Rabbi Yose Hagelili says, "From where can you derive that the Egyptians were struck with ten plagues in Egypt and with fifty plagues at the Sea? In Egypt, what does it state? 'Then the magicians said to Pharaoh: ‘This is the finger of God' (Ex. 8:15). And at the Sea, what does it state? 'And Israel saw the Lord's great hand that he used upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord; and they believed in the Lord, and in Moses, His servant' (Ex.14:31). How many were struck with the finger? Ten plagues. You can say from here that in Egypt, they were struck with ten plagues, then at the Sea, they were struck with fifty plagues." Rabbi Eliezer says, "From where can you derive that every plague that the Holy One brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt was composed of four plagues? As it is stated (Ps. 78:49): 'He sent upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and fury, and trouble, a sending of messengers of evil.' 'Wrath' corresponds to one; 'and fury' two; 'and trouble' three; 'a sending of messengers of evil' four. You can say from here that in Egypt they were struck with forty plagues and at the Sea, they were struck with two hundred plagues." Rabbi Akiva says, "From where can you derive that every plague that the Holy One brought upon the Egyptians in Egypt was composed of five plagues? As it is stated (Ps. 78:49): 'He sent upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and fury, and trouble, a sending of messengers of evil.' 'The fierceness of His anger' corresponds to one; 'wrath' two; 'and fury' three; 'and trouble' four; 'a sending of messengers of evil' five. You can say from here that in Egypt they were struck with fifty plagues and at the Sea, by two hundred and fifty plagues." Rabbi Yossi the Galillean said: One can clarify the thinking of these sages who counted the plagues which God caused in Egypt as well as the plagues at the sea. Rabbi Samuel Primo15 1635 in Jerusalem – 1708 in Adrianople), was a prominent Sabbatean sectarian of the 17th century.Primo was one of the earliest followers of Sabbatai Zevi, the self-proclaimed Jewish messiah. After Zevi converted to Islam, Primo explained this apparent apostasy as having been foreordained in the Messianic role. Concerning the rest of his life not much is known.(wikipedia) explains in his allegorical16 interpretations of the Exodus that they allude to the four promises of redemptions of Israel. Israel had the status of a Hebrew slave. According to the Midrash, they were injured and had become lame, blind etc by the cruelty of the Egyptians who subjugated them with harsh slavery, bitter as death.17 writes that the source for this is found in Shemot Rabbah - actually I believe it is found in BeMidbar Rabbah 7:1 Since they were Hebrew slave, the Egyptians were obligated to pay four fines for the injuries they caused: *humiliation (boshet), suffering (tzaar), medical costs (ripui) and damages (nezek)* but they did not have to pay for livelihood unemployment, (shevet).18 8:1, 83b Therefore, there was restitution for four types of redemption.19 This is the essence of his comments. Accordingly, one can interpret, “Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be the beginning of months…”” (Ex. 12:1) Why was the commandment of sanctifying the month the cornerstone of Judaism and the first commandment given to Israel while they were still in Egypt? It was necessary so Moses and Aaron could levy fines on Egypt for the injuries they caused. The Egyptians were obligated to pay humiliation, suffering, medical expenses and damages but there needed to be ordained leaders to decide damages. As long as the land of Israel was not yet established, every nation had to accept the decisions by Moses and Aaron. Prophecy was not conferred in the diaspora but as long as Israel hadn’t entered their own land, the nations had to accept the authority of Moses and Aaron. This is the theory of Rabbi Primo on how Israel was given the status of Israelite. If they had been considered Canaanite slaves then they would have been set free due to injury “of tooth and eye (without receiving payment for injuries).” (Ex. 21:26-27) This is the purpose of, “Adonai spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron were considered prophets even though they were in the diaspora . Because they became fit for this authority before entering the land, they were fit to make legal decisions for other nations. And for this reason they were ordained in the diaspora by divine decree! Now they had the authority to sanctify the new moon for just as they merited prophecy, they merited halachic authority. This was why Moses and Aaron could make decisions in matters of damages, could decide that Israel had the status of Hebrew slaves, and that the Egyptians were obligated to pay humiliation, suffering, medical costs and damages.

But there is another explanation why the first commandment was the sanctification of the month. When Israel was in Egypt, they were idolaters, a nation within a nation. In order to leave Egypt, they needed to separate themselves from idolatry, as Scripture states, “Draw (mishchu)” your hands out from idolatry, “And take” (u’kechu) an animal from the flock for the commandment (of the Passover offering). (Ex. 12:21) They also needed to be circumcised so that they could affirm their belief in God. Idolaters claimed that the deeds of heaven are preferred to human actions. The idolaters believed, “If God didn’t want there to be idolaters then why didn’t God get rid of them?” Based on this faulty opinion, they diminished circumcision by claiming that if God wanted human beings circumcised, He would have created them already circumcised. Therefore, God gave the mitzvah of “This month shall be to you the beginning of months,” first. It was the first time that God gave people permission to intercalate the months and the holidays. Even if the court’s decisions were made by accident or mistakenly or if they purposely chose to change (the calendar) - what the court did was final. This is what is written about the holidays:, It is written: אשר תקראו אתם “which you shall proclaim them.” (Le. 23:4) The letters of otam stands for anusim (by accident), to’im, (by mistake) or mizeidim, (or purposely.) The sages tell us that when the angels ask God, the King of Glory, when does Rosh Hashanah fall, God answers with great humility, “You and I must go to the court since it all depends on the judges. This is absolute proof that human deeds are favored by God and that it is God’s will to give merit to his creations.This contradicts the opinion of the idolaters who think that heavenly deeds are preferred. Therefore, when one separates himself from the idolaters through circumcision, it proves that human actions are preferred, and this is the reason for the sanctification of the new moon. It is the very beginning of the commandments. From it comes a principle of faith, why we must uproot idolatry and circumcise ourselves.

These are two explanations why, “This month shall be to you,” preceded the other mitzvot. There are practical reasons for each explanation. According to the first explanation, “This month shall be two you” preceded the other commandments in order to ordain Moses and Aaron so that they could pass judgment on the Egyptians for the injuries they caused Israel. If so, then the plagues which struck the Egyptians in their land were not a result of the damages they caused Israel. Since the ordination of Moses and Aaron occurred on the new month of Nissan, after most of the plagues, then consideration of the damages by the Egyptians could not be accounted for during the plagues. This proves that damages were the basis for the plagues at the Red Sea. But if the reason for the commandment of sanctifying Rosh Hodesh was to dismiss the claim of idolaters that deeds of heaven are preferable (to human deeds), then the plagues in Egypt could have been for the damages the Egyptians had inflicted on Israel. It is possible that this was the outlook of these sages’ commentaries and why “This month shall be to you..” was the first commandment. How each one explained this commandment became the basis for the controversy about the number of plagues. Rabbi Yossi the Gallalean held the first opinion, that the purpose of, “This month shall be to you” was to ordain Moses and Aaron so that they could judge Egypt for the injuries they caused to Israel; who were owed humiliation, suffering, medical expenses and damages. Moses and Aaron were ordained when Israel left Egypt after the plagues. The Holy One decided to judge Egypt for these injuries at the sea. Rabbi Yossi was of the opinion that the Egyptians were smitten in Egypt with only ten plagues. At the sea,God smote them with fifty plagues - the ten original plagues plus four times each plague for the injuries inflicted on Israel… Now that Moses and Aaron were ordained to decide legal matters they obligated Egypt to pay fifty plagues at the sea - the ten for the original ten plagues in Egypt plus forty for the four fines times ten for the injuries.

In contrast, Rabbi Eliezer believed that the reason for “This month shall be….” follows the second opinion - It was a dismissal of the claim of the idolaters who said that heavenly actions are preferred to human actions. He believed that Moses and Aaron were ordained long before when the spirit of prophecy was conferred upon them. Further, every commandment came directly from God. Rabbi Eliezer claimed that the Egyptians were struck by ten plagues in Egypt, each one of which was made up of four parts as payment for humiliation, suffering, medical expenses and damages that they owed Israel.. Further, Egypt owed them because Joseph had saved the Egyptians from death and kept them from starvation. Joseph decreed that four portions of their produce would belong to the Egyptians and one portion would be given to Pharaoh. This decree applied to all of Pharaoh’s servants. If this was the case, then the Israelites should have only worked for Pharaoh for one fifth of their time and the other four fifths should have been their own, as Rabbi Primo, of blessed memory, said. The Egyptians were obligated to pay back reparations for this, because Joseph was master of the land. As Joseph’s cask traveled with Israel by sea, the Egyptians were smitten with more plagues. Joseph said, “It’s not enough that they subjugated Israel day and night, but they also treated them with cruelty, subjugating them with bitter and harsh slavery and making them give up the other four portions to Pharaoh. Therefore, Egypt was punished with forty plagues. Because the forty plagues in Egypt did not make an impression upon them and they continued to pursue Israel, they were stricken five times forty plagues at the sea which added up two hundred plagues!

Rabbi Akiva agreed with Rabbi Eliezer. He also argued that “This month shall be to you,” was not connected to the payment for injuries. But he believed that Egypt was culpable for not allowing them to rest on the Sabbath. If the Egyptians believed that matters of heaven are preferred, then they should have allowed them to rest on the Sabbath. But we see that their thoughts were against God, as they said, “Let us deal shrewdly with him” (Ex. 1:10) with the Savior of Israel. As a result they were obligated to pay for humiliation, suffering, medical expenses, livelihood (shevet),20 plays on the word Shevet and Shabbat. Shevet is one of the five fines one must pay when causing injury - it means earning a living. But it is spelled in the same way as Shabbat. So the Egyptians were responsible for the other four fines as well as “Shabbat.” and damages. The Egyptians were fined with fifty plagues in Egypt - each plague was made up of the five fines a person must pay for injuring another. Joseph’s decree was that the Egyptians should only serve Pharaoh for a fifth of their income but not the Israelites. As a result the Egyptians were jealous of them because they were slaves to Joseph and his offspring, the seed of his brothers. Therefore, they were smitten five times the forty plagues in Egypt along with fifty plagues in Egypt because they did not repent - this adds up to 250. All of this was because Joseph was the master of the land. It is also possible to account for the number of plagues hinted at by righteous ones as follows: According to Rabbi Yossi the Galilean they were smitten by ten plagues based on ten types of impurity as explained by the disciples of the Ari. At the sea the number fifty, like the numerical value of the word yam (sea) in order to smite fifty gates of impurity. According to Rabbi Eliezer there were forty plagues according to the number of lashes one receives (Deut. 25:3) and two hundred at the sea based on mispar b’ribua.21) of words where letters are added consecutively to form a sum total that is called the ribua of the word. For example, the letters of the name Elohim have the following numerical values: aleph = 1, lamed = 30, hay - 5 yud = 10, mem - 40. So the ribua of Elohim is: 1 + (1+30) + (1+30+5) + (1+30+5+10) (1+30+5+10+40=200). According to Rabbi Akiva there were fifty lashes in Egypt for the fifty gates of impurity. There were two hundred and fifty by the sea, causing the darkening of the light (ner) of their animal souls as it says, “The lamp (ner) of the wicked is extinguished.” (Pr. 13:9) This matter is discussed concerning these sages' disagreement. It is all gathered in my commentary, Devarim Achadim, section 4.