Blood, Frogs, Lice, Wild Animals, Pestilence, Boils, Hail, Locusts, Darkness, Slaying of the Firstborn Rabbi Yehuda was accustomed to giving the plagues mnemonics: Detsakh, Adash, Beachav. Blood, Frogs… The Hagahot Maimoniot3 on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah. He was a student of Meir of Rothenburg. writes at the end of the laws of chametz, along with other commentators, the reason for this mnemonic. Blood and Frogs came with a warning before the Egyptians were smitten and lice is mentioned without a warning (datzach) . So too, wild animals and pestilence are mentioned with a warning while boils came without a warning (adash). There was a warning before hail and locust while the Egyptians were struck by darkness without a warning (ba’achav). Raavan4. Could also be Abraham ben Nathan a Provençal rabbi and scholar of the 12th-13th centuries. (Wikipedia) explains that datzach (blood, frogs, lice) were performed by Aaron with Moses’, staff. Adash (wild animals, pestilence, and boils) were performed by Moses without his staff. Baachav (hail, locust, darkness and first born) were performed by Moses with his staff. Rivah explains that the last item in each of these triads, lice (kinim), boils (shechin) and darkness (choshekh) are all interconnected so that when lice took place, darkness and boils occurred were with it, though lice was the main plague. These three plagues lice (kinim), boils (shechin) and darkness (choshekh) were integrated in one another. ח ש כ ש ח נ כ נ ם This is the summary of the words of the Hagahot Maimoniot. In the book Orchot Chaim,5 page 83, Rabbi Asher writes that datzach refers to the plagues that struck the earth. Adash are random (mikriot) plagues that attack people and animals, and Baachav are plagues that smote air. The plague of the first born is joined to the last triad because none of the other plagues were like it. Rabbi Yosef Bados explains that there is no warning for the third plague of each triad because when one warns and smites twice, one does not have to do so again.

Let us pursue the line of reasoning in the Hagahot Maimoniot and Orchot Chaim. It states that when two warnings are given, it is not not necessary to give a third warning, this only makes sense for the first three plagues. There was a warning for blood and frogs. But once the Egyptians were warned twice, then lice took place without a warning since one who is warned twice, no longer needs to be warned again. If that is so, then why were they warned before the plague of wild animals? Pharaoh was warned again, but then before the plague of boils,6 there was no warning. Similarly, hail and locust were preceded by a warning. It would have been more appropriate after blood and frogs for there to be no more warnings in any of the other plagues. Wild animals, pestilence, hail and locusts should have occurred without a warning! It would seem that a warning was needed because death and punishments were explicitly associated with each of the plagues. The plagues were divided into three groups: three affected the earth, three were random plagues,7, I haven’t found a good translation of this word so I have chosen to translate it as random. If the first plagues affected the earth and the last three plague came through the agency of the air, the middle three plagues affected those in between - animals and human beings. The tenth plague was in a category of its own. (mikrit) and three affected the air. The Orchot Chaim writes, In each category warnings were given and the third plague occurred without a warning. When the nature of the plagues changed to wild animals and pestilence which are random (mikriot) plagues, a new category of plagues, it was necessary to warn twice before striking them without a warning. One they moved on to plagues of the air, it was considered another category. Similarly hail and locusts were preceded by a warning and the third plague (darkness) in this category, occurred without warning.

I tried to understand it in this way,8 why warnings were not given for darkness, boils and lice. It was not because God had warned and smote them twice and once a person has been warned twice he doesn’t receive another warning. This too was a case of smiting twice and then not giving a warning for the third plague. Rather, in this case, each plague was separate from the others because each involved an unusual death.9 Therefore, every plague required a warning because it was something new with its own special suffering so that one experienced a taste of death. We have also tried to understand what we learned from Riba,10, in the printed tosafot (Sotah 17b), and in the Tosafot Yeshanin (Yoma 15a). They are frequently quoted without the name of their author. Isaac ben Asher also wrote a commentary on the Torah, which is no longer extant. It is cited in the Minchat Yehudah, and Jacob Tam made use of it in his Sefer ha-Yasha. (WIkipedia) that darkness, boils and lice are actually their own tirad and there is a reason for their difference from the other plagues. By way of allusion, this is alluded to in the combination of these plagues above that they also spell out: שכח נחש כנם Shakhach, Nashash, Kinim. Darkness (choshekh) is made up of the same letters as shakhach; boils, (shechin), the letters of nachash; and kinim is just as it appears. Besides trying to destroy and commit atrocities to Israel, Pharaoh and the Egyptians made a mockery of Israel with cruelty like none that had ever been seen. Joseph the Righteous had saved the Egyptians with his wisdom and ability to fix the kingdom. And yet those who received his good, repaid it with evil. This is hinted at in the word shakhach, forgotten. The Egyptians soon forgot all that Joseph had done and how he made things better for Egypt. Not only that, but the Egyptians enslaved Israel even though they had nothing to gain from their labors.“Pithom” means their service was swallowed up in a pit of an abyss (Pi tehom), and “Ramses” means that everything they built fell down one by one (mitroses).11 Despite this, the Egyptians continued to subjugate them by making them serve with harshness and bitterness. This is like the snake - nachash - it bites and kills and yet it receives no pleasure or benefit from its action….It wasn’t enough that they forgot about the goodness of Joseph but they acted like snakes who bite and kill without cause even though they gain nothing from their actions. Also regarding lashon harah,12, gossip or evil speak, does not have to be false to be considered bad. we say that one who spreads gossip deserves to be bitten by a snake. Even if the lashon harah is true as in the case of Miriam the prophetess (who spoke lashon harah about Moses), such a person deserves to be punished with leprosy. She said that Moses had separated from his wife. Pharaoh was also called the great serpent - a snake - who would kill Israel without any benefit. He did so lest Israel spread lashon harah against Pharaoh - the snake - might rise up against Egypt and bite them. To this we answer with the third word in our triad, that the people of Israel were keinim (honest) as in keimin anachnu, “We are honest men.” (Gen. 43:11) Israel is holy and trustworthy and there are not slanderers. We see that these three words express one one idea about the wickedness of Pharaoh, the great serpent, who acted vengefully against the unfortunate Israelites. The three words express a common spirit and are connected in expressing the wickedness of Pharaoh. Pharaoh (faroh) deserves to be paruah), destroyed by the One who saw the humiliation of the unfortunate Israelites.

Here is a homiletical explanation: It is possible that through lice the wisdom of Egypt’s magicians vanished and was swallowed up. The magic of Egypt included ten kabim of witchcraft. Through lice, they used up the last measure of their magic, the ten gates of impurity (ineffectively) and it became a mockery of their power. As a result they were forced to say, “It is the finger of God.” Lice, smote Egypt with all three types plagues: earth, random (mikriot) plagues, and the air. The magicians became aware of God’s truth and justice since the three aspects of these three final plagues together were “the finger of God” and were of one spirit. When the magicians tried to perform the plague they could only mimic God like monkeys so that they were ashamed. The reason for boils which included all three types of plagues was to explain the reason for Israel’s early departure from Egypt. Those affected by boils cannot engage in marital intimacy so it caused a separation of Egyptian couples. This is alluded to when God decreed, “They shall serve and oppress them.” (Gen. 15:13) “They oppressed them,” can be interpreted in two ways. It can refer to the harshness of the slavery. Or it can mean, they enslaved them with the normal amount of labor, but they also, “Oppressed them,” alluding to other forms of oppression. Accordingly, it was not decreed that they should be made to perform harsh work but simply they should be given menial tasks, but these wicked ones increased their evil by forcing husbands and wives to be separated from one another. This was their own evil idea, as it says, “lest they increase in number,” They used all types of ploys (to separate couples) making them rise for work at the time of sleep, making them sleep outside, and pressing them to do their work. They even prevented women from immersing and purifying themselves, and they decreed that all baby boys should be drowned in the river. It was for this reason that the Israelite men divorced their wives resulting in the oppression for forced separation. If so, “They oppressed them” can be explained as referring to this particular form of oppression. The plague of boils was payback to the Egyptians, measure for measure. If this is correct then, “They enslaved them” refers to simple tasks of slavery without any difficulty but they made the subjugation worse by causing couples to be separated. That is why the difficulty of their subjugation was added on to the number of remaining years of exile.

Another reason (that the Exodus took place prematurely) was that the Egyptians made the Israelites work at night, a time that was not commanded of them. As a result the nights were considered like days, completing the years of enslavement in half the time. This is the reason for the plague of darkness, “Causing them to walk in darkness.” (Is. 50:10) This was punishment for enslaving them during the nights. As a result, boils and darkness used the earth, random plagues (mikriot), and the air to teach the reason for causing the Egyptians to be punished with plagues. When the time of redemption arrived as well as the fulfillment of the decree, “I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve and in the end they shall go out with great wealth,” (Gen. 15:14), the plagues of boils and darkness were essential in teaching the Egyptians why they were smitten by the plagues and why Israel went free at this time with great wealth. It was all through “the finger of God,” as was hinted at in the plague of lice. That is why these three plagues were carried out without a warning. In any event, it was necessary to teach that the plagues came from heaven and were the fulfillment of the prophecy, “I will execute judgment.” The time of redemption had come and Israel’s exodus had to take place “With great wealth.” The plague of the firstborn then took place.The Torah uses the word heekah, smote, to describe this plague because it was unlike the others. According to the Midrash, God did not kill the firstborn immediately. Rather he caused the first born to writhe in pain until morning. This was because God is like a kohen, so to speak.13 Therefore, Scripture states, “God smote all the first born…” (Ex. 12:29) The word heekah, smote, is used here in the expression, the plague (makah) of the first born.14, is only used in connection with one other plague - hail Exodus (9:25).Because it is used so prominently for this plague, Chida suggests we refer to the tenth plague as makat bechorot because God smote the Egyptians but didn’t kill them immediately. There are other small morsels explaining the plagues. They are written in my book, Rosh David, Parshat Va-era. See what I have written there!