Saturday, 17 September 2016

passover - What were the 300 plagues of the Exodus?


The הגדה says:



במצרים לקו חמשים מכות, ועל הים לקו חמשים ומאתים מכות





In Egypt, they were struck with 50 plagues, and by the Sea [of Reeds], they were struck with 250 plagues



What were these 300 plagues?



Answer



Alongside Alex's answer, I would posit that they never had in mind specific identified plagues, and might even look at you strangely for trying to identify them. it strikes me more along the lines of 'kol ha-marbeh lesaper bitzias mitzrayim, harei zeh meshubach'; as well as what immediately follows these deductions in the haggadah, kamma maalos tovos laMakom aleinu. in other words, creative derashot + math to stress how much Hashem did for us. trying to identify each one would be missing the forest for the trees. Certainly so if Rabbi Yossi, Rabbi Eliezer, and Rabbi Akiva intended no specific trees.


No comments:

Post a Comment

readings - Appending 内 to a company name is read ない or うち?

For example, if I say マイクロソフト内のパートナーシップは強いです, is the 内 here read as うち or ない? Answer 「内」 in the form: 「Proper Noun + 内」 is always read 「ない...