Page 41 - RMBA Upper School Haggadah 2018

characteris cs of human beings. Human beings crave purpose, and suffer serious psychological
difficul es when they don’t have it.” We all have an exclusive task that cannot be done by
anyone else. Each one of us are put on the earth to use our talents and abili es that God has
given us. It is our job to cul vate those gi s and tell ourselves :”Only I am uniquely suited to
complete my par cular pursuit.” As we celebrate Pesach, let us all merit to see the specialness
in ourselves and in those around us.
The Egyptian Astrologers - Tali Miller (11th Grade)
There is much nega vity concerning false prophets and necromancers in the Jewish tradi on,
yet the Egyp an astrologers played a major role in the Pesach story and actually come to teach
us something very important. The Gemara in Sotah 12b explains that necromancers and diviners
do have some insight into the future, yet not enough to understand clearly what they are
seeing, and this idea can be applied to Pharaoh’s astrologers. The reason for Pharaoh’s decree
to throw the Jewish baby boys into the Nile, was because his astrologers foresaw that the Jews’
savior would be stricken by water, and they assumed that their vision indicated this savior
would be killed by the water. Further, they saw this savior would be born on the 7th of Adar, and
their decree would ensure baby boys born on that day would not survive. The astrologers
revoked their decree when Moshe was sent down the Nile by Yocheved, because they claimed
they could no longer see the downfall of the Jewish savior in the stars. However, because the
reach of these astrologers was so limited, they failed to accomplish their task in ridding the Jews
of a savior, as their vision really predicted Moshe’s downfall with Mei Hameriva, and they could
not understand why the savior they saw born on the 7th of Adar was of both Israelite and
Egyp an na onali es.
We some mes neglect to understand the value of certain characters in the Torah, such as the
Egyp an astrologers, or just assume events that happened, like Yetziat Mitzrayim, occurred
because of one specific person or reason. It is important to realize that the events relayed and
discussed in the Torah are some mes more complex than they seem on the surface.

Ten Plagues – ‫עשר המכות‬

Dipping Our Pinky in Wine - Sarah Plumb (6th Grade) & Rajel Berdichevsky (8th Grade)
It is interes ng to note that the ten plagues are such an important part of Jewish history that
the sages did not feel it was necessary to explain them in any more detail than to list them.
During the seder there is a common custom to “spill” a small drop of wine as each plague is
recited (some pour the wine out directly from the cup, while some dip a finger in the wine and
remove a drop). Why do we do this custom at the seder?

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