ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף שמות 10:7

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Come to Pharaoh, etc.’” Many have wondered about this section, as it does not mention what Moses should say to Pharaoh upon coming to him, since nothing is mentioned about the plague of locusts. What Ramban explained in the name of the Rabbati, that there is a hint to the plague of locusts in the phrase and so that you may tell in the ears of your son and your son’s son how I have made a mockery of Egypt, and it is written about locusts in Joel (1:3) Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children — this is not sufficient to resolve this difficulty, because the very same question remains: why was it said specifically regarding this plague that he should tell it to his children more than all the other plagues?
And I have an additional difficulty: why is the hardening of the hearts of his servants mentioned only in relation to the plagues of hail and locusts? According to the simple meaning, it seems to me that in all the plagues there is certainly no difference between Pharaoh and his servants, as Pharaoh surely felt them all just like his servants, except for the plague of famine and drought, which only affected his servants but not the king himself, since kings generally have storehouses of grain for years of famine. Only in an exaggerated case would famine affect the king himself.
Therefore, regarding the hail it says, and he hardened his heart, he and his servants — not only he, but even his servants, who should have taken to heart that God had called for famine, nevertheless did not care because the wheat and the spelt were not struck. And when God said again to Moses, For I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, Moses understood from this that he should warn him a second time, that God had called for famine and yet they would not pay attention to his warning — not only Pharaoh but even his servants.
From this, Moses understood that it was God’s will to send locusts, because typically, crops that have ripened in the field can only be destroyed by hail or locusts. And since hail had already occurred, this could only be locusts that would eat what the hail had left. Therefore, specifically regarding this plague it says, And Pharaoh’s servants said to him, ‘How long shall this be a snare to us?’ because the famine affected his servants more than Pharaoh, so they urged Pharaoh to send the people away.

ואני אקשה, seeing that G’d is interested in the sinner’s repentance rather than his death (as we know from Ezekiel 33,11 חי אני, נאום ה', אם אחפוץ במות הרשע כי אם בשובו מדרכו וחיה, “by My life, I do not want the death of the wicked but that he return from his wicked path and live”), G’d told Moses that He would bring on numerous plagues, all in order to increase the chances that Pharaoh would finally see the light and become a genuine penitent. He hoped that by demonstrating His greatness and His power this would eventually cause the Egyptians to recognise all this. At the same time, G’d also spelled out a similar thought in 9,16 but aimed at the Israelites, when He said: “that the only reason He had not yet killed Pharaoh was so that in the course of more plagues you, the Jewish people, would come to recognise both G’d’s greatness and His patience.“ He also wanted the Jewish people to learn how to both love and revere Him when they witnessed and thought about the meaning of all these plagues. There can be no question that without G’d stiffening Pharaoh’s attitude from time to time, he would have collapsed much sooner and would have sent the Israelites on their desired journey. However, this would not have been the result of his repentance and humbling himself before the Lord, involving genuine regret about his previous errors, but the result of his impotence to withstand the pressure applied to him. He would have acted out of terror of what the next plague would do to him and to his country. If we needed confirmation of this, all we have to do is look at what his servants said to him when Moses threatened with the plague of locust. They said to him: “how long will you be obstinate, do you not see that Egypt will go down the drain?!” There was not a single word of regret of past errors, no word of recognition that G’d could have killed them all long before this and that He must therefore be very patient, and kind, but mere terror forced them to utter these words. (10,7) Keeping all this in mind, it is foolish to ask how G’d could punish Pharaoh after he Himself had interfered with his decision-making process by “stiffening his heart,” ואני אקשה את לב פרעה, I will stiffen the heart of Pharaoh, etc.” not in order to punish him but in order to finally trigger repentance in his heart. The operative clause is “in order that I can demonstrate all these miracles of Mine in his midst” (10,1), the purpose being to bring about his humbling himself in repentance and genuine contrition. If that wish of G’d would indeed materialise, the Jewish people also would tell of G’d’s greatness, (למען ספר את שמי, having observed at first hand how the mightiest secular power on earth turned into G’d fearing human beings.) They would tell their children and children’s children the lesson they had learned that G’d’s apparent cruelty is actually an act of loving kindness as it results in His creatures coming to love and to revere Him. [Noach, who had survived the destruction of mankind by a deliberate act of G’d’s kindness to him and his family, had not been able to relate to his children what G’d hoped that the Israelites would be able to relate to their children. Ed.] The basic lesson in ethics we derive from all this is that when suffering an affliction we must first and foremost examine our past actions to find out where we went wrong, and try to find out what these afflictions are intended to trigger in our memory so that we can improve our conduct both vis-à-vis G’d and our fellow man.

The Simple Child and the Law of the First Born: Two Explanations Translator's Introduction: Students of the Haggadah have long been curious about the simple child's question. His question, taken from Exodus 13, is not related to the celebration of the Passover Seder at all but to the law of the first born. When he learns that the firstborn of the herd must be sacrificed while the first born of the Israelites may be redeemed and asks, "What does this mean," he is not wondering about the Seder or Passover eve at all.
Exodus 13:11-15 And when the Lord has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and has given it to you, you shall set apart for the Lord every first issue of the womb: every male firstling that your cattle drop shall be the Lord's. But every firstling ass you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. And you must redeem every first-born male among your children. And when, in time to come, your son asks you, saying, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'It was with a mighty hand that the Lord brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord slew every first-born in the land of Egypt, the first-born of both man and beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord every first male issue of the womb, but redeem every firstborn among my sons.'
On the surface of it, it seems obvious that the firstborn belonged to God because God saved the Israelite firstborn during the tenth plague. It may also seem obvious to him why God would allow the firstborn Israelites to be redeemed while the firstborn of their herds remained sacred property. Rabbi Moshe Yonah Bondi, father of the commentary's author, adds a twist to this explanation: for him the essence of the plague was not the plague itself but the sacrifice which was offered before the plague began. It represented the death of Egypt's god; the gods of Egypt were powerless to stop the God of Israel. Rabbi Bondi now goes on to show why this explanation is not as simple as it first appears.
The following teaching was offered by my father and teacher, Rabbi Moshe Yonah Bondi, on the Haggadah's answer brings to the simple child : "It was with a mighty hand that the Lord brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage." (Exodus 13:14)
The passage from Exodus continues: "When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, the first-born of both man and beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord every first male issue of the womb, but redeem every first-born among my sons." What is the connection between the simple child's question and the answer which Scripture offers to his question?
Furthermore, these verses deserve further analysis. After saying that 'God brought us out of Egypt,' the Torah goes back and mentions that Pharaoh 'stubbornly refused to let us go.' These verses appear to be out of order!
The reason for the law of the firstborn is the same for Israelites and their animals: we offer the firstborn to God because they were saved from the tenth plague which struck Egypt. Yet the law is different for the person and for the animal. It is it permissible to redeem the firstborn Israelite with money paid to the kohen while the firstborn of the animals cannot be redeemed. The firstborn animal is sanctified. Portions must be sacrificed and the remainder was eaten by the kohanim, the priests. Why were humans and animals treated differently? Weren't both initially sanctified because they were not put to death in Egypt? This law does not need an explanation; the reason for this would be obvious even to the simple child. So why the different treatment of a person and the animal?
Which was more significant: the redemption of the firstborn Israelites or the redemption of firstborn animals of the Israelites? Whichever is more significant deserves to have the praise of God as well as the statements of thanksgiving offered over it. Also, in the case of the object of the greater miracle, one should offer an explanation for why we were given a sign and a reminder of redemption. Such an explanation is unique in the Torah; we do not find this type of explanation for other commandments.
The primary act was the saving of the firstborn animals. This commandment to sanctify the firstborn was given to the Israelites to inform them that it was specifically as a result of the tenth plague that Israel was freed from Egypt. It was necessary for God to harden the heart of Pharaoh prior to this plague more than any other. The Egyptians were already exhausted from the other plagues and said to Pharaoh, "How long shall this one be a snare to us…are you not aware that Egypt is lost?" (Exodus 10:7)
This tenth plague was an attack on the gods of Egypt. That is why this plague occurred after the other plagues. The slaughtering of the lambs in Egypt was a meant to cause the Egyptians to err. When the Israelites brought the sacrifice, they began slaughtering the god of Egypt, as is written: "For what we sacrifice is untouchable to the Egyptians before their very eyes." (Exodus 8:22) The purpose of the sacrifice, then, was for the Israelites to slaughter the god of the Egyptians before their eyes.
The Israelites should have been punished by the Egyptians for doing this. Yet, when the Egyptians saw the Israelites slaughtering the lambs they stood by; their hearts had melted in them. Up until now they thought that only they were affected by the plagues; they knew that even their gods were being punished. They now understood that their punishment could only have come from the Holy One for the sake of Israel, to redeem them from Egypt. The Egyptians no longer needed to check and see if the firstborn animals of the Israelites were affected by this plague.
As a result, the death of the livestock was more significant and more deserving of praise and thanksgiving. That is why the firstborn herds of the Israelites had to be sacrificed and given to the priests while the firstborn of the Israelites could be redeemed. The verse in Scripture alludes to this: "Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord slew every first-born in the land of Egypt." God caused this plague to harden Pharaoh's heart even more than Pharaoh had already hardened his own heart. Pharaoh was depending on his gods to punish the Israelites but when the firstborn of the herd died it was proof that Israel's God was more powerful than the Egyptian gods. The Holy One brought judgment on the gods of the Egyptians and that was truly God's intention to redeem the Israelites from Egypt. That is "why I bring the first born of the males as a sanctified portion for God and the priests while the first born of their children could be redeem. " This is a fine explanation; my father's words speak from the grave.

ויהפך [AND THE HEART…] WAS TURNED — it was turned (changed) from what it had been, because he had said to them (Exodus 12:31) “Arise, go out from the midst of my people”, and his servants’ hearts were changed because formerly they had said to him, (Exodus 10:7) “How long shall this man be a snare unto us? [let the men go etc.]”. Now, however, they (their hearts) were changed, prompting them to pursue them, because of the property that they had handed over to them (cf. Mekhilta).