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Dever (Cattle Plague) ‐ Rena Schwartz (9th grade)

Dever, or the death of Egyptian cattle, is the fifth plague. If there are so many other plagues that could’ve been
chosen for this time, why specifically the killing of cattle?

Egyptian cattle included horses, cows, bulls, and sheep, which were very valued throughout the world back
then. In fact, Egyptian horses were considered the cream of the crop at the time. Therefore, by killing Egyptian
horses, it was proven that the Jews could take away valued objects of the Egyptians. In addition, Egyptians wor-
shiped sheep and cows, such as their god “Apis,” who was a bull. Thereby proving that Hashem was stronger
than Egyptian gods. However, Pharaoh kept his hardened heart at the end. Even after Pharaoh’s land had lost
most of its exports and food, and his gods were proven false, Pharaoh’s heart still hardened. The lesson of
Dever is that the stubbornness of Pharaoh was not religion or economy based; it was purely from his heart.

Shechin (Boils) ‐ Nissim Ruben (6th Grade)

The plague of boils was started by G-d telling Moshe to take soot from the furnaces and throw it up into the air,
and the Egyptians would get boils. Out of all the punishments G-d could have done, why did he make a plague
of boils?

It was Midah K'neged Midah, measure for measure. When the slaves would get whipped by the Egyptians it
was a constant pain just like the boils. The lesson would be that there is a difference between a pain that hurts
you for a day and then goes away, vs. a pain that hurts you and doesn't go away. The Egyptians hurt the Jews
physically and spiritually, so the boils were Mida K'neged Mida because it hurt them constantly, physically and
spiritually.

Arbeh (Locusts) ‐ Romi Belleli (6th Grade)

The 8th plague out of the 10 is locusts. Hashem told Moshe to go to Pharaoh and demand of him to let the Jew-
ish people go. Pharaoh had a hard heart and was refusing to let the Jewish people go. The locusts came until it
made the ground black and devoured everything that was growing in the ground. This plague teaches us that
people think they are strong and powerful but really Hashem is, and He can change something in a moment.

Arbeh (Locusts) ‐ Daniel Bublil (6th Grade)

In Perek 10 Pasuk 13 of Sefer Shemot, Moshe stretched his staff all over Egypt before the plague of Locusts
was going to begin. However, at all the other plagues, Moshe pointed his staff only at the spot the plague would
happen. Why did Moshe stretch his staff all over Egypt, instead of eastward to where the Arbeh came
from?

Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin answers that if Moshe held his staff eastwards the locusts would only happen in the
eastward side of Egypt. So Moshe stretched his staff all over Egypt so that way the plague would happen eve-
rywhere in Egypt. Hashem runs the world in an exact fashion, so when Hashem says something, it's for a rea-
son.