It all began when Abraham realized that there is a Creator Who directs the entire universe. Abraham set about teaching the world that the Creator wants everyone to do acts of charity and loving kindness to everyone else in the world. Abraham dedicated himself entirely to the service of G-d, and he elevated himself to an unprecedented level of holiness. G-d therefore granted Abraham divine experiences and prophecy.
On the fifteenth day of the month that was later to be called Nisan, in the year 2018 after Creation, G-d made a covenant, an agreement, with Abraham, called the Convenant Between the Parts (see Genesis 15:1-19). In this agreement G-d promised Abraham that he would father a new nation that would continue Abraham's work, and that eventually he would have so many descendants they would be uncountable. However, they would have to undergo many hardships, including exile, slavery, and oppression. Eventually, his descendants would be rescued from slavery, on that very same day of the year--the fifteenth of Nisan--and G-d would bring them to the Land of Israel.
After the Flood, Noah had divided up all the land between his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Canaan, son of Ham, along with other descendants of Ham, stole the choice land that came to be known as Canaan. It was Shem's property, and belonged to his children. Three-hundred-sixty-two years later, G-d promised Abraham, a descendant of Shem, that some day the land would be given back to his descendants.
Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Only Isaac obeyed G-d, and so G-d chose Isaac to continue Abraham's Tradition. Isaac also had two sons: Jacob (also called Israel) and Esau. Only Jacob obeyed G-d, and so Jacob was chosen. All of Jacob's children were righteous, and they obeyed G-d.
G-d caused a famine in the land they were occupying (Canaan), so they would move down to Egypt. They settled in the district known as Goshen. Being descended from Jacob, who was also called Israel, they called themselves the Children of Israel. The Children of Israel numbered only seventy men and women at the time they entered Egypt. In just a few generations they increased until they became a vast nation.
They were recognizably a different nation because they lived a distinctly different life. They labored hard to retain their national identity so that they would not assimilate. They did this in three primary ways: They spoke their own language, they wore distinctively Jewish clothing, and they gave their children only Jewish names. And of course, they never married a non-Jew.
The Children of Israel had not intended to stay in Egypt very long, but before long the Egyptians enslaved most of them. Many harsh and horrible decrees were passed against the Children of Israel in that time.
When astrologers told the Pharaoh that an Israelite male child born at that time would grow up to overthrow Pharaoh, Pharaoh decided to kill all the male children born to the Israelites. He ordered them thrown into the Nile River.
Pharaoh was stricken with a skin disease. His doctors told him that only baths of blood could cure his disease. So Pharaoh bathed in the blood of Israelite babies.
When the subjugation was at its worst, the Egyptians forced upon the Israelites an unreasonable quota of bricks. If the Israelites failed to fill the quota of bricks, their children were killed in front of them, and the bodies were mixed into the brick-mortar.
This is but a small sampling of the horrors perpetrated against the Israelites in Egypt.
Finally, G-d spoke to Moses and told him to bring the good news to the Children of Israel that G-d was ready to take them out of Egypt. "I am G-d, and I will take you away from the oppression of Egypt, I will free you from their slavery..." G-d referred to the Children of Israel as "My son, My firstborn, Israel." G-d told Moses to tell Pharaoh to allow the Children of Israel to leave Egypt. If Pharaoh refused, G-d would punish him and all recalcitrant Egyptians.
Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses' warnings, and so G-d sent the Plague of Blood. All the water belonging to the Egyptians turned into blood, and the Egyptians had to buy water from the Israelites if they did not want to die of thirst. Pharaoh still refused to release the Israelites. So G-d sent them the Plague of Frogs. Frogs overran Egypt, and their incessant croaking drove the Egyptians mad. This was worse than the frogs' annoying habit of getting into everything. Pharaoh still refused to release the Israelites. So G-d sent more plagues.
After the ninth plague, the Plague of Darkness, G-d gave the Israelites two Commandments: Circumcision, and the Passover Sacrifice. Both symbolized complete loyalty to G-d. Circumcision signifies that a man will so devote himself to G-d that he holds even his strongest physical desires in check (though does not deny its needs). Circumcision is a sign one makes on one's body, signifying that one will use one's body only in such a manner as G-d allows.
The Passover Sacrifice was also a great act of devotion. The Passover Sacrifice was brought from lambs or goats, animals worshiped by the Egyptians. The lamb was one of the Egyptian deities. To kill and eat the oppressor's G-d was the greatest act of devotion to the True G-d, the Creator of heaven and earth. It showed that the Israelites repudiated any association with false G-ds. It showed that they were willing to risk their lives to obey G-d, despite the fear that the Egyptians might get angry and take revenge.
To highlight this, the Children of Israel were commanded to keep the body of the Passover lamb intact. They were forbidden to break any of the bones. The next morning they were required to place their lamb skeletons -- intact -- on display in the public marketplace, so the Egyptians would see what they had done.
Some of the Egyptians did indeed get angry, but they were afraid to take revenge against the Israelites.
G-d commanded the Children of Israel to eat the Passover Sacrifice on the fifteenth night of the month of Nisan. (Since in Judaism the night precedes the day, this is the night before the fifteenth day of Nisan. The fifteenth of Nisan therefore starts at the beginning of the night, and ends at nightfall around twenty-four hours later.) The Children of Israel were commanded to do a number of things that night: to eat the Passover sacrifice, to eat matzah and bitter herbs, and to tell their children the miracles G-d had performed for them. This was the Passover Seder --the same Seder Jews have performed every year since then. In addition, the Israelites were forbidden to have any leavened bread in their possession or on their property for the entire Holiday of Passover.
Just before the tenth plague, the Plague of the Firstborn, many firstborn Egyptians rose up in rebellion, insisting that Pharaoh release the Israelites. They had heard Moses warn Pharaoh and the Egyptians of the Plague that was to come, the Slaying of the Firstborn, and they were frightened. Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites, and the firstborn took their swords and began to kill everyone they met. Eventually, Pharaoh put down the rebellion with his army.
At exactly midnight, at the night of the fifteenth of Nisan, G-d passed through Egypt, killing all the firstborn and oldest in each and every household, except those of the Israelites who had prepared and eaten the Passover Sacrifice. G-d "passed over" the houses of the Israelites, and thus we call this Holiday "Passover."
Not only the firstborn were struck. Every idol in Egypt was disintegrated as well. Not a single idol remained intact, with the exception of the idol known as Ba'al Tzefon, because it stood just outside the borders of Egypt. This idol was allowed to continue to exist so that the Egyptians would have the free choice to choose between G-d and an idol.
Only after the Plague of the Firstborn began did Pharaoh agree to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Pharaoh was also a firstborn, and he suddenly feared death. Pharaoh begged the Israelites to leave immediately, during the night, while the firstborn were still dying.
Moses told him that they refused to leave in the dead of night, like thieves, or like escaped slaves. The Children of Israel would leave during the day, and everyone would know they were being released.
The next morning, on the fifteenth day of Nisan, Pharaoh ordered the Israelites to immediately leave Egypt. Moses told the Children of Israel to call upon all the Egyptians they knew and ask them for their gold and jewelry. The Children of Israel obeyed, and the Egyptians hurriedly gave them their valuables.
Rushed as they were, the Israelites did not have time to prepare food, and the dough they kneaded did not have time to rise. So, they were forced to bake them as matzos--unleavened (i.e., unrisen) bread. This little bit of matzah miraculously lasted them thirty-one days.
The Children of Israel wrapped up their matzah and bitter herbs in their clothing, placed the bundles over their shoulders, and walked joyfully out of the land of Egypt. They trusted in G-d, and they obeyed G-d's orders and walked into the desert without sufficient provisions. Though they took along with them many animals, they carried the matzah on their own shoulders; they cherished G-d's Commandment so much that they would not allow their donkeys to carry the matzah.
This took place on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan--the first day of Passover. It was precisely four-hundred-thirty years to the day since G-d had promised Abraham his children would be released from Egypt. G-d had said that the descendants of Abraham would be in exile for four hundred years. G-d had mercy and counted the exile from the birth of Isaac, the son of Abraham, who lived in exile all his life. The Israelites were in the Land of Egypt for only two hundred ten years.
The next day, on the sixteenth of Nisan, G-d told Moses to inform the Israelites that they would soon