[Avodah] recalling the 10 plagues during the Bikkurim Ceremony

cantorwolberg at cox.net cantorwolberg at cox.net
Sun Sep 9 08:09:25 PDT 2012


Rabbi Meir Rabi asked:
Kitzur Piskey Tosafos Menachos mentions that the 10 plagues were read
during the Bikkurim Ceremony. It is not mentioned in Tosafos.
Can anyone enlighten?

IMHO
I believe it IS mentioned in Tosafos by R' Yaakov of Orleans who was a Tosafist in France in the 12th century (and studied under Rabbenu Tam).
Shmos 9:14  "...Ani sholeiach kol magaifosai..."   
All My plagues.  This expression implies that the plague that was about to begin would be the
severest of all the plagues. In a comment that the commentators find exceedingly difficult,
Rashi identifies this as makas b'choros, the Plague of the Firstborn, rather than the hail, about
which Moshe was now warning Par'o. Two questions are obvious: Why would the Torah allude
to the 10th plague at this point, when the 7th plague is about to commence? And if the reference
here is to hail, as most explain, why is it referred to as all My plagues? This is one explanation that
addresses the question of R' Meir Rabi: Makas b'choros should be vowelized makas bakuros, 
(beis,kof,vov,reish,vov, sof), the plague of the early-ripe fruits, since the hail destroyed only the 
crops that were fully grown, but not those that were still growing and pliant [v. 31]. The reason this
plague was regarded as so serious was because it struck at the food supply.

Hence, we can infer that could well be the source for the plagues being mentioned in the Bikkurim Ceremony.

May the coming year be full of fruit and free of plagues (irrespective of who is elected president).  rw 
 
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