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Why does the Torah (תורה) mention a mashchis (destroying angel) in Makas Bechoros when the Haggadah emphasizes Hashem (ה׳) Himself killed the Egyptian firstborn? Rashi (רש"י) explains the mashchis wasn't for Jews but for Egyptian non-firstborns hiding in Jewish homes. While Hashem passed over Jewish homes with blood on the doorpost, Egyptians seeking refuge there were still killed—not by Hashem's plague but by a separate mashchis.
The shiur opens with a fundamental question that troubles many students each year: The Torah (תורה) describes Makas Bechoros (the Plague of the Firstborn) as being performed exclusively by HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself, as emphasized in the Haggadah: "ani v'lo malach, ani v'lo saraf" (I and not an angel, I and not a seraph). Yet the pasuk explicitly states, "v'hisi es hadam ufasachti aleichem v'lo yihyeh bachem negef lamashchis b'hakosi b'eretz Mitzrayim" (I will see the blood and pass over you, and there will not be a plague by the destroyer when I strike the land of Egypt). How can there be a mashchis (destroying angel) if HaKadosh Baruch Hu performed the entire plague Himself? Rabbi Zweig cites an answer brought in Divrei Eliyahu from the Vilna Gaon (or a commentary on his work) that suggests the mashchis refers to natural deaths that would occur that night anyway. According to this approach, the blood on the doorposts protected the Jewish homes not only from the plague but also from ordinary mortality that night. However, Rabbi Zweig directs attention to a more straightforward answer found directly in Rashi (רש"י)'s commentary on the pasuk.
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Shemos 12:13, Parshas Bo
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