In this new book, Steven Weitzman looks at how the 10 plagues are reflected in cultural conversations across time.

How could Pharaoh be punished with the plagues if his heart was “hardened,” or “strengthened,” by God, restricting Pharaoh’s free will? The question can be answered if we examine certain concepts ...

I was just about to pass over Passover. My husband Paul and I had been invited to two seders in Los Angeles, but one was a rock and the other was a hard place. At the former, there would be three ...

Readers have long noticed that the Ten Plagues come in three triads followed by the final plague, the death of the firstborn. In each triad, the first two are preceded by warnings to Pharaoh of what ...

Moses’ and Aaron’s first encounter with Pharaoh turned out, on a human scale, to be a disaster: The conditions of Hebrew slavery worsened. They now faced the same brick quota without the necessary ...

When the Passover holiday begins on Friday at sundown, Jewish people around the world will celebrate by retelling the biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt — including the 10 plagues that God ...

At sundown Monday, Jews around the world will begin the celebration of Passover, remembering the ancient tale of the Israelites being freed from slavery in Egypt. In both the Hebrew and Christian ...

(RNS) — It never fails to happen. At every Seder that I have led or attended for the past several decades, when we get to the Ten Plagues, someone offers his or her own list of modern plagues. It ...