Humility is a great strength of character and something to be emulated. Having personal concern for someone less fortunate is one of the highest mitzvot one can fulfill. The story is told about the great scholar Rabbi Yisroel Salanter (the founder of the Mussar movement). One Yom Kippur evening, the Rabbi arrived in shul very late. It seems that on the way he heard a baby crying. Investigating, he found a baby alone in a house with none of his family around. Not wanting to leave the infant in such a distressed state, Rabbi Salanter stayed with the infant, calming him down, until a babysitter could be found. Only when he was certain the baby was comfortable, did he then go on to services.

What could be more humble than the lowly thorn bush selected to receive God’s Essence when He revealed himself to Moshe. This is an important lesson. The Israelites at that time were at their lowest level of dignity and, like a thorn bush, could be elevated to greatness through divine service. The gemara (Taanit 17) writes:

“Rabbi Chanina ben Ida said: Why are the words of Torah compared with water? This is to teach you, just as water flows from a higher level to a lower, so too the words of the Torah endure only with the person who is lowly.”

“And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth My hand upon Egypt, and I bring out the children of Israel from among them.” The ten plagues are familiar to most of us from the Pesach seder. The word “makot” alludes to many things both through a re-arranging of the letters or from the gematria (numerical value) of the letters. “Makot” is similar to the word “michvat”, which means “burning”. The plagues were meant to punish the Egyptians and impress the Israelites. A burning desire for redemption resulted from witnessing the awesome power of God. It is similar to the word “tamchu” which means “supported”. During the ten plagues, the Israelites were supported by God. This is true during the final plague; the slaying of the first born. By placing the lamb’s blood on the door posts and lintels, the Children of Israel were protected as God “posach”, passed over their houses. The mezuzah is a reminder of this act of support. In fact, the word “makot” has the same numerical value as the plural “mezuzot”.

Many sages have analyzed the symbolism of the ten plagues. Their group patterns (such as three groups of three plagues in which two are preceded by a warning and the third is not) or their relationship to the number ten (ten commandments, ten utterances at the Creation, the ten brothers that attacked Yosef, etc). I have found an interesting commentary on the ten plagues in the Haggadah by Rabbi Yitzchak Abarabanel (from fifteenth century Spain):

“The sages explain that Hashem brought these particular plagues upon the Egyptians for the following reasons:

The Egyptians were chastened with the plague of blood because they prevented Jewish women from purifying themselves from their blood of niddah (menstruation).

The intolerable barking of the crocodiles (the Abarabanel cites an opinion of the medieval Talmudic commentator Rabbeinu Chananel, who translates tzefardea as “crocodiles” instead of the usual “frogs”) was punishment for making Jewish women suppress their cries of pain when they gave birth in hiding.

The Egyptians’ land swarmed with lice preventing them from doing their work, because they stole land from the Jews. While the Jewish men were busy tending the cattle of the Egyptians, Jewish women would have to nurse the Egyptians’ children.

The wild animals were the very animals the Jews tended which were sent to snatch these children and devour them. Because the Egyptians would hitch Jews to their plows to save the strength of their cattle, Hashem smote their cattle with pestilence.

The Egyptians were smitten with boils so that they would not come to their bathhouses and the Jews would be free to use them.

They were pelted with hailstones because they used to stone the Jews. The hail also gave the Jews a respite from their work in the Egyptians’ gardens and orchards.

Because the Egyptians would use the Jews to plant for them, the locusts were sent to eat all that the Jews had sown.

Darkness allowed the Jews to bury the sinners among them who died during that plague. The burials could take place without humiliation of the Egyptians’ watching.

Hashem concluded the plagues with the killing of the first born to fulfill His threat in His initial warning to Pharoah: So says Hashem, Israel is My first born son. And I say to you, send My son so that he may serve Me. And if you refuse to send him, behold, I will kill your first born son.”

“I prefer to explain the plagues as Hashem’s means of demonstrating His mastery over all four of the elements-earth, fire, water, and air. First, Hashem smote the water by turning it into blood. This had the primary effect of making the Egyptians suffer from thirst and the secondary effect of killing those creatures of the deep which they used for food. But not only did beneficial aquatic life die off. Some harmful creatures-the crocodiles-increased in number miraculously and emerged from the water to annoy the Egyptians.”

“After smiting the element of water through these two plagues, Hashem smote the Egyptians’ land in the next three. First, the land itself turned to lice. Then He brought two plagues involving animals, which exist on the earth’s surface-wild beasts and pestilence.”

“Boils came through the element of the air, as it says: And Moshe through it heavenward and it became an infestation of boils. Hail came through the element of fire, as it says: And Hashem sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down upon the ground. Locusts are creatures which fly through the element of air. Darkness was brought about through a thickening of the air which did not allow the sun’s light to penetrate. Finally, the killing of the firstborn came about through a miraculous airborne fire which suddenly entered the bodies.”

“Alternatively, we can view the ten plagues as just retribution for the evils inflicted by the Egyptians upon the Jews. The Egyptians bloodied the waters of the Nile by killing Jewish children in it. Thus its waters were literally turned into blood. Because Jewish women cried in anguish as they saw their children cast into the river, Hashem brought forth from the river crocodiles with their cries. The Egyptians embittered the lives of the Jews by forcing them to perform hard labor with mortar and bricks which come from the ground. Therefore Moshe hit the ground with his staff to bring on the plague of lice, as if to curse the ground which had brought his people such suffering.

Not only were the Jews subject to Pharoah, but nay Egyptian, from the highest to the humblest, could bid them to do their labor. Because of this, they were punished by a mixture of wild beasts of all sizes who would snatch them form their houses as they did to the Jews. The Jews could not tend to their cattle properly because of all the work they had to do for the Egyptians. In addition, the Egyptians used to steal the cattle of the Jews. Because of this, Hashem smote the Egyptians’ cattle with pestilence.

Because the Egyptians separated Jewish men from their wives, they were smitten with boils which prevented marital relations. Because the Egyptians would throw stones and shout curses at the Jews, Hashem punished them with hailstones and thunderclaps. Because the Egyptians would steal the crops of the Jews, Hashem sent locusts to consume their crops. Because the Jews suffered in the darkness of exile, Hashem smote the Egyptians with darkness. Finally, just as the Egyptians used to kill the children of Hashem, so did He slay their firstborn children.”

As we say in the Haggadah, had not God done all of this for our ancestors, we might to this day, still be slaves unto Pharoah. May we be worthy of the future redemption and not exiled to the spiritual wilderness of material affects, vanity, honor, loshen hara (gossip) and sinat chinan (indiscriminate hatred) of our fellow Jews and truly live the mitzvah of Ahavat Yisroel.