear his mind and rely only on faith alone, in the aspect of (Psalms 92:3) "and Your faith at night". And since at night, at the time of sleep, the disappearance of knowledge strengthens the knowledge of natural science, G-d forbid, which is the aspect of darkness, as explained above, in the aspect of (Genesis 15:12) "and a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, a fright, a great darkness...", etc. This is demonstrated by the power of the exile. In other words, at the time of sleep, and deep sleep, the disappearance of da'at strengthens the power of the exile, from which they nourished, in the aspect of the strengthening of natural science, as explained above. And this is why a spirit of impurity rests upon a person at the time of sleep, as explained above. Therefore, as soon as one awakens from sleep one must wash his hands with water, because the spirit of impurity rests mainly upon the hands, as it is written in the Holy Zohar. For the hands corresponds to heaven, שָׁמַיִם - fire and water, אֵשׁ וּמַיִם, on the right side and left side, corresponding to (Deuteronomy 32:40) "For I raise up My hand to heaven" as is brought in the words of Rabbeinu in another place (Likutei Moharan 56). This is the aspect of the grasp of the Other Side, the aspect of natural science, the aspect of hands, for they attribute causes to the arrangement of constellations, which corresponds to 'hands'. Therefore the essence of the strengthening of the Other Side is at the time of sleep, which corresponds to nature and is with the hands specifically, as explained above. Because the hands have 28 phalanges which correspond to the 28 letters of the act of creation, through which the heavens and the earth were created, in the aspect of (Isaiah 48:13) "Even My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured the heavens". And therefore the main way to subdue the forces of evil, represented by the gentiles of the world, the aspect of natural science through which they are strengthened, as explained above, the aspect of their submission is only through the hands of holiness, when one merits to elevate them to da'at. And this is the aspect of (Exodus 17:11) "It came to pass that when Moses would raise his hand, Israel would prevail, and when he would lay down his hand, Amalek would prevail", etc. which was said regarding the war with Amalek. Because Amalek is in general all of the gentiles and the other side, in the aspect of “Amalek was the first of the nations“ (Numbers 24: 20). And Amalek was the essence of atheism and completely attributed everything to nature, G-d forbid. They would discern the hours based on their astrology as is brought in the explanation of Rashi and as shown in the words of Rabbeinu z"l. Therefore, the essence of their subjugation is through the raising of the hands. The raising of the hands, the 28 phalanges that are in the hands, to the head, in the aspect of (Psalms 134:2) "Lift your hands in the holy place". In other words, when the hands, with their 28 phalanges, are raised to da'at to know that all is divine providence, because Hashem Yisbarach created everything through the 28 letters of מַעֲשֵֹה בְרֵאשִׁית, which are the aspect of the 28 phalanges, as explained above. And then they are elevated - the aspect of heaven, because they are also the aspect of the hands, as explained above - to their root which is in knowledge, in the aspect of the 28 letters, as seen above. Because everything was created by G-d with the 28 letters and He gives life and established the heavens and all of their hosts and the land etc. through His divine providence alone and there is absolutely no nature or influence of the arrangements of the constellations at all. And then Amalek and the Other Side are subdued, as seen above. And this is the aspect of (Exodus 17:12) "so he was with his hands in faith until sunset". The essence of the subjugation of Amalek is through faith in divine providence which is drawn down through raising the hands, as explained above. Therefore at the time of sleep da'at disappears, for then nature is strengthened, G-d forbid. This is the root of the Other Side that is on a person. Therefore the essence of its grasp is with the hands, as seen above. Then, immediately after one wakes from sleep one must wash his hands with water with corresponds to the waters of da'at, the waters of Chesed/Loving-kindness, the aspect of (Isaiah 11:9) "for the land shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea bed". In other words, through the washing one brings down the purifying waters of the waters of knowledge, in the aspect of "The whole world will know that then the world is filled with knowledge like water covers the sea bed". Then everyone will know that everything is only through divine providence alone, for {the concept of} nature will be nullified completely. And even now, at any time when one needs salvation and purification, to be saved from the midst of the Other Side, which is nourished from the aspect of the knowledge of nature, one draws down divine providence from the ends of the earth, as explained above in the lesson, as seem above. This corresponds to the water of washing the hands, which draws down the waters of knowledge from the ends of the earth, in the aspect of 'The whole world will know that then the world is filled with knowledge', etc. This is the aspect of Mikveh, which corresponds to the World of the Future (because Mikveh, מִקְוֶה, in Gematria is 151, corresponding to Binah, the World of the Future, as is brought). This corresponds to (Jeremiah 14:8) "O hope, ,מִקְוֶה of Israel, his Savior at time of trouble". Because all of the troubles and tribulations are only due to the lack of knowledge, in the aspect of the knowledge of nature, as explained above. In other words, they do not know, G-d forbid, that everything is divine providence, etc. This is the essence of the impurity, as seen above. Therefore the salvation from the trouble and the purification from the impurity is through Mikveh, which is the aspect of 'the World of the Future', the aspect of the waters of wisdom, the aspect of 'for the land shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as water', etc. Through entering the mikveh and occluding the eyes it blocks out the world and one ignores {the world} and covers himself there in the waters of the mikveh, which is the aspect of the waters of knowledge, the aspect of 'the Future World'. Through this one is included within the aspect of da'at, in the aspect of providence for he covers his eyes to the world which strengthens the errors of the wisdom of nature, from whence comes all trouble and impurities. Through this the eyes are damaged, whose root and vitality are from the aspect of the Eyes of G-d, which are the aspect of divine providence, as is understood in the lesson above. And when one falls from da'at and believes that there is nature, G-d forbid, this is the aspect of the damaging of the eyes and from this come all the troubles, etc., as seen above. Therefore one must cover his eyes completely from what goes on in this world and to lose himself and be included in the waters of the mikveh, which is the aspect of the knowledge of the World of the Future. For then the divine providence will be revealed and nature will disappear completely. And through this divine providence will be drawn down from the ends of the earth, in the aspect of mikveh. And through this salvation will come to him, for everything that he needs, the aspect of 'Hashem is the hope of Israel, his Savior in times of trouble', etc. This is the aspect of the washing of the hands in the morning, which draws down purified water which comes from the aspect of mikveh. Through this he purifies his hands, which are the aspect of the 28 phalanges, the aspect of the 28 letters of the act of creation. The essence of the defect of the aspect of the knowledge of nature, which is strengthened through sleep at night, and darkness afflicts them specifically, as seen above. For through the knowledge of nature the 28 letters are flawed, as seen above, and one associates with the order of the universe, G-d forbid, as seen above. This is the aspect of impurity which takes hold in the hands specifically at the time when da'at flees; in other words, at the time of sleep, as seen above. Therefore, we purify them through the waters of knowledge drawn down from the aspect of 'the World of the Future', etc., as explained above.