ת ו כ מ ה ר ש
ע The Ten Plagues
Let Me Count the Ways and the Plagues
Beth Steinberg
The Haggadah has many dramatic storytelling moments , one being the recitation of the ten plagues , a fearful list of afflictions and horrors witnessed and experienced by the Egyptians . The Children of Israel , while saved from the personal suffering caused by the plagues , had to have seen the hardship of the Egyptians , before miraculously exiting the scene for their 40-year sojourn in the desert . And what they missed in Goshen , because the plagues didn ’ t happen there , they certainly saw firsthand during the crossing of the Red Sea , as the Egyptian Army chased them into the sea and drowned in front of them , in perhaps the final and most violent plague of them all .
Dramatic , but not so easy to take in and absorb .
How did the Children of Israel feel about the Egyptians ' pain and suffering throughout the period of the plagues , starting with the bloodied Nile River , which had to be terrifying to everyone in Egypt ? The plagues continued on to frogs and crop-destroying hail , culminating in fearful darkness so thick and scary that you couldn ’ t see
55