Page 48 - RMBA Upper School Haggadah 2018

Why did there have to be fire inside the hail? Couldn’t there have just been a ball of hail; it
would have caused equal destruc on? What purpose did the fire serve? The Zohar answers that
each plague carried an important lesson. Hail is a force only composed of ice - this represents a
person who is cold and lacks the feeling to create or recognize compassion and love. With the
plague of hail the Torah declares that even the “stone hearted” could be awakened. Every
human consists of a flame of fire and love inside of them. This hidden flame is o en channeled
inside and not towards others and the result is selfishness. The fire burns but is hidden inside
the ice. One should always try to ignite that inner fire and perhaps should a empt to do the
same for others. This is accomplished by doing good deeds and mitzvot that could affect both
you and the other person. Maybe then the ice of hate would melt and the fire of love and
compassion would prevail.

Locusts - Robert Gateno (8th Grade)
In Perek 10, Pasuk 13 of Sefer Shemot, Moshe warns Pharaoh that he will bring locusts upon
Egypt if he doesn’t let the Jewish people go. Moshe explains how the locusts will destroy every
living thing in sight, obscure the view of the land, and destroy every tree remaining. Pharaoh
refused to listen to Moshe, so he li ed his staff up in the air and the plague of locusts began.
What is the significance of using locusts and not other bugs like termites, grasshoppers, or
cicadas? Locusts are meant to swarm and have the poten al of destroying en re countries.
Unlike grasshoppers, locusts are a main threat to crops and can swarm in groups of up to 80
million. Locusts can also bring an economic disaster to any farm land. Hashem wanted the
locusts to finish off anything that wasn’t destroyed by previous plagues. The economy in Egypt
was really strong and Hashem knew this and wanted to destroy the economy en rely by
clearing all crops and fields so Pharaoh would have no other op on but to let the Jewish people
go. We should be thankful that nowadays our economy is be er than most countries. Our good
economy allows us to live our normal peaceful lives that not many countries get to have.
Locusts - Rena Schwartz (10th Grade)
The Pasuk of the plague of Locusts explains “And the locusts invaded all of the land of Egypt.
And they settled within all of the boundaries of Egypt. It was a severe plague. Never before had
there been a comparable infestation of locusts and never again would there be such an
infestation.” (Shemot 10:14)
Why does the pasuk use such vivid wording like “never before had there been a comparable
infesta on of locusts and never again would there be such a plague?” In addi on, why would it
define that the locusts se les “within the boundaries of Egypt”?
Rashi brings up that there was another plague in the Navi “in the mes of Yoel” of locusts that
was described as “greater than any previous infesta on or any that would occur in the future.”
This conflicts the pasuk "never again would there be a bigger infesta on.” It is as if the Tanach
just copied and pasted a pasuk! Rashi solves this by saying that the plague in the me of Yoel

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