Bo: The Politics of Catastrophe

 The Torah casts the Hebrews in an ambivalent light. They can be enslaved, but they are dangerous in rebellion.   Before the plague of locusts, the burden of  the preceding  7  plagues has brought Pharaoh's vassals to say to him: הֲטֶ֣רֶם תֵּדַ֔ע כִּ֥י אָבְדָ֖ה מִצְרָֽיִם׃

Have you not already realized that Egypt is destroyed (by  denying these people their worship service)?

There is dissention in the palace. The counselors advise capitulation. Pharaoh enters negotiations, but the plagues will have to play out to completion.  The pattern of warning, plague, warning,  plague, followed by plague without warning, the pattern hinted at by  the acronyms of Rabbi Yehuda ( דְּצַ"ךְ עַדַ"שׁ בְּאַחַ"ב) must proceed. 

The plagues are not just to convince the Pharoah to let the people go.   Moshe's  request, as per Gd's instructions, is merely for a three day festival.  But the festival will allow the people, who have been in Egypt for 430 years,  to reassess what they are doing. They are a  people that has never  completely integrated into Egyptian society, but has had some role in its survival and glory.  They  will have an opportunity to ask themselves what they have been doing and what they will do in the future.  There is an echo of Jacob's conversation with Lavan   וְעַתָּ֗ה מָתַ֛י אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥ה גַם־אָנֹכִ֖י לְבֵיתִֽי׃   And now, when shall I make provision for my own household?”  A connection between Jacob's service to Lavan and the servitude in Egypt is made by the Hagadah מַה בִּקֵּשׁ לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי לַעֲשׂוֹת לְיַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ: Go out and learn what Lavan the Aramean sought to do to Ya'akov, our father;  It is not the taskmaster that subjugates the slave; it is the mindset of both of them  -and the social structure that mindset creates  - that removes the possibility of liberty from the serf.  The slaves could not be freed until they saw the possibility of independence. 

The plagues convince the people that powers far greater than the Pharaoh and his army exist and can impact history.  The opportunity to leave the bondage was always there, but the catastrophes make it easier - both by disrupting the Egyptian society and, perhaps more importantly, by allowing the Hebrews to assert an independent identity. 

The plague of death to  the firstborn   served to tear down the structure of the society.  The primary heirs, the justification for the rich to acquire ever more wealth, the receptacles of the hopes of the family, the recipients of the greatest privilege - were eliminated.  The struggle for primacy was now open.  Now the Hebrews, this tribe - descended from the second sons ( Isaac and  Jacob), led by a second son -  could reassess the system and democratize it somewhat. 

The purpose of the plagues is stated: וְהִגַּדְתָּ֣ לְבִנְךָ֔  And you shall explain to your child  The plagues are a key part of the story  that we retell at the Passover Seder annually.  They form a kernel of Jewish identity: alienated from the territorial  powers, reliant on miracles  that sometimes arrive - and sometimes don't.