And in order that My fame may resound throughout the world. (Shemos 9:16)

What was the reason that many plagues were brought against Egypt? Would it not have been enough to give just one catastrophic plague, scaring Pharaoh out of his wits and causing him to let the Jews go?

The Netziv asks a fascinating question: It is recorded that after each plague, Pharaoh forgot that there was a G-d and refused to believe that there would be any retribution for his actions. If that is the case, asks the Netziv, why didn’t he take revenge on G-d by punishing His people? This question is answered with an interesting approach of the Netziv. He claims that in every plague there was an aspect of dever (pestilence) which actually killed a certain number of people. The fear of dying, the ultimate punishment, kept Pharaoh and the Egyptians at bay, so they never took revenge on the Jews.

According to the Netziv, when Hashem sent the plague of hail upon the Egyptians, it was considered the greatest of all the plagues until that point because it caused the most casualties. Contrast this with the story of Yonah: Hashem did not want to kill even the wicked citizens of Nineveh. On the contrary, He wanted them to repent and be forgiven. So obviously if Hashem killed some of the Egyptians, there must have been a good reason. Which brings us back to the original question: Why didn’t Hashem just make one massive plague, thereby saving many lives.

The “one massive plague” approach was actually the philosophy of the Americans at the end of the Second World War. They bombed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing over a hundred thousand people, in what was understood at that time as the most wonderous and frightful form of destruction. This one massive bombing forced the Japanese to immediately surrender to the Allied forces and prevented further American (and Japanese) casualties in the South Pacific.

The Netziv explains the Plagues were given to the Egyptians so that all the world should know and be in wonder and awe at Hashem’s omnipotence and omnipresence. If it would have been a “first round knockout”, the lesson would not be learned well. Rather it was necessary to drag it out, coax and tease the Egyptians, making them the proverbial laughingstock of “Pharaoh in pajamas in the middle of the night”, so that all of humanity should have Hashem in their consciousness. In fact, the one Egyptian who remained alive eventually became the King of Nineveh and remembered the lesson well, and thus caused his nation to fully repent.

The way that the Egyptians were kept at bay, says the Netziv, was with the threat of death from pestilence. Upon seeing this Netziv, I wondered: What is this insatiable desire that humans have to stay alive? For what purpose do they want to live so badly and not die? It seems to me that aside from it being human nature, if they were to die in a plague brought about by Hashem, it would show that their whole of Egyptian existence was futile and in the wrong direction. To waste one’s life is extremely painful.

After a man has lived a full and productive life, it is easy to show him a few mistakes he made along the way which he can still correct before he dies. But if you showed a person that his entire life was one big mistake, that would be very difficult for him to handle. We can see this in the behavior of the Egyptians: They made a “revolution” against Pharaoh and forced the Jews to go out; but as soon as the fear and the Jews were gone, they reverted to their ingrained behavior, and chased after the Jews to bring them back. Their inner core did not undergo any change. Our job in life to accomplish and be productive. When we read this portion of the Haggadah, part of our job is to move ourselves to the point that our inner self changes and connects us to Hashem. This is the ultimate accomplishment.

We are living in a time of uncertainty. In fact, there are many people who are even uncertain if they should be uncertain or not! But one thing is for sure: Hashem sends his messages to us through all different round-about ways in order that we should come to the realization that Hashem is omnipresent and to follow His Torah. By listening to these messages, we make our life a life worth living.