'Tis the season for deja vu all over again in Egypt

The fifth of the ten plagues with which God afflicted the Egyptians some 3,000 years ago, to induce them to release their Jewish slaves, was dever, which is usually translated as 'pestilence.' Pestilence is a term that usually refers to a contagious disease and dever was a plague that affected animals. While we don't know for certain what disease is being described, one possibility is hoof in