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 41 The Passover Haggadah

Rabbi Yos6 of Galilee says: You can prove that, after the ten plagues in Egypt, the Egyptians suffered fifty plagues at the Red Sea. About the plagues in Egypt the Torah tells us that “the magicians said to Pharaoh, it is the finger of God,’" But at the Red Sea the text reads: “Israel saw the great hand with which the

Lord performed against the Egyptians, and the people revered the Lord; they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”? Now,

you may say that if by one finger of God the Egyptians were made to suffer ten plagues in Egypt, they must have been made to sulier fifty plagues by the hand of God at the Red Sea.

Rabbi Eliezer says: You can prove that every plague that God inflicted upon the Egyptians in Egypt was equal to four blows, for it is written: “He sent upon them his blazing anger, wrath anc fury and trouble, a band of messengers of evil.” Now, since cach plague was composed of 1) wrath, 2) fury, 3) trouble, and 4) « band of messengers of evil, they must have suffered forty plagues in Egypt and two hundred at the Red Sea.

Rabbi Akiba says: You can prove that every plague that God inflicted upon the Egyptians in Egypt was equal to five blows, for it is written: “He sent upon them his blazing anger, wrath, and fury and trouble, a band of messengers of evil.”"* Now, since each plague was composed of 1) blazing anger, 2) wrath, 3) fury, 4) trouble, and 5) a band of messengers of evil, they must have suf- fered fifty plagues in Egypt and two hundred and fifty at the Red Sea.

Israel (‘‘measure for measure”). The period of cach plague was seven days} twenty-four days intervened between one plague and the next; the ten plagues lasted nearly twelve months: 1m 3 oyyBA vavD (Eduyoth 9:10).

Rabbi Yost of Galilee (second century) was a student and then a colleague of Rabbi Akiba, The conflicting views concerning the number of plagues (50, 200, 250) are found in the Mekhilta. They all seem to convey the idea that God was exceedingly merciful in sparing his people when the Egyptians were made to suffer the severest blows. The three fannaim are all agreed that at the Red Sea, where Pharaoh and his army were completely erushed, the blows were five times as severe as in Egypt. According to the Mishnah (Avoth 5:5), “ten miracles were performed for our fathers in Egypt, and ten at the Red Sea; ten plagues did God bring upon the Egyptians in Egypt, and ten at the sea.”

‘Exodus 8:15; 14:31. “Psalm 78:49.

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