Even as we are are grateful for our freedom, we are pained by the knowledge

that our freedom came at the expense of the great misfortune to the Egyptian people. As we recite each plague, we dip a finger in our wineglass and spill out one drop of wine, thereby acknowledging that our own joy is diminished by the memory of Egyptian suffering.

Dam – Blood
Ts’fardaya – Frogs
Kinim – Vermin
Arov – Flies
Dever – Pestilence
Sh’chin – Boils
Barad – Hail
Arbeh – Locusts
Choshech – Darkness
Makat b’chorot – Slaying of the firstborn

Let us remember the lesson of the plagues: the winning of freedom has not always been bloodless in the past. 


haggadah Section: -- Ten Plagues