Passover
The Harsh Reality of Egyptian Slavery: Little-Known Midrashic Insights
The suffering, oppression, and spiritual challenges the Israelites endured during 210 years in Egypt
- Tzuriel Gvizon
- |Updated
At the Covenant Between the Parts, God informed Avraham of the future enslavement: "Know surely that your descendants will be strangers in a land not theirs, and they will enslave them… and afterwards they will leave with great wealth."
The Duration of the Egyptian Exile
The suffering of the Israelites in Egypt lasted 210 years, beginning with the death of Yaakov. Only then did the Egyptians begin the first steps of oppression.
The most intense and bitter period of enslavement lasted for 86 years (Seder Olam, chapter 3).
Cruelty Through Backbreaking Labor
The Egyptians forced “cruel labor” upon the Israelites. They deliberately reversed the roles:
Men were given women’s work.
Women were given men’s work.
Women were forced to draw water, chop wood, and gather harvests in the fields (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetze 7).
Impossible Conditions
The construction work was unbearable:
Each person was required to mold 400 bricks per day (Shem Olam 14).
They were forced to build on sandy ground, causing everything they built to sink immediately into the earth (Midrash HaGadol, Shemot 1:11).
Daily Humiliation
The Egyptians degraded the Israelites at every opportunity:
Hebrew men were forced to serve Egyptian women.
Hebrew women served Egyptian men (Tanna DeVei Eliyahu Rabbah 7).
Egyptians placed torches on the Hebrews’ heads to provide them with light while they worked (Midrash HaGadol, Shemot 10:21).
Using Jews Instead of Animals
When Egyptians wished to plow their fields, they used Israelites instead of animals, in order to spare their livestock from exhaustion (Ma’am Loez, Va’era 13).
Leaving Egypt Physically Broken
Many Israelites who left Egypt were physically disabled or injured due to the years of brutal torture they endured (Bamidbar Rabbah 7:1).
The Murder of the Hebrew Infants
When Egyptian children heard a Hebrew baby crying, they would call their fathers, who would seize the infant and throw him into the Nile (Yalkut Shimoni, Shemot 182).
Human Sacrifice and Pharaoh’s Cruelty
The Egyptians burned Hebrew children as sacrifices to their gods.
Pharaoh himself suffered from leprosy, and to “cure” himself he bathed in the blood of:
150 Hebrew infants each evening, and
150 more each morning
(Shemot Rabbah 1:41)
