Interestingly enough, we find that the Egyptians had two different gods or possibly

even three, if you include Pharaoh himself. In one place we find them worshipping

the Nile River, while we are also told that they served sheep. Let's begin to reflect.

2) Why, of all the animals available, did the Egyptians decide to worship a sheep?

Why not choose the king of them all, such as the lion; or perhaps the biggest, the

elephant; or the tallest of all animals the giraffe? Why pick such a meek little powerless

animal as a sheep as their idol? Did they choose it just because it looked cute? That's

animal had! But what was it?

3) How could they choose a sheep as a god if they surely saw them die constantly?

How could something that dies, or that you can easily slaughter or kill be a god?

This question caused a little debate in the class. Eli Kryksman said that there's

really nothing wrong with it, because the Jews first slaughtered the sheep before they

answer!

Actually, here I already had to put in my own two cents, and showed them the

Jews used their own sheep. (The Egyptians didn't have any left). So there goes Feld's

5) This question has been asked many times already, but let's just repeat it once

again. Why was the sheep only allowed to be roasted on an open fire? What's wrong

put the blood on the inside door-post?

7) Why of all places was the blood smeared on the inside door-post? Why is this

spot better than any other spot in the entire house? Why was the blood put on both

We all know that Pharaoh also made himself into a god. He asked people to worship

Or was it Pharaoh? Or maybe they were given freedom of choice?

Now that we have concluded with our many questions let's take a little break

surely it must be the right answer!

My first search of course was to check Rashi, but I didn't notice anything. I guess

ולאכול  טלה  לשחוט  צוה  לכך  הצומח.  מזל  הוא  כי  הגדול  בכחו  ניסן  בחדש  טלה  מזל 

course, in simple words means that the sheep - which is one of the twelve constellations

of the zodiac, represents the power of growth.

If we didn't have enough trouble before looking into the Ramban, now we're really

Note: For those not so familiar with these terms, let's explain. We are all aware

that all things in the universe are classified into four general categories:

which are unable to move on their own.

things such as trees, flowers, vegetables, etc.

and birds;

beings.

numerous people who study Ramban but received no Satisfactory answer.

entire mysterious puzzle. It's just that we may not really be thinking properly. The

it! Let's explain!

this mean? The answer is quite simple. The most important thing in life is the ability

to grow and reproduce. If you put a seed into the ground, will it grow? Of course not!

(or animals) survive without things that grow? Of course not! Everything that grows

True! But which is more important? Which is more powerful? Without water the

vegetation. Without vegetation, life could not exist. Therefore, the god that has the

water their fields. That's why the Egyptians worshipped the the Nile River. They

depended on their river for all growth. Without it they were lost. Life could not exist.

that he gave him the great blessing that whenever he would walk toward the banks

of the Nile River, it would rise toward him and overflow its banks. This gave Pharaoh

enormous power. Whenever he wanted the waters to flood the fields, all he had to

do was walk toward the river and it would automatically come toward him. He did

not have to wait for the high tides to come and fill the cannals. Since he possessed

this great power over the most important of Egypt's water supplies, it was no wonder

After all, we all know that Egypt owed its entire success to the seven years of

plenty. This is how Egypt became the wealthiest country in the world. Every country

depended on Egypt for its food during the severe famine. Egypt became rich and

י"א)  פסוק  ב,  (פרק  הזהב  שם  אשר  החוילה  ארץ  כל  את  הסבב  הוא  פישון  האחד  .שם

flood the land and in turn was responsible for Egypt's great wealth. this can possibly

No wonder they threw Yosef's body into the Nile River. They realized that it was

he that had the great power over its flow. He had saved the country in the time of

river, I made it", Rashi explains Pharaoh's boast as follows. I have the Nile River and

therefore have no need to pray to G-d. It is I that made all of Egypt wealthy. Pharaoh

wanted to give absolutely no credit to G-d for any of Egypt's wealth. He claimed that

it was all of his own doing. After all, he controlled the tide of the Nile River and he

could get it to overflow its banks anytime he felt like it.

Yet, if you will think carefully you will notice that things don't only grow out of

This hair is used to make clothes - a very important use that we have from sheep

and goats even after the animal dies. The animal itself is classified in the category of

it grows on an animal's body.

It doesn't have to be planted! It grows from an animal's body rather than from the

ground. What unbelievable powers the god of sheep and goats has! The important

things like wool grow on their body! No need to plant seeds in the ground as is done

to grow cotton or flax.

of wool and linen. Linen is derived from the flax plant that grows from the ground,

hair. Clothing was of great importance in Egypt's industry and was also responsible

for the country's great wealth.

Since the Egyptians worshipped the god responsible for the power of growth

(which in turn brought them their great wealth, then certainly the sheep and goat,

responsible for this growth. This is why they kept sheep sacred.

they don't live forever, and therefore can't be a god, but they were sacred because

clearly understand what the Ramban means by saying that the sheep represented

How does this answer all our questions? Quite simply! Just like the source of

plant life is water, the source of animal life is blood. Everybody knows that whatever

we eat goes into the bloodstream and from there it goes to all parts of our bodies. In

animals. That is the meaning of the blood is in control of all life and it's in the blood

knows this quite well. At the root of every single hair that grows, there must be a

quite clearly the similarity between the two. Both water and blood are responsible

for growth

. Suddenly, it all makes sense! They worshipped the Nile god that was responsible

for the growth of vegetation, who was the same god who controlled the growth of the

sheep's hair! A different god? Of course not! He's one and the same. He's the god of

too got in on the action and was considered to possess godly powers and demanded

that he be worshipped as well.

destroyed the god of water. He simply changed it into blood! That took good care

of him. He was totally demolished. It showed the Egyptians that the Jewish G-d had

superior powers over the god of growth and over the waters and could change them

at will.

of sheep's' hair. He had to be totally destroyed. This was quite easy! First you have

to slaughter the sheep and roast it over an open flame. You can't cook it. It has to be

roasted over the fire that's because fire hardens the blood and it can no longer flow.

It's interesting to note that even though the Torah forbids us from eating blood,

is forbidden. That is because it is flowing blood that causes the growth. When the fire

hardens it, and it can no longer flow out of its source, then its power is destroyed.

That's why we can roast a liver on an open fire and eat it even though it contains

blood.

Now we get to the source of its power. We take the blood that flowed out during

the slaughter and smear it on our door-post, a place that everyone has to pass in

order to enter or exit his home. This way we degrade those who worship the god

of blood. In fact we smear it on the doorpost using the lowest form of grass called

on its own (without Hashem's power) is totally worthless and can cause us no harm.

on the doorpost it protects all those who live in the house and not only the one who

From where is the blood taken? It's taken

from that part of the body that is responsible

is the planting of another human being. See

and it will even give you a greater insight into

this matter.

represented by the blood of the sheep, which

is the source of the growth of all hair, since it

In Egypt, the month of Nissan is the month

when the growth of all vegetation is at its peak. It is at its highest point of the year.

One looks around at everything growing so beautifully and is overwhelmed by the

power of growth. The 15th day of each month is always the high point of the month,

as we see by the full moon. It's always on the 15th day of the Hebrew month that the

tide is at the highest. That's when the Nile River overflows. That's when all growth is