Page 50 - RMBA Upper School Haggadah 2018

approach saying that it was payback for the Egyp ans making the Jews work late into the night
and for making the Jews hold torches for the Egyp ans.
Personally, I did not like any of these reasons. Rashi’s reasoning seems too nega ve. The plagues
were supposed to be punishment for the Egyp ans; not for the Jews. The Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez’s
reason, on the other hand, seems too plain. God sent an en re plagues because the Egyp ans
made the Jews hold torches? That doesn't seem to order an en re plague.
My troubles led me to look at the plague in a more historical perspec ve. The Egyp ans had
their own set of gods led by Ra, the god of the sun and light. How do you think the Egyp ans
felt when they were stuck in the darkness for days, praying to Ra to send his own light to save
them with no answer? This must have made the Egyp ans go crazy. They must have felt that Ra
had le them or that he was not strong enough to li the darkness. This was the point of
darkness. God was trying to break the Egyp ans once and for all.
Makkat Bechorot - Celeste Juarez (6th Grade)
Did all the Egyp ans Deserve to Die? In my opinion, all the Egyp an first born deserved to die at
the tenth plague for two reasons. Firstly, Pharaoh commanded for all the Jewish baby boys to be
thrown in the Nile river. Also, if Hashem hadn’t killed all the first born of the Egyp ans, they
probably would have been taught to follow their parents footsteps and maybe even have the
Jews enslaved again. So therefore, the Egyp ans first born did deserve to die. The lesson here is
that parents have a really big impact on their children. The lessons that we teach them last a
life me and impact who the child will eventually become.
Makkat Bechorot - Hannah Leah Gross (6th Grade)

Hashem inflicted on Egypt the plague of the first born males to persuade Pharaoh to let Bnei
Yisrael go out of Egypt. Meanwhile, Hashem did the makkah of killing the firstborn male
Egyp ans, while Bnei Yisrael’s first born babies were safe. Hashem told Moshe to tell all of Bnei
Yisrael to kill some of their sheep and place their blood around their doors.

A er reading in the Torah about all the plagues, ending with Makkat Bechorot, one might ask,
why did Hashem keep hardening Pharaoh’s heart? Hashem wanted to harden Pharaoh’s heart
so he would be strong enough to con nue in his unwillingness to release Bnei Yisrael, and so
that He could show the Egyp ans and other na ons His might, so that for genera ons to come
they would talk about it. The lesson to be learned from this is that we should believe in Hashem
and never doubt him, even if we think what’s going to happen is bad. Hashem has a reason, and
everything He does is for the good.

Makkat Bechorot - Nathan Bogomolny (8th Grade)
The final plague was the plague that killed all of the Egyp an first born males and even the
Egyp an first born animals. Why would all the firstborn males have to die with the animals of

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