Page 45 - haggadah_2017.pub

Choshech (Darkness) ‐ Judith Roisman (7th Grade)

The connection between Choshech and the Jews goes back a long way. When Pharaoh sent out a decree that all
firstborn sons needed to be thrown into the Nile, it caused the Jews to hide their children in dark places. It must
have been scary for the children, considering they were very little. Some people hid their children in fields.
When the Egyptians came to look for children, G-d would cause a giant hole of darkness to swallow them up so
they were not seen. Pharaoh also made the Jews work early in the morning and late at night while it was dark.
The Egyptians would also lock the jews into dark jail cells. This is why G-d chose darkness as a plague.

There was another reason though that came during the plague. The Jews were saying bad things about G-d and
weren’t trusting him so He killed them. Then G-d caused darkness so that the Egyptians would not see the Jews
being buried and rejoice or laugh at them. It was said the darkness was so thick that if an Egyptian had been sit-
ting at the beginning of the plague, he would not have been able to stand up. During the plague, the Jews snuck
into the houses of the Egyptians, and looked for their gold, silver, and jewelry. When the Jews would ask if they
had any jewelry, gold, or silver before they left and the Egyptians said no, then they would know it was a lie.

Makkat Bechorot (Death of the Firstborn) ‐ Raizel Gerlitz (6th Grade)

The last of the 10 plagues was Makkat Bechorot, the Death of the Firstborn. In Parshat Bo, the Torah states that
even the firstborn animals died. Why did the firstborn animals also need to die?

The Meam Loez answers that Hashem wanted to show that the Egyptians are no better than the animals. On the
night of the killing of the firstborn they both died the same way. The Egyptians killed the Jews which they con-
sidered sub-human. As such, Hashem equated the Egyptians to animals.

The lesson is that if you do something bad or good to a person, Hashem will remember it. He will punish you
measure for measure or reward you measure for measure.

Makkat Bechorot (Death of the Firstborn) ‐ Ellen Morgan (6th Grade)

Did you ever wonder why Hashem killed all the first born’s of the Mitzrayim? Did they all deserve to die, and
specifically why in the middle of the night when they were sleeping?

The reason why the killing of the first born’s took place at night was what people call a “Midah Keneged
Midah,” which is when you get punished for doing something related to your punishment, or getting rewarded
by something related to what good thing you did. The Egyptians would order the Jewish men to do women’s
work, and Jewish women to do men’s work. This would make them very uncomfortable and added to the dis-
tress that they felt. In addition, the Egyptians would change their work schedules and make them work in the
day or night, really whenever they wanted to change their schedule. In a similar fashion, Hashem made the
Egyptians uncomfortable by waking them up and killing them in the middle of the night.
We can learn from this that Hashem controls everything, and if something bad or good happens, it is for an im-
portant reason and may help you in the future. The Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians and tortured, but, ulti-
mately, the Egyptians went through all of the ten plagues and the worst one being Makat Bechorot.