Midrash teaches us that, while watching the Egyptians succumb to the ten plagues, the angels broke into songs of jubilation. God rebuked them, saying "My creatures are perishing, and you sing praises?"

As we recite each plague, we spill a drop of wine - a symbol of job - from our cups. Our joy in our liberation will always be tarnished by the pain visted upon the Egyptians

                  דָם                               Blood                                                  Dam 

Frogs                                             Tzfarde’ah                                      צְפַרְּדֵעַ

Lice                                                  Kinim                                              כִּנִי 

Wild Beasts                                          Arov                                            עָרֹוב

Blight                                                 Dever                                           דֶבֶר

Boils                                                   Sh'chin ׁ                          שְחִין

Hail                                   Barad                                              בָרד  

Locusts                                                   Arbeh                                           אְרֶּבה

Darkness                                              Choshech                                        חשך

Slaying of the first born                       Makat B'chorot                             מַּכַת בכֹורֹות

These plagues are in the past, but today’s world holds plagues as well. Let us spill 10 more drops of wine as we recite these ten new plagues. 

Apathy in the face of evil.
Brutal torture of the helpless
Cruel mockery of the old and the weak
Despair of human goodness
Envy of the joy of others
Falsehood and deception corroding our faith
Greedy theft of earth’s resources
Hatred of learning and culture
Instigation of war and aggression
Justice delayed, justice denied, justice mocked...

God, soften our hearts and the hearts of our enemies. Help us to dream new paths to freedom, so that the next sea-opening is not also a drowning; so that our singing is never again their wailing. So that our freedom leaves no one orphaned, childless, gasping for air. 


haggadah Section: -- Ten Plagues
Source: Velveteen Rabbi's Haggadah for Pesach