רפואה מן התורה
Healing from the Torah
Parashat Bo
Exodus 10:1-13:16
By Adam Ruditsky
By Adam Ruditsky
Three times in this parsha we are told that God strengthened Pharaoh’s heart so he would not let the people go from slavery. The Midrash Tanchuma (Vaera 10) says this is how God would bring retribution on Egypt for Pharaoh’s evil against the Hebrews. The Rashbam says that God did this to increase Pharaoh’s resolve so that the later victory would be sweeter. Sfrono says that what Pharaoh did to himself, hardening his own heart per Exodus 9:34, now God continued doing in order to increase the nature of the signs in Egypt and create a story for the future generations of the Jewish people to tell their children. Quite frankly these traditions are unsettling and just do not sit right we me.
Honestly, I just cannot embrace that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so his reign of evil could continue for some unforeseen reason, which our Rabbis have understood to be how God wins at the end of the day. Pharaoh’s heart remaining hard, impacted not only the continued adversity of the slaves, but what about the innocent Egyptian’s that had their land decimated or died in their beds that night just because they were the first born? Likewise, the ten plagues, with all that additional pain and suffering; was it really necessary? I am not going to get into all that right now but the relationship between “and God said” 10 times during creation (Genesis 1), which are understood to be the 10 utterances of God that created the world (Avot D'Rabbi Natan 31), the ten commandments themselves that we will encounter in a couple of weeks (Exodus 20) and the mystical tradition of the ten Sefirot suggests that 10 has an important meaning. Regarding the 10 plagues, maybe that has to do with Pharaoh’s ego, a word where the Hebrew (אגו) has the numerical value of 10. More than that, perhaps the reason why the 9th plague is one of total darkness is not just because Pharaoh is the son of the Egyptian sun god Ra, but also it can represent the darkness of Pharaoh’s heart that brought destruction upon his own people.
While Pharaoh is presented with an ego that is definitely self-serving and destructive, Dr. Alan Morinis addresses Pharaoh’s equality. Regarding people in general Morinis writes “Each one [has a] Holy Soul,” although it would be much easier to say, “Each GOOD one [has a] holy soul,” especially in this case given the complexities of all the pharaohs of the world. As such Rabbi Chayim of Voloshin (1749-1821) teaches that all the children of God are holy and just not the nice ones, with the Chofetz Chaim teaching, innate good and evil battle for supremacy; yet when the latter prevails it can also blind a person to what is right.
We recall that during the Passover Seder, when we sprinkle the wine 10 times in conjunction with the 10 plagues, we also remember the Egyptians who died because of Pharaoh’s leadership. Here we encounter a tension, giving thanks for our victories while not rejoicing over the defeat and/or death of our enemies. This actually comes right from the book of Proverbs, thus “when the wicked perish there are shouts of joy” (Prov. 11:10), although we are also commended that “if your enemy falls, do not exult” (Prov. 44:17). It is not an accident that this comes during the week of Holocaust Memorial Day, a day to remember one of the worst evils of our world. But an early tradition also wanted to redeem evil, well at least with the case of Pharaoh, precisely because of this tension. Here, Pharaoh did not actually die at the Red Sea, but escaped to Nineveh where he would become King, eventually doing there what he would not do in Egypt by calling the entire city to repent (Yalkut Shimoni, 176). According to this tradition God gave Pharaoh another chance, a chance to not harden his heart, but to lead the people of Nineveh to forgiveness.
Kavod is a word of honor, but it is also used pejoratively regarding Pharaoh; hence his heart was a kavod of heaviness, a heaviness that was burdensome both for the Hebrews and all of Egypt. Pharaoh was a guy who did rotten stuff, no doubt, but the tradition of Yalkut Shimoni wants to tell us that t’shuvah is always available. Now to me, when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that just meant that t’shuvah was no longer on the table because God did not interfere with Pharaoh ‘s free-will that chose evil over everything else. I do not blame God for the wickedness of mankind even if at times I might want to see events that are of biblical proportions to bring justice for the innocent. Where are we on the spectrum with the words of Proverbs, giving thanks for our victories while not rejoicing over the downfall for those who have wronged us? This might seem like it is out of nowhere, but in In my short 56 years on this earth I have never encountered such a tribal mentality in this country; one where people are afraid to engage with others who view things differently, where opinion is wrong and where dissenting views are often looked at as wicked. Look, this is not comparable to the evils of Pharaoh, not even close, but the current climate of heaviness has impacted our families, friends, neighbors, communities, states and certainly our government, something that I find sad given just how much it dominates our society. The fact is that our current social issues, which obviously need repair, are not even in the same category as the oppression that was endured in Egypt. Still, our heaviness today is polarizing.
Therefore, I titled this drash, Can we really love a neighbor that hates us? The pharaohs of the world get a chance to do t’shuvah if they chose, and if we cannot honor those who we call friend, how much more can we not give someone the opportunity who turns from their wrongs to embrace a new good? If I deserve Kavod, than so do others, regardless of the tensions that may cause. Israel was to be a people of Kavod, even if not easy to do.
Shabbat Shalom!
Honestly, I just cannot embrace that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so his reign of evil could continue for some unforeseen reason, which our Rabbis have understood to be how God wins at the end of the day. Pharaoh’s heart remaining hard, impacted not only the continued adversity of the slaves, but what about the innocent Egyptian’s that had their land decimated or died in their beds that night just because they were the first born? Likewise, the ten plagues, with all that additional pain and suffering; was it really necessary? I am not going to get into all that right now but the relationship between “and God said” 10 times during creation (Genesis 1), which are understood to be the 10 utterances of God that created the world (Avot D'Rabbi Natan 31), the ten commandments themselves that we will encounter in a couple of weeks (Exodus 20) and the mystical tradition of the ten Sefirot suggests that 10 has an important meaning. Regarding the 10 plagues, maybe that has to do with Pharaoh’s ego, a word where the Hebrew (אגו) has the numerical value of 10. More than that, perhaps the reason why the 9th plague is one of total darkness is not just because Pharaoh is the son of the Egyptian sun god Ra, but also it can represent the darkness of Pharaoh’s heart that brought destruction upon his own people.
While Pharaoh is presented with an ego that is definitely self-serving and destructive, Dr. Alan Morinis addresses Pharaoh’s equality. Regarding people in general Morinis writes “Each one [has a] Holy Soul,” although it would be much easier to say, “Each GOOD one [has a] holy soul,” especially in this case given the complexities of all the pharaohs of the world. As such Rabbi Chayim of Voloshin (1749-1821) teaches that all the children of God are holy and just not the nice ones, with the Chofetz Chaim teaching, innate good and evil battle for supremacy; yet when the latter prevails it can also blind a person to what is right.
We recall that during the Passover Seder, when we sprinkle the wine 10 times in conjunction with the 10 plagues, we also remember the Egyptians who died because of Pharaoh’s leadership. Here we encounter a tension, giving thanks for our victories while not rejoicing over the defeat and/or death of our enemies. This actually comes right from the book of Proverbs, thus “when the wicked perish there are shouts of joy” (Prov. 11:10), although we are also commended that “if your enemy falls, do not exult” (Prov. 44:17). It is not an accident that this comes during the week of Holocaust Memorial Day, a day to remember one of the worst evils of our world. But an early tradition also wanted to redeem evil, well at least with the case of Pharaoh, precisely because of this tension. Here, Pharaoh did not actually die at the Red Sea, but escaped to Nineveh where he would become King, eventually doing there what he would not do in Egypt by calling the entire city to repent (Yalkut Shimoni, 176). According to this tradition God gave Pharaoh another chance, a chance to not harden his heart, but to lead the people of Nineveh to forgiveness.
Kavod is a word of honor, but it is also used pejoratively regarding Pharaoh; hence his heart was a kavod of heaviness, a heaviness that was burdensome both for the Hebrews and all of Egypt. Pharaoh was a guy who did rotten stuff, no doubt, but the tradition of Yalkut Shimoni wants to tell us that t’shuvah is always available. Now to me, when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that just meant that t’shuvah was no longer on the table because God did not interfere with Pharaoh ‘s free-will that chose evil over everything else. I do not blame God for the wickedness of mankind even if at times I might want to see events that are of biblical proportions to bring justice for the innocent. Where are we on the spectrum with the words of Proverbs, giving thanks for our victories while not rejoicing over the downfall for those who have wronged us? This might seem like it is out of nowhere, but in In my short 56 years on this earth I have never encountered such a tribal mentality in this country; one where people are afraid to engage with others who view things differently, where opinion is wrong and where dissenting views are often looked at as wicked. Look, this is not comparable to the evils of Pharaoh, not even close, but the current climate of heaviness has impacted our families, friends, neighbors, communities, states and certainly our government, something that I find sad given just how much it dominates our society. The fact is that our current social issues, which obviously need repair, are not even in the same category as the oppression that was endured in Egypt. Still, our heaviness today is polarizing.
Therefore, I titled this drash, Can we really love a neighbor that hates us? The pharaohs of the world get a chance to do t’shuvah if they chose, and if we cannot honor those who we call friend, how much more can we not give someone the opportunity who turns from their wrongs to embrace a new good? If I deserve Kavod, than so do others, regardless of the tensions that may cause. Israel was to be a people of Kavod, even if not easy to do.
Shabbat Shalom!
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