Page 53 - RMBA Upper School Haggadah 2018

Why Were All The Egyptians Punished? - Gabe Gross (12th Grade)
One of the many reasons why we spill wine during our Passover seder, for each of the 10
plagues, is to demonstrate our empathy for the pain the Egyp ans felt during that me. This
begs the ques on, if we feel sorry for them why were they punished?
One possible reason is that they oppressed Jews for hundreds of years which is why they
deserved to be punished. Fink or Swim, a Jewish source website, slightly agrees and brings up
the approach that despite whatever happened, Hashem knows best.
In Shemot 7:3 Ramban comments on Hashem hardening Pharaoh's heart and says, “only the
second half of the [ten] plagues were brought upon Egypt due to Pharaoh’s transgressions”.
Essen ally, Ramban is trying to point out that Pharaoh was cruel to the Jewish People which
brought on the moral jus fica on for the plagues. But as Ramban con nues he says, “He
(Pharaoh) did not want to send the Jews out of Egypt for the glory of God; rather, when the
plagues increased and he was becoming too worn out to withstand them, his heart so ened
and he decided to send them out because of the severity of the plagues themselves.” Along
with the moral argument, Ramban is also making a prac cal argument, that the Jews would not
have been able to leave Egypt without the plagues being as bad as they were in order to
mo vate Pharoah to let the Jews go. In conclusion, Ramban’s answer seems to be the most
plausible answer as to why all the Egyp ans were punished. Pharoah truly dug his peoples grave
and had to pay for it.

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