THEMES of Featured Mystical Classics Articles

The Jewish People were spared from the ten Plagues for G-d took them as a personal nation and made them a part of Himself. Therefore they earned the privilege of serving G-d and were obligated to bring the Pesach Offering, which served as a sign that they had a unique relationship with G-d.

The purpose of Israel's exile and enslavement in Egypt was to refine the nation in the "iron crucible" so that the contamination caused by the Original Sin would be purged from them in order to enable them to receive the Torah.

The Shelah teaches that all the miracles performed by G-d in Egypt, which defied all known laws of nature, were invoked by the Ineffable Four-lettered Name, "Havayah", which symbolizes G-d as a composite of the Hebrew words for "He was, He is, He will be", the One who created the world ex nihilo and Who is eternal.

"...the way you see Egypt this day you will never see Egypt again"

The Zohar is at pains to point out that the Torah does not speak about Egyptians being viewed as dead, but rather Egypt, i.e. the celestial minister of Egypt. G-d made a point of showing the dead celestial minister to the Israelites.

The matzah at the Seder table consists only of flour and water. It is called lechem oni, literally a “poor” bread, likened to the impoverished The poor person’s lack of possessions allows him a type of freedom from the burden of the physical world. So too the nation of Israel were released from the chains of bondage, entering an existence beyond the demands of Egypt.