(a) Rashi explains that for every 600,000 Jews in Egypt, all but two died during the 3 days of Darkness. Thus, as 600,000 left Egypt, we must conclude that 300,000 x 600,000 = 180, 000,000,000 had been in Egypt, an astronomical number indeed. (Quite apart from women, children under 20 and men over 60).

The questioner naturally finds this implausible. It also conflicts with the well known Midrash that 1 out of 5 left, which means that only 5 x 600,000 = 3,000,000 Jews had lived in Egypt.

The latter, more familiar, Midrash has its source in the Mechilta (beginning of Beshalach 13:18 on "Chamushim"), which quotes four opinions: The first states that only 1 in 5 left Egypt, the second states 1 in 50, the third states 1 in 500, and finally Rav Nehorai states that only 1 in 5000 left Egypt. According to him, there must have been 5000 x 600,000 = 3,000,000,000. This is a bit closer to the Gemara's figures, although the Gemara's figures are still 60 times as much!

(b) Here are a few approaches to understanding this Agadah:

1. Hagahos Ya'avetz (Rav Yakov Emden) on our Daf writes that the Gemara is referring not only to those Jews who were in Egypt at the time, but to all the Jews who had been in Egypt throughout the entire 210 year period of their sojourn in Egypt, from the time that Yakov came there. He concludes on this basis that the Gemara is not so outrageously strange as it at first seems. This is also the way our Gemara is explained by the Maharal of Prague (in his Perush L'Agados here) and the Ben Yehoyada.

2. I have also seen another approach to this Agadah, which is attributed to the Zichron Yehudah (Rav Naftali Hertz Brode, 1894?). He suggests that the Gemara and Midrash are referring to the number of descendants that would have been produced to the end of time by the Jews who died prematurely in the Plague of Darkness, had they not died.

3. Meshech Chochmah (Shemos 6:7) delves into the message of this abstruse Agadah. He writes that the intention is to show that all the miracles done in Egypt in connection with the 10 plagues and at the Red Sea were worthwhile if they succeeded in bringing even 2 people out of 600,000 to the Divine purpose. It is acceptable and desirable before Hash-m to destroy hundreds of thousands of non-believers and to uproot the natural order of the world for the benefit of just two unique individuals who will learn to have complete faith in Him. (See inside for more detail.)

(c) We should note that in Aggadic terminology, numbers are not always to be taken literally. They can have a deeper significance.

For example, a well-known Midrash (Shemos Rabah 1:8, cited by Rashi Shemos 1:7) tells us that in Egypt, Jewish mothers regularly gave birth to sextuplets. However, in one Midrash (Shir ha'Shirim Rabah 1:15:3) Rebbi states that a single woman in Egypt gave birth to 600,000 at one go. The Midrash then explains that this is not meant to be taken literally. Rebbi was referring to the birth of Moshe Rabeinu, who was the equivalent of all the rest of the Jews put together.

With regard to the expression "Shishim Ribo," note that the number 6 represents the limits of the natural order. When Chazal use the number 60, they mean "an extremely large number." 10,000 is also a huge number, and that is why it is called "Revavah," or "Rivo," from the root "Rov." This explains why Chazal changed the terminology of the Torah - "Shesh Me'os Eleph" (see Shemos 12:37 etc.) - to "Shishim Ribo." The wording of Chazal emphasizes the enormity of the number by using the Aggadic coding system.

Perhaps here, too, the point of the Agadah is to indicate that the quality of the survivors (which is represented by the number 2, as in the case of Yehoshua and Kalev) was in spiritual terms the equivalent of the whole of the rest of the nation (which is represented by the number 600,000). If so, perhaps the real intention of our Gemara is to emphasize the quality of the survivors, and to drive home the message of the Meshech Chochmah referred to above.

Kol tuv

J. Pearlman