Several thoughts regarding Pharoah: First, Rav Shternbach says that פרעה went to bathroom in the Nile. There had to be sometimes that he had to hold it in, which is painful and not healthy. We see how far people are willing to go for honor. Second, the ספורנו explains that the reason ה׳ hardened פרעה’s heart is because otherwise פרעה would have had no choice but to do תשובה because nobody can see all the great miracles and not do תשובה, so now ה׳ was giving פרעה the ability to choose whether to do תשובה. Third, because פרעה said ״ה׳ הצדיק״ he merited to be buried. We see from here how powerful it is when a Jew does תשובה. Rav Eliezer Ginsburg says that this shows that we get a lot of reward for saying אמן יהא שמיה רבה with כוונה. Fourth, Rav Moshe Shternbach explains that פרעה was selfish when he asked משה to only daven for him, and not for anyone else. Fifth, theמשך חכמה explains that פרעה didn’t get afflicted with מכת דם because he was rewarded for raising משה רבינו. Sixth, the רל״ג explains that the reason why פרעה said ״בארץ״ and not ״ארץ מצרים״ is because first of all he thought that מצרים was “the” land and secondly he was saying that you can serve two, ״ב״, rulers, me and ה׳. Seventh, Rav Yirmiya Newman says that פרעה’s heart was hardened, ״ויכבד״, that word also means liver, and it is coming to teach us that the more you cook it the harder it gets so too פרעה just got harder and harder in his ways. Eighth, the אור חיים הקדוש says that ה׳ told משה to go stand before פרעה, meaning that normally you need to be humble, but in this case you need to show פרעה that he needs to submit to ה׳ and you are not scared of him.
Several thoughts regarding Hashem’s relationship to Am Yisrael: First, the פסוק says ״שמעתי את נאקת בני ישראל אשר מצרים מעבדים אותם״. The Opter explains that בני ישראל were crying that they are davening to ה׳ just because the Egyptians are afflicting them, but they want to be on a level where they daven to ה׳ even without any outside influences. Second, Rav Moshe Sternbach explains that the פסוק says ״ויאמר אלקים אל משה ויאמר אליו אני ה׳״, switching fromאלקים to ה׳. Why? Because אלקים is מידת הדין and He can speak to משה with מידת הדין, but to כלל ישראל He needs to ה׳ and act with מידת הרחמים. The רל״ג added that the reason why he needed to act with רחמים to כלל ישראל is because they didn’t Him yet, but משה knew ה׳ and knew everything was from Him. Third, Rav Eliezer Ginsburg says that the reason why רש״י points out thatאברהם יצחק and יעקב are the אבות is because the only reason ה׳ appeared to them was because they were the אבות of כלל ישראל. The רל״ג explained that רש״י is saying that we need to look into ourselves and find the אבות inside of us. The Alter of Kelm says that they אבות served ה׳ both externally and internally, and Rav Yechiel Wolf added that this is how we are supposed to serve ה׳, not only through action but also through feeling.
Several thoughts regarding Moshe and Aaron: First, Rav Moshe explains that the reason it switches משה and אהרון sometimes is to teach us that as long we fulfill our mission on the earth, then we are just like משה and אהרון, nobody is better. Second, why does it ויעשו כן when אהרון, not משה, was the one who brought about כנים? The previous Skulner rebbe explains that when someone listens to you then you also get the שכר for that act. Third, based off Rav Yisroel Salanter, the reason why משה and אהרון turned the staff into a snake is to show פרעה that since he is making בנ״י into a snake that slithers in the dirt he will get punished for that. Fourth, Rav Moshe Schechter says that הוא משה ואהרון is 613, showing that when we have אחדות then we keep the whole תורה. Fourth, the באר מים חיים explains that the reason why it keeps on switching between משה ואהרון to אהרון ומשה is to teach us that even after they went in front of פרעה they remained the same and their קדושה didn’t fall. Fifth, Rabbi Baruch Newman asks what does it mean that משה and אהרון were on the same level if we know that משה was greater? It means that neither of them made themselves greater than the other.
The Steipler explains that from the fact that the Egyptians kept hitting the frogs even though it just made them multiply we see what can happen when you get angry. Rav Shimon Alter explains that it was because of גאוה because each person said watch and see that I can make it stop. Rav Moshe Shternbach explains that this teaches us that if one frog can do so much damage, then all the more so can one person do so much damage. And so too one person can do so much good.
The reason why it says that אלישבע was the sister of נחשון is because נחשון was מוסר נפש, so אהרון knew that אלישבע would also be מוסר נפש.
Several thoughts about the Maccot. First, Why does it say that the ברד was going to affect the hearts of the Egyptians? Rav Yechezkel Abramsky says because the ones who had יראת ה׳ in their hearts brought their animals inside. Rav Yirmiya Newman asks: how is it a קל וחומר that if בני ישראל don’t listen to משה then פרעה won’t listen if the only reason בני ישראל don’t listen is because of the hard work? He answers that the מדרש says that בני ישראל did עבודה זרה, so the קל וחומר is that if they don’t listen because of the עבודה זרה then all the more so פרעה won’t listen who does a lot more עבודה זרה. Second, the מגד יוסף explains that משה cried out to save the Egyptians also by צפרדע because they are also the creatures of ה׳. The רל״ג explains that the cried for two reasons: the frogs were going to have to die, and now פרעה would afflict the Jews again. Third, Rabbeinu Bachaya says that ויעשו כן החרטומים in regards to כנים means that the magicians had to stop the כנים, as opposed to previous times when they had to bring the מכה also onto the Jews, because the מדרש says that the כנים also went to the Jews (but it didn’t bother them). Fourth, Rav Meir Shapiro explained that the symbolism behind the staff turning into a snake was that משה was showing פרעה that only when בנ״י are under פרעה’s control are they like a snake who is lowly, but when they are in the hands of משה then they are like an upright staff. Fourth, the ליקוטי שפת אמת says that ״והעל״ is mentioned twice: once when אהרון was going up to the mountain to die and once by the צפרדע. The idea behind this is that in both cases they were doing the רצון ה׳.
The Jews said they couldn’t offer קרבנות in מצרים because it would anger the מצרים. Who cares? The Egyptians couldn’t do anything about it because ה׳ was clearly running the show? Rav Pam explains that if someone is going to get mad at you for something even if they can’t hurt you then you don’t do it.