This Dvar Torah was created by the Zayin class at the Temple Beth Abraham Religious School for their class service this Shabbat -- I put the ideas into words. Yishar kochachem!
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Parashat Bo begins with these words:
Adonai said to Moshe: Come to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order that I can place these signs of mine in their midst. And so that you will tell in the ears of your children and your children’s children what I did in Egypt and the signs that I put there, and you will know that I am Adonai.
Our class wondered about a few things. First, what does it mean that God hardened Pharoah’s heart? Second, wouldn’t God want Pharaoh to let the people go sooner? Third, isn’t it unfair for God to take away Pharaoh’s ability to make decisions, force him to do something wrong, and then punish him for doing that? It seems like God is playing Pharaoh like a puppet and not letting him be a human being.
In the traditional Jewish commentaries, there are a few answers given to these questions. Rambam, Rabbi Moses Maimonides, says that the expression “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart” isn’t meant to be taken literally, Rather, it is a metaphor that means “Pharoah became infinitely stubborn.” So stubborn that eventually he lost his ability to change his mind.
When the plagues began, Pharaoh did have a choice to stop the enslavement of the Jews, but he kept deciding to oppress them. Now after a few plagues, the Torah says that “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.” Rambam believes that connecting this to God is a way of saying just how powerful and extreme Pharaoh’s stubbornness was by that point. Rambam doesn’t like the idea that God would manipulate Pharaoh and then punish him. So he says that’s not really what the Torah means. Rambam puts all the responsibility on Pharaoh himself for the consequences of his actions.
This reminded some of us of the way a bully behaves. A bully is someone who is afraid to show his weakness. Even though he could decide not to hurt other people, he gets stuck in a certain image and then even if deep down he doesn’t want to, he continues to bully other people.
So Pharaoh didn’t want people to think he was weak. He was considered a god in Egypt, so he didn’t want anyone to think that anything else was more powerful than he was.
You could also compare this to way a lie can grow. Once you start with a lie, you have to keep coming up with other lies so you keep up the first lie and not contradict yourself. In that way, a lie becomes something you get stuck in and can’t get out of.
Resh Lakish, a rabbi in the Talmud, explains it a bit differently. The first few times God did warn Pharaoh that if he didn’t let the Israelites go, more plagues would follow. Once it was clear that Pharaoh wasn’t changing, God said: Now you deserve the extra trouble from Me, on top of what you got as a result of your own decisions.We can compare this to parents and children. Our parents ask us to do things, and if we don’t listen after a certain number of times, then we lose the freedom to decide. How many chances does a parent have to give to a child? When the parent realizes that the child hasn’t learned the lesson and isn’t going to learn, then it may be all right to stop giving more chances.A third explanation, from Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, is that God is making a unique example of Pharoah. The Torah, in the verses that I read to you, does say that one of the reasons for hardening Pharaoh’s heart is to show the Egyptians and also future generations that God is supreme. So Rabbi Hirsch says that in this one case, it is understandable for God to take someone’s free will away and punish him maybe in an unjust way. The greater purpose is that in the future other kings or leaders faced with Pharaoh’s choice will not do what he did.
We didn’t think this is a very convincing interpretation. Pharaoh wasn’t the last tyrant to oppress the Jews -- what about Haman, Antiochus, or Hitler? If God was making an example of Pharaoh, it doesn’t look like it was a very effective lesson.
We all have the power to make choices, but sometimes we lose that power for good reason -- our hearts get hardened. So remember if someone is trying to teach you what to do, after four or five times of saying no or doing the opposite you’ll loose your choice or your freedom. And be careful not to fall into bad habits or patterns that can harden your heart and make it impossible for you to choose the right thing.
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