Haiti and the 10 Plagues
(Updated with translations - thanks to the commenters)
Dam (blood) - It says: וְלֹא-יָכְלוּ מִצְרַיִם, לִשְׁתּוֹת מַיִם מִן-הַיְאֹר and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river
There is a major water shortage in Haiti
Tzefardei'a (frogs) - It says: וְעָלוּ וּבָאוּ בְּבֵיתֶךָ, וּבַחֲדַר מִשְׁכָּבְךָ וְעַל-מִטָּתֶךָ; וּבְבֵית עֲבָדֶיךָ וּבְעַמֶּךָ, וּבְתַנּוּרֶיךָ וּבְמִשְׁאֲרוֹתֶיךָ which shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bed-chamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs.
The earthquake spread to indoors, which is where it caused the most damage.
Kinim (lice) - It says: וַיֹּאמְרוּ הַחַרְטֻמִּם אֶל-פַּרְעֹה, אֶצְבַּע אֱלֹהִים הִוא Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh: 'This is the finger of God'
Everyone (especially insurance companies) admits that an earthquake is an act of G-d.
Arov (wild animals) - It says: וְשַׂמְתִּי פְדֻת, בֵּין עַמִּי וּבֵין עַמֶּךָ And I will put a division between My people and thy people
Israel was singled out as doing the best work and made a huge Kiddush Hashem
Dever (pestilence) - It says: וַיִּשְׁלַח פַּרְעֹה--וְהִנֵּה לֹא-מֵת מִמִּקְנֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל, עַד-אֶחָד And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not so much as one of the cattle of the Israelites dead.
Par'oh (Pharaoh) tried to find Hashem's words to be false, so he sent messengers to check out if any of the Israelites' cattle died. Similarly, the nations try to find fault with Israel's actions in Haiti, but are just grasping at non-existent straws.
Shehin (boils) - It says: וַיְהִי, שְׁחִין אֲבַעְבֻּעֹת, פֹּרֵחַ, בָּאָדָם וּבַבְּהֵמָה and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast.
The infections were spreading, and unless people went to Israel's hospital, they didn't get the needed amputations.
Barad (hail) - It says: כָּבֵד מְאֹד--אֲשֶׁר לֹא-הָיָה כָמֹהוּ בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, מֵאָז הָיְתָה לְגוֹי very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
This is turning out to be the deadliest earthquake in the Western Hemisphere (with 1970 Peru having 66,000 deaths).
Arbeh (locusts) - It says: וַיֹּאכַל אֶת-כָּל-עֵשֶׂב הָאָרֶץ וְאֵת כָּל-פְּרִי הָעֵץ, אֲשֶׁר הוֹתִיר הַבָּרָד; וְלֹא-נוֹתַר כָּל-יֶרֶק בָּעֵץ וּבְעֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה, בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left; and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.
There is a major food shortage in Haiti.
Hoshech (darkness) - It says: לֹא-רָאוּ אִישׁ אֶת-אָחִיו, וְלֹא-קָמוּ אִישׁ מִתַּחְתָּיו--שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days
People were trapped under the rubble for days in the darkness.
Makat Bechorot (plague of the firstborn) - It says: וַתְּהִי צְעָקָה גְדֹלָה, בְּמִצְרָיִם: כִּי-אֵין בַּיִת, אֲשֶׁר אֵין-שָׁם מֵת and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
There is a tremedous amount of dead and mourning for the dead. Practically every household was affected.
Just as Yetziat Mitzrayim occurred immediately after the plagues, may the Ge'ula Sheleima be close at hand.
posted by yaak @ 1/21/2010 04:53:00 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Not meant as criticism, because I rather thought was an excellent compilation, but
*Who is Paraoh?
*I rather think that to forestall the amputations, they had to go to the experts at the Israeli Field Hosp.
*Maybe this is not the 'last' quake?!
*Have you seen what's happening to So Calif?
I like the last line the very best IY"H.
Amen! (to Yaak, not Neshama)
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I thought this was an English website. Most reading this will lose the true impact and meaning, especially the newly returned Jews who need it the most. If you want to bring Moshiach with dazzling messages, cater to all Jews not the ones who are already waiting for him.
Yaak, I agree with Menachem, I often can read, but not fully understand the Ivrit. I'm a BT and that's really hard, but your insights are valuable and I would love to understand it further.
But it's not only the plagues, I would like to point out- what was happening to the consciousness of the bnei yisrael... some were not wanting to leave Egypt. Some were waiting with baited breath, as there were some who felt that Moshe's leadership was divinely ordained and there were those in no doubt.
This is our world today. The isolation, judgment and the division of who is a good Jew.But we don't have our Moshe, guiding and helping, we don't have a Moshiach helping us through, yet. I think the anguish that bnei yisrael felt was not only a function of despondency, each person was internally anguished.
Yaak- we have it today. We are there, NOW. It's a difficult matzav (situation) we are living in, and I pray our cries are heard.
I updated the post with translations. Thanks for your comments.
Thank you very much. I printed a copy for my Shabbos table. My guests will find this fascinating especially since Targum Yonatan ben Uziel said about 2000 years ago that the plagues would reoccur in the end of days in a different form but with a similar type of retribution.
Haiti is not the place in which the Jews are in exile.
Haitians are not enemies of Am Yisrael, so why the ten plagues could kill them and not the Edomites/Ishmaelites?
Haiti has not the role of Miztrayim in Shemot.
The Haitians are innocent victims in this. Rather, the hardest hit in terms of the Geula was the UN, WHO and the Catholic Church. OST the nearest to Paraoh might be someone sitting in Rome!
'mErA' got it.
But i still love the way you linked everything :-)
At first glance, you're all correct. And I was not saying that I know that the Haitians deserved it for their mistreatment of Jews although there is some evidence of that.
However, all that said, we don't know how Hashem's masterplan works.
Perhaps, this is a warning for all the Americas. Why Haiti then? Perhaps it was because 507 years ago, Columbus established the first European (Edomite) settlement in the Americas in Haiti called "La Navidad" which means X-mas. The settlement got wiped out in the next year - Columbus returned there on his second voyage and only found the bodies of his men.
Now, you can look at this two ways:
If Columbus was not Jewish and the men left on the island were not Jewish, then Haiti is being punished for being the first Edomite settlement in the New World and the troubles of Haiti could be a precursor of other problems (lo aleinu) in the Americas. Haiti was the first to be settled and the first to receive punishment.
If Columbus and the men that settled there that first year were Jewish (nuevo conversos), then perhaps, it is in response to their murder. Although the natives who lived there then were not the same as those who live there now, the land was punished via an earthquake (as in קול דמי אחיך צועקים אלי מן האדמה).
Of course, all this is pure speculation, and I really have no idea of Hashem's ways. But I do know that all of Hashem's ways are just, and it's our limited capacity to understand that makes us question.
you guys here belong in an insane asylum for the criminaly insane
what a CHILLUL HASHEM you are causing
Haiti is the enemy of God and israel , there derech is of billaam or worse. . the big enemy is amalak within am yisrael and in the nations specificaly cham ie haiti many african american regretablly and edom the church specificaly and ishmael the wanton killers of men and specificaly decent jews within extreme islam .Thats a start where the plagues shoud hit . Its all very complicated though because of our sin of lack of lower tshuvah never mind higher tshuvah and the study of sod with the 7 lower wisdoms music , physics, biology , brain chemistry , astronomy, mathamatics, and music these are the 7 lower wisdoms the gra and zohar talk about need to join the truths of sod kabbalah for geulah to truly begin !
Browser, I take your accusation very seriously.
Does it sound like I have no compassion for the Haitians?
Has Veshalom! The opposite is true. I very much feel pained when any tzelem Elokim's life is lost.
Does what I wrote sound too Pat Robertson-like? Unlike Reverand Pat, I fully admit to not knowing what Hashem's plan is.
We nonetheless know that Hashem always does everything for a reason so trying to guess what it is cannot be a Hillul Hashem - just the opposite - it's a Kiddush Hashem. To say that an earthquake is just some random act is a huge Hillul Hashem.
We, on the other hand, are trying to understand Hashem's ways. It's also our belief in Sachar Ve'onesh that brings us to try to see what Hashem is doing.
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