Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We continue to learn lessons from the pesukim of Yetziat Mitzrayim . The next pasuk says that Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim " B'yad chazaka ubzroa netuya/With a strong hand and an outstretched arm." The Baal Haggadah explains that " Yad chazaka," refers to dever , the plague that killed the animals, and " Zroa netuya/the outstretched arm," refers to the sword , which Rishonim say refers to the plague of Makat Bechorot , when all the firstborns died. But why are we singling out the fifth and the tenth plagues? The Vilna Gaon and others explain that a hand has five fingers, the right hand has five fingers, and the left hand has five fingers. So, kal v'yachol , if we say Hashem is using both His hand and His outstretched arm, that includes all 10 plagues. The first hand, the " yad chazaka ," refers to dever , including all four previous plagues, and culminating with dever , the plague that killed the animals. And Zroa netuya/ with the sword means the four plagues prior to that and culminates with the fifth one being the sword . What exactly is the common denominator between the two? Interestingly, the pasuk brought down by dever is " Hineh yad Hashem hoyah b'miknecha/ The hand of Hashem was on your cattle." This term, "the hand of Hashem," is not found in other plagues. There are five different cattle mentioned— susim (horses), chamorim (donkeys), gamalim (camels), bakar (cattle), and tzon (sheep) and some commentaries say the hand, with five fingers, refers to the five different species of animals that were killed. But for our purposes today, we will study the common denominator between the " yad chazaka" of the plague and the " zroa netuya" of the sword- which is that both refer to the taking of life. Dever took the life out of the animals through the plague, and Makat Bechorot took out the lives of the firstborns. This is the ultimate Hashgacha Pratit , that Hashem is the One who is memit u'mechayeh /Hashem is the One that gives life and gives death. The ultimate hashgacha pratit is that Hashem is keeping us alive at every single second. This supersedes the Hashgacha of crossing the street safely or getting the food you needed in time, etc. The ultimate Hashgacha pratit is that Hashem is giving life to our souls every single moment. As we say in Modim , "Al chayenu hamesurim b'yadecha/ Our lives are literally in Your hand . And as we just said, " yad chazaka , and " Chayeinu hamesurim b'yadecha ." Our life is in God's hand. This is not said figuratively. Of course, Hashem doesn't have a hand, but just as a person has a hand and holds on, so too, Hashem is holding on to us. The Bet HaLevi , in his commentary on Bereshit 2,2, says that when a person has complete faith that at every second Hashem Yitbarach is pumping energy into the world, and every moment it's literally, he says , yesh mei'ayin/something from nothing , If Hashem would not be doing it this second, everything would cease to exist. If a person thought like that, he says, " tipol alav Yirat v'pachad" – he would be in a sudden state of fear. Rav Wolbe once suggested going over to your little child, putting your ear to his chest, and listening to his heart beat. Thump, thump, thump . Who is responsible for that thump? Who makes it happen? And if it stops for a second, who knows what would be! The Bet HaLevi compares this to a person who falls into the ocean. Someone grabs onto his hand so that he doesn't drown. If the man lets go for a second, it's all over. He says the feeling for the man saving him is love and fear at the same time. " I love him because he's holding on to me. And I'm afraid because he might let go" . He says that's why we say, every single day in Amidah , " Al chayeinu hamesurim b'yadecha/Our life is in Your hand. Hashem is holding on to us. That's the " yad Hashem " of the dever , because God does that to animals as well. And that's the outstretched arm of Makat Bechorot . This was the realization they got through the makot , especially these last two of each unit. (There were two units of five. In the first five, Pharaoh still had freedom of choice. In the last five he didn't.) In each these plagues, we see that important lesson of " chayeinu hamesurim b'yadecha. Every one of the words of Anshei Knesset HaGedolah is sourced in pesukim . And the Avudraham says, " chayeinu hamesurim b'yadecha" comes from a pasuk in Tehillim 31:16, " b'yadcha itotai/My moments are in Your hand" Furthermore, in Modim we say " Nishmatenu Hapekudot lach/our souls have been deposited by You. This is also sourced in a pasuk- " b'yadcha afkid ruchi" – "in Your hands I deposit my soul, (Tehillim 31:6), Because every night I give God my soul as a deposit. But both of them are in God's hands . My life, " b'yadcha itotai," my moments are in Your hand. My soul, " b'yadcha afkid ruchi". Regarding these pesukim in Tehillim, " b'yadcha itotai," my moments are in your hand," and "Hatzileni miyad oyvai u'mirdofai/save me from the hands of my enemies," the Radak says that David HaMelech is saying, " I'm in Your hands, and therefore the hands of my enemies can't get me. I'm not in their hands, I'm in Your hands.