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Ask the Rabbi: answers from Project Genesis rabbis
I have heard that Pharaoh was also a first born. Why was he not killed along with the other first-born Egyptians as the tenth plague?
God kept him alive so that the leading figure of the world’s most advanced civilization could bear witness to the fact that there was a Higher Authority than he.
Is there a Midrash that attempts to explain why the Jews were slaves in Egypt for 400 years? What did they do that earn them such a fate?
The Zohar actually refers to the Egypt experience as the “Kur Habarzel” , the iron furnace. Just as as a furnace serves to heat metal to the point where all impurities are removed, the Egypt experience served to mold our character as a nation and to damper any arrogance within our hearts. Throughout the Torah we are reminded, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt” and this serves to imprint our great nation with an everlasting stamp of humility. The Talmud ascribes three qualities to Jews. We are merciful, humble, and charitable. Our years of bondage, although painful ones, no doubt served to instill these values within us.