After the tenth plague, Pharaoh and the Egyptians asked the Hebrew slaves to get out. They even gave the slaves their gold and silver jewelry (which the Hebrews later melted down to make the ornaments for the Tabernacle).

The slaves took dough with them. Without leavening, they baked the dough into what we now know as matzah.

Their route out took them to the banks of the Sea of Reeds. By the time that they got there, Pharaoh changed his mind yet again, and came after them to get them back.

By yet another miracle, the water in the sea parted for Moses, the people marched across. Once they were safe on the other side, and Pharaoh's army had all followed them onto the sea bed, the waters closed back up, drowning the army.

(Another myth, in keeping with the spilling of the wine earlier: when the army drowned, a chorus of angels began to sing God's praises. God told them to shut up, since they shouldn't celebrate people's deaths.)

The Hebrew slaves were now free. They stayed in the desert for another forty years, though, before coming back to the land of their ancestors.


haggadah Section: -- Ten Plagues
Source: Original