A Rabbinic Retelling of the Exodus Rabban Gamliel used to say: Whoever has not mentioned these three things on Pesah has not fulfilled his obligation. One is obligated to tell the members of one's household all the events and miracles that happened in those days. I will now present before you the story of the Exodus as it is told in Midrash Rabbah. When Pharaoh heard that Moses had killed an Egyptian taskmaster, he sought to kill Moses. He took a knife the likes of which has never been seen before (to chop off his head). But God made Moses' neck a pillar of marble and he was uninjured even though they tried seven times! And angel of God came and grabbed Moses so he could escape. At that moment, all of Pharaoh's ministers became deaf, mute and blind. When they asked the mute ministers, "Where is Moses?" they could not answer. They deaf ones could not hear the question, and the blind ones could not see where he went. Later, when Moses refused to be God's messenger because he said that he was 'slow of tongue,' that is why God said to him, "Who gives man speech, who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or blind?" Then God said to him, "Isn't Aaron your brother? He will go with you back to Egypt." Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh. That day all of the diplomats came to have an audience with Pharaoh. Each came to honor Pharaoh, bringing him gifts and each crowning him the supreme king of kings, bringing their idol with them. As they were crowning him, Moses and Aaron were standing in the doorway of the palace. Pharaoh's servants came in and said, "There are two old guys standing by the door. Pharaoh said, "Come forward!" Pharaoh looked at them, expecting them to crown him as well, or at least give him a document or ask about his welfare. When they did nothing, he asked, "Who are you?" They said, "We are the messengers of the Holy One. "Thus said the Lord, God of Israel: Let my people go…." Pharaoh became furious and answered: "Who is Adonai that I should listen to obey Him and let the Israelites go out of Egypt? Doesn’t He even know that he is supposed to send a crown for me? From your words I have never heard of Him and I will not send Israel. " Pharaoh then said , Give me a minute while I check my book about your God. He looked in his directory at each nation and its gods and began to read the names of the gods of Moab, Amon and Sidon." Pharaoh said, "I checked in my directory and did not find your God." Rabbi Levi said: This can be compared to the parable of a foolish slave of a kohen who sought his master in a cemetery. When people asked him, "Who are you looking for," he said, he was looking for his master. They said to the servant: "Does a kohen to spend time in a cemetery?" Thus did Moses answer Pharaoh: "Fool! It is not the way of the dead to seek the living. So why should the living be found among the dead? Those gods among whom you seek our God are all dead. Our God is a living and eternal God. Pharaoh said, "Is your God young or old? How old is He and how many cities has He conquered? How many Kingdoms has he taken? How long has he been the King? They said: Our God, His power and might fill the universe. He existed before the world was created and He will exist when the world is no more. His is the foundation of the earth, his voice can shape thunder, break apart mountains, smash boulders, His bow is fire, His arrows lightening, His spear is streaks of lightening, clouds are His shield…" Pharaoh responded to them: "First of all you are lying! I am the master of the universe; I created it by myself along with the Nile River." At that moment the wise men of Egypt gathered around. Pharaoh asked, "Have you ever heard of their God? They answered we have heard that He the son of a wise man and the son of a king from the East. God answered: "You call yourself wise men and Me you call the son of a wise man? Look what is written: Utter fools are the nobles of Tanis; the sages of Pharaoh's advisors have made absurd predictions" (Isaiah 19:11) He responded to them: "Your gods does not know who God is." Through the numerical value of the word mi, "who," I am going to strike you with Mem - 40 and Yud - 10 forty plus ten plagues - fifty plagues. Evil one, you said, "Who (mi) is Adonai;" By switching around the letters mem and yud. When we switch them around we have yam, sea. At the sea you will come to know who Adonai is. You said, 'Who is Adonai?' During the plague of hail you will say, 'God is righteous.' "You said, 'I do not know Adonai.’ During the plague of locust you will say, 'I have sinned against the Lord your God.' You said, 'And Israel I will not send forth.' In the future during the tenth plague you will say, 'Get up and go forth from my people, both you and the people of Israel.'" The Holy One said to Moses: "I will harden the heart of Pharaoh with fifty plagues. Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness. And through this you will know that I am the Lord; I will smite you with a number of plagues." The first will be that with your staff you will turn the river into blood. You will see it with your own eyes that the punishment is solely for the Egyptians." As proof of this, when the Egyptians and the Israelites drew water out of the river, the Egyptians drank blood and the Israelites drank water. Because of this, the Israelites were enriched because the Egyptians had to buy water from them. Even so, Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he refused to allow the Israelites to go free. Then He brought the other plagues upon them: frogs, lice, wild animals, and all the others. During the ninth plague Pharaoh continued to harden his own heart. He said to Moses, "Leave me; you won't see my face again." Moses answered, "So you have said; you have spoken properly in a timely fashion. I shall no longer come to you after I leave your house but, know, that there is one more plague which God will bring upon you. Then all your servants will come to me and bow down to me saying, you and your nation leave. Only then will I leave." Moses then left Pharaoh in a fury. It was then that God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to prepare the Passover offering. Moses told the Israelites, it is the Commandment of God for all Israel, that they take a lamb on the tenth day of the month, one for each household in front of all the Egyptians. They should then tie it to their bedpost. On the fourteenth day of the month, they shall slaughter it before all the Egyptians. You shall take hyssop branches and sprinkle the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel as a sign to protect their lives. At midnight, God will pass through Egypt in a single moment and smite the firstborn of Egypt. Even the first born of other nations living in Egypt shall die as well the firstborn of Egyptians who are in other lands. It will affect every firstborn, human and beast. All the idols of Egypt shall be destroyed: the wooden will burn up and the metal shall melt. But once God gives the Destroyer permission to kill the firstborn, it will not differentiate between the good and the bad. Therefore, you must put the blood on the doorposts of your houses so that the destroyer can differentiate between the households. No one should leave his house until morning. At night, you shall eat the Passover offering, roasted. Throw the bones in the market place for the dogs so that the Egyptians see the dogs eating the bones of their gods. This is how you should eat it: With a belt on, shoes on your feet and your bag in your hands. You shall eat it in haste, for it is a Passover offering to Adonai. The word pesah means, ‘hopping.’ The Holy One hopped from house to house, from one Egyptian household to another, and the Israelite household that was in between them escaped harm. Rashi, on the other hand, implies that the Egyptians and the Israelites were both in the same home, and the Destroyer jumped from one Egyptians to the next, leaving the Israelite unharmed. Yet, how do we explain the statement that the Israelites should not go out of their homes? When the Egyptians began dying, they fled to the homes of the Israelite. They could see that the Israelites were not affected by the plague. Only then did the Holy One come down and jump from Egyptian to Egyptian in the Israelite homes. Scripture says: "So that there is not a plague among you." This implies that there won't be a plague among you but among the Egyptians there will be a plague. From this explanation we can understand their reason for the pesah offering. For God hopped over the houses of the Israelites when he smote the Egyptians but not our families.