Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

88
Va’eira
Three Steps
Yiriel Liss
T he Netivot Shalom quotes the Maharal (Gevurot Hashem 52) who teaches that in
taking us out of Mitzrayim thousands of years ago, Hashem was looking to the future.
He was eyeing each and every one of us; the ge’ula was not just for the generation
that Chazal say fell to the lowest level of tum’ah. Hashem did it for them, but for us
too. He did it for all of the people that He saw would be the future of Am Yisrael.
However, why did Hashem need to seemingly torture the Mitzrim so much? Why was
it necessary for all of the ten plagues; wouldn’t Makkat Bechorot have sufficed?
There’s a quote in the Haggada for Pesach in which Rabbi Yehuda breaks down the
plagues into categories : ב”חאב ש”דע ך”צד :םינמיס םהל ןתונ היה הדוהי יבר. Why does Rabbi
Yehuda feel the need to put the makkot into categories? The Netivot Shalom explains
that there is an inherent significance to each and every one of the plagues, and that
there is also a reason for the categorization. There are three different aspects of life
that the makkot were affecting. One section of plagues affected the Egyptians from
beneath the ground )םיניכ ,עדרפצ ,םד(, one on the ground’s surface )ןיחש ,רבד ,בורע(, and
one affected the Egyptians from above the ground, from the heavens ),ךשח ,הברא ,דרב
תורוכב(.
Hashem shows His might over all of the domains, to prove Pharaoh (who said אל
’ה תא יתעדי( wrong. Pharaoh denies not only Hashem’s sovereignty over the world, but
he simply denies any existence of God. Therefore, the first makka of each category
comes to prove to the entire world that Hashem indeed exists. Regarding םד, the first