The main part of the mitzvah to relate the story of the Exocus is the ten plagues. And the Chayei Adam says that it was the minhag to call in the non-Jewish helper to hear the ten plagues! So here are some things you might not have known about some plagues…
1)Frogs – Egypt at that time was at war with Kush over their borders. The frogs solved the problem by stopping on the precise border. And even when the Egyptian magicians created their own frogs, they did not go over the border. [Yalkut] According to R’ Akiva there was one giant frog and every time the Egyptians hit it, it split into two, etc, until the land was full of them. [So why didn’t they stop hitting the frogs? Because anger throws logic out thewindow; Steipler]
2)Wild animals – There was one animal called a ‘Yedoni,’ who had a tube connecting it to the ground and if the tube was disconnected from the ground it would die. HaShem even brought the Yedoni to Egypt for the plague of wild animals – and it came with a clump of earth under it to ensure its survival.[Chanukas HaTorah]
3) Hail – Moshe warned the Egyptians of the coming plague of hail and told them to bring their belongings indoors. Pharoah sent messengers telling people to leave everything outside, but people still took things inside; they feared the word of HaShem more than Pharoah [Meshech Chochmah]. And HaShem made it so the hail only fell on things outdoors – it did not even fall on anything indoors [Brisker Rav]
4) Darkness – Normal darkness does not have an existence in and of itself; it is just an absence of light. And so, one candle knocks away much darkenss. But this plague of darkness brought a new creation; an existence and reality of darkness which could not be reomved by lighting candles [Sforno]. And the plague was worse because nobody helped their friends out [Chidushei HaRim]
5) Makkas Bechoros – Why is this the only plague that is called ‘makkas x; why not ‘makkas dam,’ etc too? The midrash says (brought in tosfos shabbes 87b) that when the firstborns heard Moshe’s warning about the plague of the firstborns, they rebelled against Pharoah to make him let the Jews go free, and many were killed in this rebellion. It is this rebellion that we refer to in the word ‘makkas.’ [Birkas Chaim] HAVE A GREAT PESACH
