People often view the plagues as the equivalent of a divine
smack down. And, in fact, we do treat it that way, somewhat. When we recite each plague on Seder night, we
take our pinky finger and remove a drop of wine from our cups to limit the joy
as we recall the pain of our enemies.
But there is much more to the story. The plagues were a carefully
choreographed class on faith- G-d needed to show the world who is really in
control step by step.
Many
people are not staunch atheists, but believe in a general creator that is
detached from the workings of our world in subtly different ways. And if one
would look at the world superficially, the immediate response would be yes- G-d
is AWOL. But a thinking person knows that
the world is called ‘olam’ in Hebrew, which means hidden. G-d hides behind
three key ideas: mundane physicality, disorder and seeming injustice, and the characteristics
of a physical life. Let’s explain.
Plague
one begins under the ground and in the river.
One shouldn’t think that G-d is only in control of spiritual matters but
let’s the waters of the world flow freely.
G-d knows what is happening, even in the depths.[1]
Plague two is frogs- slimy and small frogs. Does G-d actually control and connect
to such a creature? A resounding yes! And that is not all, lice. Nearly
microscopic, itchy, and nauseating to see- can it be that G- d is involved with
lice? Yes again. That is step one- even the lowliest physical things we come in
contact with contain a divine expression.
Step two is that we live in a chaotic
world. Yes, there is order in certain
realms, but in others, there seems to be a randomness. That is why the next plague of wild animals,
literally means ‘a mixing’. Though the
world appears to be a jungle, we have to know that is only a facade as behind
the jungle there is a G-d in control. And not only does the world appear to be a jungle
but luck appears to hit people in random ways. One person gets his car hit and
another his wallet stolen. So too that
is under divine control as the plague devastates everybody's livestock. And, a step further we have
not only property damage, but human damage, boils. Even disease is not only due
only to genetic mutations and pesticides, but to a divine hand. This is often
where faith is stretched to its limits.
Finally
we have step three- a physical world that is so vast and mysterious it can’t be
G-d controls each detail, that is, until we meet hail. Each ball
of hail is a signal that G-d is in control of each water droplet. Then we move to the mass of locusts,
literally called in Hebrew ‘harbe’ or ‘a lot’.
Not only are small details under G-d’s watch, but massive quantities of small details. Then comes the plague of
darkness. Light reveals reality and it
is unique in that it has no mass. It follows that things with mass constrict reality,
and limit what can be seen. One would
think, then, that there are some things hidden from G-d’s ‘eyes’ in this
world of mass, but the plague of darkness tells us otherwise. G-d, who is
spiritual, has knowledge of all that happens in the physical world.
What is
left? The killing of the first
born. There are elements of all three
aspects in this plague. The Talmud states
that G-d could discern between different seeds, who was a first born and who
wasn’t. It shows complete control over
all aspects of the physical world: the mundane, the righteous and the
non-righteous, and the details.
This
all explains a strange move in the Haggadah.
After listing the plagues one by one, R’ Yehuda says we need to group
them in threes. Why do we need to regroup them? Because there are three
different categories of plague that teach different ideas.
[1]
Idea from Drush Shabbos haGadol Maharal. Water is something that always seeks the lowest level- it represents a substance
that is below the surface.
