Locust
In all the plagues of Egypt, a person feels how beneficial the plagues are. The plague comes because a person is immersed in the ego, in a special situation, and the plagues help one out of that state. The plague of Locust corresponds to Bina.
Darkness
In each state we have darkness. However, in states of darkness, it is a person’s personal darkness, from which one can escape to another state. Here the state of darkness comes when a person is confused, not knowing anything, as it is said in the Purim story when the people did not know who was right, Haman or Mordechai. In a state of darkness a person needs to obtain the light of Hassadim because the darkness comes from light of Hochma, and through the light of Hassadim a person comes out of it. That person needs Hassadim, understanding that one needs the light. And because that person is ready, the pillar of fire, or the cloud, appears.
Plague of the First Born
The Plague of the First-Born is the final, biggest blow. It is a blow that is the root, because the first-born is the man. It is the biggest will to receive at the level of Keter, after which there is nothing more to do in Egypt. It is here that Pharaoh surrenders.
Pharaoh is left without an army, without anything. Once the children of Israel leave Egypt, Pharaoh sends after them whatever he has left of his army, but afterward the mixed multitude join Israel, as well, and Pharaoh is left with nothing.
The Cry of Egypt
The cry of Egypt is the cry of our ego asking, “How will I live if I’m all bare without any reception for myself, without any understanding how to exist in the world? I’m not used to this new situation. I have to switch to a new paradigm, to an opposite world that is all bestowal, connection, Arvut, and love. I can’t live like that, I don’t know anything!”
This is the great outcry of our egoistic Kelim. It is a state we must go through, similar to an physical birth where the newborn baby goes through a type of trauma, too. We learn from The Zohar that its root is the serpent’s bite of the doe. That is, Malchut is the source, and she is the one giving birth to the soul. It is a very dramatic and special state. If we go through that state together through the unity between us, as the Torah explains, the children of Israel together, we will feel elated and alert, and we will come out of it easily.
From The Zohar: Praising the Exodus from Egypt
Every man who tells the story of the exodus from Egypt and delights in that story will rejoice with Divinity (which is joy from all sides) in the next world. This is a man who is delighted with his master, and the Creator is delighted with that story of his.
Zohar for All, Bo (Come), item 179
There are two opposites here. A person gives birth to himself by himself. On the one hand he regrets the part in him that presses him during the labor pains until he breaks through and is born into the new world. On the other hand he is delighted with that part of him that is connected to the Creator, such as our joy at the birth of a child.
