If you know the story of the Exodus then you know that Hashem hardened Paroah’s heart. It’s one of the most repeated tropes in the many discussions of the narrative. Most often, however, it comes up far into the plagues. It is the source of great discussion and debate: What of Paroah’s bechira - especially as his actions impacted all of Mitzrayim? If Paroah didn’t relent, then no one was going to help the Israelites. This, of course, leads to the deeper question of: How can Paroah be punished if Hashem was the one causing his heart to be hardened? The hardening, tradition teaches us, was already there. Hashem did not change the man.
This week’s parsha, Parshas Va’eira, introduces the
beginning of the plagues, and it introduces the hardening of the heart of
Paroah. It came from the very beginning and is mentioned three times before the
first plague, the plague of blood. The first mention is verse 7:3, where Hashem
informs Moshe: “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may multiply My signs
and marvels in the land of Egypt.” Having heard this, Moshe and Aaron went to
Paroah and had their show down with Paroah’s magicians, but their expectations must
have been very low. When the snakes of the magicians were eaten by Aaron’s
snake, the Torah relays: “Yet Paraoh’s heart stiffened and he did not heed
them, as Hashem had said. And Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Paraoh is heavy of
heart (stubborn); he refuses to let the people go.’” (7:13-14).
In English, these verses look both very similar and very
different. All three of them contain the word lev – heart. However, 7:3 uses
the verb kashe, verse 13 uses chazak, and verse 14 uses the word kaved. Hashem
promises Moshe that he will make Paroah’s heart hard. However, what we see
happening is that after being confronted with Aaron’s obviously mightier
staff-snake, Paroah made his own heart strong. There was nothing supernatural
about it. And thus Hashem’s statement in verse 14, that Paroah’s heart is
stubborn. Hashem used the term Kavaid Lev. The word Kavaid means heavy, but it
is also associated with the word kavod, which means “honor.”
Hashem did not need to strengthen Paroah’s heart, Paraoh’s
own ego refused to allow him to recognize Hashem’s greatness, that there was a
possibility that he was not the ultimate authority.
This is a deep truth of the world, that we all know. Power
breeds power. Paroah, who reigned over the most powerful nation in the ancient
world, could not humble himself to acknowledge that something beyond him was
happening. Hashem did not have to worry about fulfilling His promise to
strengthen Paroah’s heart because his heart was already burdened with too much
kavod.
We, or at least I can speak for myself, keep hoping that the
world will open its eyes and see the truth. But even if they do, are they
capable to admitting they were wrong? A stand once taken is hard to come down
from, and so we fight almost alone. Is this Hashem’s will actively blinding the
nations or were their hearts already hardened?
The truth, alas, is that this question pushes at our brains
but is, in fact, irrelevant. If their hearts were already hardened than it was
so because of Hashem, Who stated that we would be a hated nation. Thus, either
way, the events of this era – as of so many eras in the past – is the will of
Hashem. What is left to us to ponder – and many of us have and do – is what
Hashem requires of us in light of the path the world has taken. That, I would
say, is the true bechira.
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