Thoughts on Parashat Bo
Rabbi Menachem Mirski
There is a talmudic story about a Rabbi who traveled to a foreign city, and asked a little boy what’s the best way to enter that city.
“Which is the road leading to the city?” asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya of a youngster sitting at a crossroads. “This is the shorter one,” replied the lad while pointing to one road, “but it is longer. The other road is longer but shorter.” Rabbi Yehoshua decided to take the first road, which had been described as the shorter one, but when he approached the city he found access to it blocked by gardens and orchards. He returned to the crossroads and challenged his young guide for suggesting the shorter road that had turned out to be the wrong one. “But I told you,” replied the boy, “that although it is shorter in distance, it is longer in reaching your goal.” (Eruvin 53b)
This story teaches us that there are no shortcuts in life, if we truly desire to achieve enduring change for the good. Anyone who ever tried dieting knows that if you go on a crazy radical diet rather than gradually change your nutritional habits, then you will regain the weight quite quickly. In terms of spiritual growth too, those who try to become “super observant” overnight will likely suffer a setback as well.
The entire history of our People (and many other nations as well) is marked by this very idea, from the outset – the very beginnings of our liberation from Egyptian slavery, which begins with the calling of Moses and the Egyptian plagues. Parashat Bo tells the story of the last three plagues and, oh boy, things get really bad. Egypt is already devastated by all the previous plagues, yet Pharaoh doubles and triples down on his decision not to let our people go. Before sending the 8th plague, God, through Moses’ mouth is threatening Pharaoh:
‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go so that they may worship Me. For if you refuse to let My people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts on your territory. (Exodus 10:3-4)
And even though Pharaoh seems humiliated and admits his own guilt:
Pharaoh hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I stand guilty before your God יהוה and before you. Forgive my offense just this once, and plead with your God יהוה that this death but be removed from me.” (Exodus 10:16-17)
He remains fearless and unyielding (by the Divine decree – God hardened Pharaoh’s heart yet again). Nevertheless, the dynamic of the whole situation has already changed; Pharaoh’s haughtiness seems crumbling and it looks like he loses the support of his courtiers:
Pharaoh’s courtiers said to him, “How long shall this one be a snare to us? Let a delegation go to worship their God יהוה ! Are you not yet aware that Egypt is lost?” (Exodus 10:7)
Everyone is distressed, including Moses and Aaron. They regularly talk with God, implement every divine instruction, go back to Pharaoh, talk to him again and again… and nothing seems to work! After the ninth plague Moses left Pharaoh’s court ‘in hot anger’. Everyone in a situation like this would lose their faith in the purposefulness of this undertaking.
And so we often lose it, in situations like that, when nothing seems to work. When we reach this point we often ask ourselves a question: should we go on or give up? This moment when we are questioning ourselves and the purposefulness of our undertakings is often the MOMENT, the PIVOTAL MOMENT in which we should absolutely not give up, because our victory and the defeat of our enemies/opponents are literally around the corner!
According to the Chassidic Masters, Moses was distressed because he saw the forces of evil capable of such resolution and determination. So God said to him: They, on their own, do not possess such power. It is only because I have hardened their hearts. There are two important implications of this understanding of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The first one is to give us hope and fill us with optimism – indeed, neither Pharaoh, nor our contemporary enemies have the power we often ascribe to them, let alone a divine power. That’s very good news. The second implication is: God hardens the hearts of our enemies/opponents to intensify their haughtiness and arrogance (so they can make fools of themselves, for example, or commit grave mistakes) and at the same time to teach us perseverance, bring more ingenuity to our actions and teach us patience. It is so because there are no shortcuts in life, if we truly desire to achieve enduring change for good, bring peace and well being of the Jewish People and the human community in general.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Mirski
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