This Rube Goldberg machine has plagues, pyramids and a message – ‘Let my people go!’

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This Rube Goldberg Machine made by students at Technion in Cleveland quickly runs through the story of Passover. Photo: Technion/YouTube
This Rube Goldberg machine made by students at Technion quickly runs through the story of Passover. Photo: Technion/YouTube

Who knew the Plague of Blood could be so fun.

Students at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology created a Rube Goldberg machine that covers the highlights of the Passover story, complete with falling Matzo crackers as part of the chain reaction.

Rube Goldberg machines are fun, over-engineered contraptions designed to complete a simple task, but the Passover story, by no means, is simple. There are plagues, a burning bush, a baby Moses in a basket and the parting of the sea.

The chain reaciton covers the major highlights of the Passover story, including the Burning Bush. Photo: Technion/YouTube
The chain reaciton covers the major highlights of the Passover story, including the Burning Bush. Photo: Technion/YouTube

It’s all there. The chain reaction begins with a student filling a glass of wine, the weight of which triggers Technion’s version of the story. A turning drill bit ignites a foil burning bush which burns through a string that triggers another reaction eventually leading to a bottle spinning red dye into a tank of water (that Plague of Blood).

Part of the reaction also signals a cellphone to send a text to the Pharaoh that says, “Let my people go!”

The final function returns to a table full of students with a string raising a pyramid to reveal the Seder meal. Passover this year starts Friday and runs through April 11.

While it must have taken hours to set up, the Technion students probably set some kind of record for the quickest telling of the story of how the Israelites were liberated from slavery in ancient Egypt. The students are from Technion’s Mechanical Engineering, Architecture and Town Planning programs.

Thankfully, they skipped the Plague of Boils.

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