The Secret of the Ten Plagues
By Yitzchak Feldheim

One of the first meaningful insights I remember having as a child was triggered at a Passover Seder when I was __ years old. It was inspired by the custom of removing a bit of wine from the cup as we recite each of the ten plagues - “dam, tzefardea, kinim....” With each word, I’d stick my pinky in the goblet and remove one drop of wine. For years this was the highlight of my Seder.

I had already learned the meaning behind this custom: although it is a joyful experience to see justice being served, at the same time we must always be cognizant of the fact that the Egyptians too were human beings and that they were suffering. Therefore, we temper the joy of reciting the plagues with the removal of a drop of wine from our cup. In doing so, we slightly diminish our pleasure, acknowledging that while our cup runneth over with redemption, there is still sadness in watching Egypt drink from the cup of retribution.

What intrigued me as a child was the poignant notion that the Torah expects us to feel sympathy even in a situation where the suffering is justified. Justice can be demanded but compassion should not be forgotten.

While this is a powerful idea in and of itself, there is a lesson in this that is even more fascinating. If G-d cares about the Egyptians too, then the plagues weren’t only for our benefit. They must have been meant, somehow, for the benefit of the Egyptians as well.

Apparently, the plagues were not just some big brother beating up the school bully for picking on his kid brother, but were rather a teacher trying to reeducate the bully by showing him the error of his ways. More than a semi-comic display of creative retribution - the work of a G-d with a sense of humor and a penchant for pranks - the plagues should be seen as something of a structured, ten-step rehabilitation program for a misguided and wayward nation.

Ever since then, I have been intrigued by the prospect of envisioning the plagues as a kind of systematic lesson. What is the message of the ten plagues? What was G-d trying to convey with their progression and the mysterious choices of afflictions?

I’d like to share with you a fascinating structure of the plagues that I discovered almost by accident.

Let’s begin with a list of the plagues.

1) Dam [Blood] - All the waters of Egypt were turned to blood.
2) Tzfardeah [Frogs] - Egypt was invaded by swarms of frogs that streamed forth from the Nile and invaded the homes of the Egyptians.
3) Kinim [Lice] - Aaron hit the earth of Egypt with his staff, and the dust turned into lice.
4) Arov [Wild Animals] - Animals from the wild invaded the land of Egypt.
5) Dever [Pestilence] - A plague killed all of the domestic animals in the land of Egypt.
6) Sh’chin [Boils] - The Egyptians were covered with festering boils all over their bodies
7) Barad [Hail] - Hail combined with fire rained down on Egypt, destroying most of the crops and killing anything left in the fields.
8) Arbeh [Locusts] - Swarms of grasshoppers blackened the sky and swooped down to devour everything that survived the hail.
9) Choshech [Darkness] - Egypt was enveloped in a paralyzing darkness.
10) Bechoros [Firstborn] - The death of all the first born of Egypt (except for Pharaoh).

The clue or catalyst to discovering this structure is the strange word used by the Torah for ‘frogs.’ The Hebrew word for frogs is tzfardeah - a contraction of the two words tzipor and deah, which mean ‘bird’ and ‘knowledge’ respectively. So tzefardeah literally translates as bird of knowledge. Why would a frog be called a bird of knowledge? What similarity is there between frogs and birds?

Possibly, the relationship is based on the following. The Torah describes the world as comprised of three levels: the heavens above, the waters below and the earth in middle. The Torah even refers to the sky and the water as the “upper waters and lower waters,” using the word mayim for water and Shamayim for the heavens (see the creation story in Genesis 1).

Each one of these levels has creations that exist on that level. The heavens have stars, planets and clouds, the waters have fish and other sea creatures and the land has plants, animals and, of course, people. There are two types of creatures, though, that exist on TWO levels: there are birds that move about both on the earth and in the sky, and there are amphibians that live both on the earth and in the water.

Birds bridge the upper two levels while amphibians – which, of course, include frogs - bridge the lower two levels. The words tzfardeah (frog) and tzipor (bird) both begin with the word tzaf - which means “to float.” Floating is understood as to not have a defined place, as when one floats between jobs or relationships. This may be why G-D uses the same word for birds and amphibians. Birds are the upper-level floaters, while amphibians float between the lower two.

Based on this seemingly minor detail, the pattern of the 10 plagues virtually writes itself. G-d is educating the Egyptian as to his unified mastery over all the individual levels of creation, beginning from the lowest and, step by step, progressing upwards. Let’s take a look:

1) Blood. Beginning with the lowest of the three levels, water, G-d demonstrates control over this first level, turning the Egyptian water to blood.
2) Amphibians. Now G-D shows his control over the bridge between water and land. An invasion of amphibians.
3) Lice. Moving along, G-d turns to the next level, the land. G-d turns the dust of Egypt to lice.
4) Wild animals. Now on the land, we begin with the fringes. G-d brings in the animals from the wild.
5) Pestilence. Getting closer to home, we see the death of the domestic animals.
6) Boils. Now we are at the center; G-d brings boils on the humans himself.
7-8) Hail and Locust. Finished with the water and land, we are up to the bridge between the upper two levels. Similar to the amphibians below, G-d brings hail and then locust, which both bridge the heaven and the earth. Originating above and swooping down below.
9. Darkness. Now we are up to the third level, the sky itself. G-d creates the darkness, blackening out the heavens.
10. Firstborn. Finally, G-d shows Himself, the true “First” above and sovereign over all the levels.

Pretty cool. The one thing that ruins the symmetry of this entire structure is -- as you may have noticed -- I fudged it a little by lumping plagues seven and eight together. Based on the proposed structure, it would seem that locust is just a duplicate of hail. The niche that both these plagues fill is that of the bridge between heaven and earth, sort of an upper level amphibian, coming out of the sky and making its mark on the ground. This step was performed by the hail. Why would we need another plague, locust, to repeat the same message?

However, rather than ruin our theory, this “question” may actually prove it. Let’s look at how the Torah describes the locust. “They ate everything that was left over by the hail.” The Torah itself seems to be saying what we have observed, that the locust are actually just an extension of the hail. They do not contribute any new unique affliction, but rather just finish the job that the hail left over.

That in itself would suffice to save our theory, but the Torah says one more thing about the locust: “They blackened the sky.” This too is not unique. The next plague is the plague of darkness. So it would seem that the locust are sort of a precursor, an introduction to the plague of darkness.

The two afflictions inflicted on Egypt by the locust were not unique at all. They ate the crops that survived the hail and introduced the darkness to come. Therefore, the eighth plague, locust, was not a unique plague at all, but rather the conclusion of hail and the introduction to darkness. Locust was merely the bridge between plagues 7 and 9.

The message inherent in this structure is simple but effective. Egypt depends on the waters of the Nile for its sustenance. To the Egyptians the Nile was a god. They saw it as the source of life and worshipped it. However, in truth the waters are but the lowest of the ten levels. G-d slowly and steadily lifts up the eyes and the awareness of the Egyptians one level at a time. He shows how their holy Nile is but the first level and it is He who rules it (The Ten Step program begins with getting Egypt out of deNile). Then with the frogs he leads their awareness up from the water to the land. Gradually and meticulously, G-d progresses the Egyptians from the water to the sky, at each stage showing his dominion. At the end Egypt is left with its eyes lifted to the heavens--exactly where the eyes of the people they had enslaved for generations had always been.

As a postscript: it might be worth mentioning that while this message was for the Egyptians, it is not Egyptian pinkies but Jewish ones that are being dipped in the wine. What message is there for our Seder that can be learned from G-d’s message to the Egyptians?

Maybe this year, after the pinkies do their thing, we can turn to our children and point out the following. We have removed 10 drops of wine for the Egyptians but we do drink the remaining 99% for ourselves. We are entitled to this wine because our nation’s has always understood the lesson and proclaimed that God’s hand is behind every force there is.

Sometimes though, we may find ourselves “channeling our inner Egyptian.” We are overwhelmed with the challenges of life and our eyes lose sight of the heavens, forgetting that help is less than a phone call away. We imagine the forces around us to move on their own and we experience the worry and fear of someone who doesn’t know there is someone to talk to. Imagine the sad image of a prince with amnesia, begging for alms when all the while his father is the king.

For this year’s Seder, I suggest a new custom, after reciting the plagues, stop and have everyone ask the one and only G-d for all the things they need and want.

Then, when you drink the wine, remember that you’ve really earned it.