Translator's Summary: The Torah seems to contradict this Midrashic statement. In Ex. 12:38 we read, “When Adonai goes through to smite the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the lintel and the doorposts, and Adonai will pass over the door and not let the Destroyer (Mashchit) enter and smite your home.” We are left wondering - did God act alone or was he assisted by an angelic intermediary. The Haggadah is unequivocal. Rabbi Azualai discusses all the possible ways of reading these verses and what role, if any, was played by angels, seraphs, or a messenger. OF course there can only be one answer to this question but Chida considers all the possible interpretations. “And Adonai took us out of Egypt”- “not through an angel…” It is possible to explain this statement based on the verse, “On that day, Adonai will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of earth on earth.” (Is, 24:21) In other words, the prince of the nation who was destroyed through a heavenly prince and one nation was incited to destroy another. This was the great wonder: both were struck down by God’s hand. God caused the angelic prince of Egypt to fall as well as the firstborn of Egypt to be struck down by God. This is what the Maggid had in mind when he quotes, “And Adonai took us out of Egypt.” It is a mighty matter for everything to be brought about by God. The Maggid writes, “Not by an angel who brought down the angelic prince, nor by a saraf who burned up the nation just as Gabriel did to the camp of Sanherib.¹⁶⁹ Even though everything is in the hands of heaven whether it was destroyed by the angelic prince representing Sanherib or the destruction of his camp by Gabriel, in either case it was still by an angel. But here the Holy One Himself did it and not a representative as is the case in the world. A king sends his representatives to kill the wicked, or one nation is sent as his representative to smite another nation in war. Here, everything is actually carried out by God Himself. That is why the Maggid quotes the verse, “And I passed through the land of Egypt,” where everything was done by God. “I will go through the land of Egypt and strike ….the land of Egypt,.... and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I am Adonai.” (Ex. 12:12) This means, I and not another, since everything was carried out in heaven and earth by God. This is what God promised Abraham, of blessed memory, when He said, “but I will also (gam) execute judgment on the nation they shall serve.” (Gen. 15:14) The word gam needs an explanation. According to our approach this is the way: when the angelic prince of the nation in heaven falls, the nation on earth falls as well, possibly to another nation in war or a mighty king. But in honor of Israel, God carried this out in an astonishing way. Both the angelic prince and the nation were judged by God. “And also (V’gam) the nation will be judged by Me,” specifically.

footnotes: ¹⁶⁹ II kings 19

This can also be explained based on the following passage in Shemot Rabbah, “For when Adonai goes through to smite the Egyptians.” (Ex. 12:23) “There are those who say it was by an angel and there are those who say it was by the Holy One Himself. Why does Scripture state, “to smite,” (lingof)? This teaches that even a pregnant woman who was about to give birth (to a firstborn) miscarried and the birthing woman died. The destroyer went forth and killed anyone it found while the blessed Holy One only destroyed the firstborn of the Egyptians. The author of Yedai Moshe¹⁷⁰ (Wikipedia) writes that there were those who said that even though God performed these acts, as it says, “Adonai smote all the first born,” there was an accompanying angel also. Others say they realized that the angel was not there but rather it was the Holy One, Himself. To this it is asked, what does it mean when it says lingof, to smite, instead of lihakot here, as it says, “Adonai struck?”

footnotes: ¹⁷⁰ Moses ben Baruch Almosnino (c. 1515 – c. 1580) was a distinguished rabbi; born at Thessaloniki about 1515, and died in Constantinople about 1580. In 1570, Almosnino wrote a lengthy commentary on the Biblical “Five scrolls"—the books of Canticles, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther—under the title Yede Mosheh.

I have read an interpretation by my relative, Rabbi Yitzchak Zeevi¹⁷¹ in his sermons for Shabbat HaGadol. He brings the opinion of the Yefe Toar:¹⁷², which reveals an extensive knowledge of the relevant literature. (Jewish Virtual Library, EJ) There are those who thought that at first God did not act alone. This is his statement: “There are those who were of the opinion that at first God acted through an angel, since it states, “For when Adonai goes through to smite the Egyptians.” (Ex. 12:23) Why does he say, “God goes through...” It implies that God didn’t actually smite the first born. And the other opinion that “to strike” implies that a destroyer came and caused pregnant women to miscarry but it was God who smote the firstborn. (I wrote this based on my memory but later I found the book mentioned above and saw that I was wrong in my memories. The Yefe Toar only wrote that the one who said that it was with an angel derived this from the word “to strike.” It seems that this disagreement occurs because Exodus 12:23 states “To smite” (lingof) rather than “He strike” (heeka). Regarding the verse “I will strike down (v’heekaiti) every first-born,” (Ex. 12:12) everyone agrees that it was the Holy One alone who acted. No one has any doubt about thai, and this is proven in Midrashim. The sages state in Masechet Semachot, “In the middle of the night Adonai struck down all the first-born,” (Ex. 12:29) and “at the time that I struck every first-born in the land of Egypt.” (Nu. 8:17) Rabban Joḥanan said: Although God struck them with a plague at midnight, their souls writhed in pain until morning. A common proverb says, ‘If you give a morsel of bread to a child, inform his mother’ Likewise, the Holy One said, ‘I will inform My children of the death by choking their enemies who are dying. Let their souls await the morning before expiring, so that My children will look on the fate of their enemies’.¹⁷³ The commentators explain that by causing the first born to writhe in pain all night long it proves that was God Himself who smote them and not another. If another had smote them they would have died immediately. Since they did not die immediately there was no impurity here, as it states in Masechet Yoma: “If the person is writhing the knife does not become unclean.”¹⁷⁴

footnotes: ¹⁷¹ Abraham Israel Zeevi - Zeevi was a great-grandson of Jerusalem rabbi Israel ben Azariah Zeevi, and grandson of the Moroccan kabbalist Abraham Azulai. From 1701 to 1731, Zeevi was chief rabbi of Hebron where he headed the “Emeth le-Yaakov” yeshiva which had been founded by Abraham Pereira of Amsterdam. He also acted as an emissary of Hebron, visiting Constantinople in 1685 where he met Tzvi Ashkenazi. (Wikipedia) ¹⁷² Jaffe, Samuel Ben Isaac Ashkenazi (d. late 16th century), commentator on the Midrash. Jaffe was rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of Constantinople. He studied under Joseph Leib. When Samuel reached an advanced age, his son Joseph was appointed to succeed him. Jaffe's fame rests upon his comprehensive commentary to the whole of Midrash Rabbah ¹⁷³ See Masechet Semachot, Introduction ¹⁷⁴ See BT Yoma 23a

We can now understand the Maggid. He believed that everything was performed by God according to the plain meaning of verses. It was necessary to question it in the Midrash because Scripture states, “For when Adonai smote (lingof) the Egyptians…” (Ex 12:23) one might think that it means a general plague that affected everyone. By saying, *v’heekeiti, ‘*I smote” it implies that God himself smote them. He smote them at midnight and they writhed until the morning, as was stated in Masechet Semachot. This is the meaning of, “I passed through the land of Egypt - I and not an angel.” The proof then is, “I smote” - I and not a Saraf, for everyone acknowledges that Adonai smote all the first born. From here the Maggid teaches that Adonai passed through the land causing a plague since it says, “I passed through, I smote…” “I smote” (v’heekeiti) - I and not a Saraf,” implies that he smote them initially without immediately killing them, proving that it was God Himself who performed this act. And God, caused them writhe in pain and not die immediately so there would be no impurity.¹⁷⁵ Thus since they did not die immediately it was as if God is a kohen. They continued to writhe in pain until the morning, making known to Israel that God had acted, as is explained in Semachot. This was also meant to prove the greatness of Israel and God’s love of Israel, proving that God is like a kohen so God smote them without immediately killing the Egyptians. But if Egypt was a land filled with idolatry, how could God enter the land (since God is considered like a kohen)? We have written that the Israelites were considered like God’s children. A Kohen is allowed to make himself impure for the sake of His child.¹⁷⁶ Accordingly, the harshness of exile was the reason for God to complete the 400 years prematurely. “The power of Adonai shall be revealed on behalf of His servants,” (Is. 66:14) God knew that Israel was writhing in pain but they had not yet died. It was at this critical moment when God entered Egypt and passed among the Israelites, in this way the nations of the world would know that “Israel is a precious child to God.” (Jer. 31:20) Even though God is like a kohen, Israel was still God’s children. This is why the Maggid writes, “I smote them and not a Saraf” so the Egyptians wouldn’t die in a second. Yet it is written, “I smote them (v’heekeiti)” as was explained, and it explicitly says “I passed through the land, Lingof, to smite Egypt (with a plague)?” “And I will mete out punishment to all the gods of Egypt, I am Adonai.” (Ex 12:12) - I, and not a messenger. This is meant to exclude the opinion of those who said as in the commentary of Rabbi Y. Zeevi, that everything was performed by a messenger. “I and not another” is meant to exclude the comment of the Yedei Moshe that there was an angel present. And to exclude the opinion of the Yesh Omrim - “There are those who say” above who stated that the Mashit - the destroyer was sent to make the pregnant women miscarry according to the comments of Rabbi Zeevi, above. The Maggid holds that everything was performed by the God of blessing.

footnotes: ¹⁷⁵ Chida compares God to a kohen - he did not kill them immediately because God, like a kohen, could not have contact with impurity. ¹⁷⁶ For instance by participating in their burial.