Let's take a moment to look at the course of the hardening of the heart. Before the first plagues of Egypt in Parashat Va'era, the Lord says:
"But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may multiply My signs and marvels in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 7:3).
The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is mentioned no less than twenty times throughout the story of Exodus. In some cases, Pharaoh is the one who hardens his heart himself. In other cases, God is described as the one hardening Pharaoh's heart. The Torah uses different verbs to describe the hardening of the heart: to strengthen, or stiffen, to harden and to be stubborn.
In the first five plagues Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Only from the sixth plague onwards is God mentioned as the one who hardened Pharaoh's heart.
As we arrive at Parashat "Bo" we find:
"Then יהוה said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your child and of your child’s child how I made a mockery of (can also be translated as: I abused) the Egyptians and how I displayed My signs among them - in order that you may know that I am יהוה'" (Exodus 10:1-2).
Are we commanded to remember God's abuse of Egypt by the ten plagues, and thus know that He is our God? What kind of message is the beginning of Parashat Bo giving us?
Parashat Bo ends with the mitzvah of Tefillin. In this parasha we read about the death of the firstborns and the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and the mitzvah of the Passover sacrifice. In fact, the whole foundation for Passover, for our freedom and for our Seder night, is laid in Parashat Bo. We must ask ourselves: why does God harden Pharaoh's heart to cause God to abuse him? Some commentators say that the reason for the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is to make Pharaoh understand that he does not have any free will and that he is totally dependent on the God of Israel. Others say the opposite, God hardened Pharaoh's heart because this is his true desire. What Pharaoh really wants is not to release the Israelites. His will may weaken, and he may release his slaves because of the pressure coming from his suffering people. Do these commentaries help us to understand our memory, to accept the fact that it is supposed to be associated with God's abuse? What exactly are the people of Israel supposed to remember and tell future generations?
Indeed, many commentators have a problem with the verb "התעללתי" (I abused) and they associate the verb "התעללתי" with the word "עלילה" (a story plot). The word ""עלילה in the Bible means an occurrence or a story.
In this spirit, Rabbi Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar (1696-1743) from Morocco, writes:
"I believe that first and foremost God wanted to make it plain that it was not His purpose to bring on the plague as an act of revenge on Pharaoh. Rather, the miracle was designed to strengthen Israel's faith in God so that they would remember these miracles forever. This could be achieved only if God not only performed the miracle without hurting any Israelite by it but that Pharaoh himself would be so impressed by the miracle that it would also impress God's power on the minds of the Israelites in an unforgettable manner."
(Or HaChaim on Exodus 10:2)
The people of Israel are commanded to teach this insight to future generations, as part of the moral-religious foundation of the leadership of the Creator of his world. However, Rashi in his commentary to our verse opposes the interpretation of the verb "התעללתי" as ""עלילה (read as "alila") Rashi says that "התעללתי" Means: I laughed or I mocked. In other words, Rashi's interpretation of this word is closer to the modern interpretation that appears in the Sapir dictionary which is: insulting, humiliating and cruel.
It seems to me that the process that the abuser Pharaoh goes through is the same as the process that the victim, the people Israel, go through.
God hardens Pharaoh's heart to make sure that he will eventually send the people of Israel to Freedom, of his own free will. God will cause Pharaoh to give up his possessions with a free will. We see that after the plague of locusts Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron and tells them that they can go out to celebrate the holiday for their God, and even asks them "who are they that shall go?" (Exodus 10:8) Moshe answers that everyone, without exception, is going. At first Pharaoh agrees, but he very soon regrets it and says no, only the men can go. Basically, Pharaoh can't really give up his property of slaves. God must make it so that Pharaoh will have so much to lose that he will really want with all his heart to get rid of this property of his. That is, on the one hand, there is a main abuser here: Pharaoh. But there is also one more abuser and that is God. I learn from this that when the relationship is broken, God needs to use the same language that Pharaoh understands, the language of power, to get him to make a change.
The intensity of the plagues grew gradually. They didn't land full blast from the beginning but intensified as long as the refusal to free his slaves continued and the oppression even escalated. Rabbi Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar in his book Or HaChaim writes:
"God also hinted at His attribute of Mercy when He smote the river. He wanted to give Pharaoh a chance to repent when the latter realised His awesome power as manifested by His turning the river into blood. If not for the attribute of Mercy as represented by the tetragram God would have already killed Pharaoh outright at this stage. The words בזאת תדע therefore refer to God 's attribute of Mercy" (Or HaChaim on Exodus 7:17).
Without doubt, our world is not an easy one, violence and exploitation exist in abundance. I want to believe that the God we believe in is good, that our story of Exodus is one not only of freedom and free choice for our people. But also, of equality and fair treatment even for our enemies. We learn from this parasha that although many times we must use force to protect ourselves. We must do it without humiliation and degradation. In these difficult days, it seems that we are fighting for our right to exist. We must not fight for revenge.
More than ever, we must fight racism and stereotypes within ourselves. It is hard to fight for the values of peace and love of humanity while among us we hear absolute statements sayings about whoever is different from ourselves.
I am full of hope that we will find the way to continue to educate and fight for the values of humanity as we believe in them.
Shabbat Shalom.
Translation: Rabbi Tamara Shifrin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Rabbi Ariella Graetz Bartuv was ordained at HUC-JIR Jerusalem in 2011. Today she is the Rabbi of Ohel Avraham congregation at Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa, bringing alternative and liberal Judaism to Haifa and the north of Israel.
Ariela is married to Menash and they have 3 children.
"But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may multiply My signs and marvels in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 7:3).
The hardening of Pharaoh's heart is mentioned no less than twenty times throughout the story of Exodus. In some cases, Pharaoh is the one who hardens his heart himself. In other cases, God is described as the one hardening Pharaoh's heart. The Torah uses different verbs to describe the hardening of the heart: to strengthen, or stiffen, to harden and to be stubborn.
In the first five plagues Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Only from the sixth plague onwards is God mentioned as the one who hardened Pharaoh's heart.
As we arrive at Parashat "Bo" we find:
"Then יהוה said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your child and of your child’s child how I made a mockery of (can also be translated as: I abused) the Egyptians and how I displayed My signs among them - in order that you may know that I am יהוה'" (Exodus 10:1-2).
Are we commanded to remember God's abuse of Egypt by the ten plagues, and thus know that He is our God? What kind of message is the beginning of Parashat Bo giving us?
Parashat Bo ends with the mitzvah of Tefillin. In this parasha we read about the death of the firstborns and the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and the mitzvah of the Passover sacrifice. In fact, the whole foundation for Passover, for our freedom and for our Seder night, is laid in Parashat Bo. We must ask ourselves: why does God harden Pharaoh's heart to cause God to abuse him? Some commentators say that the reason for the hardening of Pharaoh's heart is to make Pharaoh understand that he does not have any free will and that he is totally dependent on the God of Israel. Others say the opposite, God hardened Pharaoh's heart because this is his true desire. What Pharaoh really wants is not to release the Israelites. His will may weaken, and he may release his slaves because of the pressure coming from his suffering people. Do these commentaries help us to understand our memory, to accept the fact that it is supposed to be associated with God's abuse? What exactly are the people of Israel supposed to remember and tell future generations?
Indeed, many commentators have a problem with the verb "התעללתי" (I abused) and they associate the verb "התעללתי" with the word "עלילה" (a story plot). The word ""עלילה in the Bible means an occurrence or a story.
In this spirit, Rabbi Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar (1696-1743) from Morocco, writes:
"I believe that first and foremost God wanted to make it plain that it was not His purpose to bring on the plague as an act of revenge on Pharaoh. Rather, the miracle was designed to strengthen Israel's faith in God so that they would remember these miracles forever. This could be achieved only if God not only performed the miracle without hurting any Israelite by it but that Pharaoh himself would be so impressed by the miracle that it would also impress God's power on the minds of the Israelites in an unforgettable manner."
(Or HaChaim on Exodus 10:2)
The people of Israel are commanded to teach this insight to future generations, as part of the moral-religious foundation of the leadership of the Creator of his world. However, Rashi in his commentary to our verse opposes the interpretation of the verb "התעללתי" as ""עלילה (read as "alila") Rashi says that "התעללתי" Means: I laughed or I mocked. In other words, Rashi's interpretation of this word is closer to the modern interpretation that appears in the Sapir dictionary which is: insulting, humiliating and cruel.
It seems to me that the process that the abuser Pharaoh goes through is the same as the process that the victim, the people Israel, go through.
God hardens Pharaoh's heart to make sure that he will eventually send the people of Israel to Freedom, of his own free will. God will cause Pharaoh to give up his possessions with a free will. We see that after the plague of locusts Pharaoh calls Moses and Aaron and tells them that they can go out to celebrate the holiday for their God, and even asks them "who are they that shall go?" (Exodus 10:8) Moshe answers that everyone, without exception, is going. At first Pharaoh agrees, but he very soon regrets it and says no, only the men can go. Basically, Pharaoh can't really give up his property of slaves. God must make it so that Pharaoh will have so much to lose that he will really want with all his heart to get rid of this property of his. That is, on the one hand, there is a main abuser here: Pharaoh. But there is also one more abuser and that is God. I learn from this that when the relationship is broken, God needs to use the same language that Pharaoh understands, the language of power, to get him to make a change.
The intensity of the plagues grew gradually. They didn't land full blast from the beginning but intensified as long as the refusal to free his slaves continued and the oppression even escalated. Rabbi Hayyim ben Moshe ibn Attar in his book Or HaChaim writes:
"God also hinted at His attribute of Mercy when He smote the river. He wanted to give Pharaoh a chance to repent when the latter realised His awesome power as manifested by His turning the river into blood. If not for the attribute of Mercy as represented by the tetragram God would have already killed Pharaoh outright at this stage. The words בזאת תדע therefore refer to God 's attribute of Mercy" (Or HaChaim on Exodus 7:17).
Without doubt, our world is not an easy one, violence and exploitation exist in abundance. I want to believe that the God we believe in is good, that our story of Exodus is one not only of freedom and free choice for our people. But also, of equality and fair treatment even for our enemies. We learn from this parasha that although many times we must use force to protect ourselves. We must do it without humiliation and degradation. In these difficult days, it seems that we are fighting for our right to exist. We must not fight for revenge.
More than ever, we must fight racism and stereotypes within ourselves. It is hard to fight for the values of peace and love of humanity while among us we hear absolute statements sayings about whoever is different from ourselves.
I am full of hope that we will find the way to continue to educate and fight for the values of humanity as we believe in them.
Shabbat Shalom.
Translation: Rabbi Tamara Shifrin
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rabbi Rabbi Ariella Graetz Bartuv was ordained at HUC-JIR Jerusalem in 2011. Today she is the Rabbi of Ohel Avraham congregation at Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa, bringing alternative and liberal Judaism to Haifa and the north of Israel.
Ariela is married to Menash and they have 3 children.