Support Torah.org

Subscribe to a Torah.org Weekly Series

Posted on January 24, 2025 (5785) By Rabbi Label Lam | Series: | Level:

HASHEM said to Moshe, “Pharaoh’s heart is heavy; he has refused to let the people out. (Shemos 7:14)

Here is a $64,000 question! Why is Pharaoh refusing to let the Jewish People go? Why is he so contrary to the notion of letting the Jewish People exit Egypt? From the very beginning of Shemos, the original problem that was clearly articulated by Pharaoh is that the Jewish People were becoming too numerous and there was a legitimate concern that their population would explode to the point where the Egyptians would be forced out of their own country by this foreign entity. That was the Jewish problem back then and his final solution was to reduce their numbers. Their plan failed because “the more they were oppressed, the more they increased”. Now, comes along Moshe and he makes them an offer they should not be able to refuse. Essentially, Moshe is offering to take the problem off of Pharaoh’s hands.

That should be a welcome relief but rather it is met with a stubborn unrelenting refusal. Even to the point of bringing total destruction to his own country in the form of the devastating Makos/Plagues he remains unyielding. Why? What is his gain in retaining the Nation of Israel? The Talmud tells us, “AIN ADAM CHOTEH V’LO LO” – “A person does not make a sin unless he gets something from it?” There must be a benefit or a motive. What animates his unmovable denial? This is a basic fundamental question that calls out for a plausible answer. What’s his motivation?

I did see a piece in Lekutei Maharan, from Rebbe Nachman, that might have relevance here, and provide a window into Pharaoh’s thinking/mindset. In piece number 113 he quotes from the 3rd Chapter of Pirke Avos 3:16; “He used to say: everything is given against a pledge, and a net is spread out over all the living; the store is open and the storekeeper allows credit, but the ledger is open and the hand writes, and whoever wishes to borrow may come and borrow; but the collectors go round regularly every day and exact dues from man, either with his knowledge or without his knowledge, and they have that on which they [can] rely [in their claims], seeing that the judgment is a righteous judgment, and everything is prepared for the banquet.”

Seeking the meaning of the statement here, “the collectors are collecting with his knowledge and without his knowledge”. He quotes the Baal Shem Tov; “That before any serious decree comes to the world, G-d forbid, all the nations are gathered together to adjudicate the judgment. Even the one about whom and at whom the decree is aimed is asked first. Certainly, if they would ask him explicitly about him, he would refuse and say the judgment is not fitting for him. He would rebuttal the accusation and declare it unjust. So, they ask him about a similar situation, and he provides the final approval to the judgment against him, and that seals his fate.

So too, we find by Dovid HaMelech when he was approached by the Navi Nosson and he told him the story of how a man that had one was taken advantage of by another man that had a big flock. Dovid agreed in principle that the one with many sheep was wrong, and so Nosson pointed out to Dovid that he had done so in the incident with Batsheva. The judgement was made by Dovid with the declaration of his own mouth. That’s what it means that theses collectors are collecting with and without the person’s knowledge. It is with their knowledge that they decide their own fate, but it is without their knowledge because they do not know at the time that it is on themselves that they are passing judgment…”

With this in mind, I can imagine that Pharaoh is consciously or unconsciously asked by the highest heavenly court, “What should be done to a nation that rebels against its master? He thinks that it must be about the Jewish People, but in reality, it is about him. He is the one who states so boldly, “Who is HASHEM that I shall listen to His voice!?” So, he declares with certitude, “They must be brought to their knees and be made to submit.”.

So, Pharaoh himself brought all of what he intended for the People of Israel on his own head, and in doing so he taught us a powerful and important lesson for all time. The Talmud tells us, “With the measurement that we judge others, we are judged!” Looking kindly at and wishing only good for others invites upon us a shower of goodness.