AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, "EARLY IN THE MORNING PRESENT YOURSELF TO PHARAOH, AS HE IS COMING OUT TO THE WATER, AND SAY TO HIM, 'THUS SAYS THE LORD: LET MY PEOPLE GO THAT THEY MAY WORSHIP ME.'"

(Shemot 8: 16)

 

And the Lord said to Moses, "Early in the morning present yourself to Pharaoh, as he is coming out to the water..." - Why was he coming out to the water?

Because that wicked man [Pharaoh] would boast that he was a god and had no need to relieve himself, so he used to go out to the water early in the morning when no one would see him in his indignity. That is why the Holy One Blessed Be He told Moses: Stand there early in the morning when he needs to relieve himself, grab him and tell him: "Thus says he Lord... '...for this time I will send all My plagues...'" (9:13-14).

Usually when mortals wish to bring evil upon their enemies, they do it suddenly so as to remain undetected. Yet, the Holy One Blessed Be He warned Pharaoh before each and every plague, as it says, the hand of the Lord will strike (9:3), I will rain down (9:18), I will plague (7:27), tomorrow I will bring [locusts] (10:4), and so on with all of them. This is in accordance with that which is written: See, God is beyond reach in His power; who governs [moreh, also "shows"] like Him? (Job 36: 22) - That he shows evil people the path to repentance.

(Tanhumah Va'Eirah 14)

 

 

All Is Foreseen, Yet Freedom is Granted

Rami Pinchover

 

All of parashat Va'Eirah deals with the practical process that was completed with Israel's redemption from Egypt. The Rosh Hodesh haftorah that we read this Shabbat also deals with a redemptive process, but from a prophetic standpoint.

The contention between the Creator God and a mortal human, one of the products of his handiwork, serves as the parasha's center of action. Seemingly, what could be simpler? God declares war against a man - true, a man who stands at the head of the world's most powerful nation, controlling much of the ancient world - but still, just a man. What is a man, however powerful, compared to the might of the Creator? The Creator known to us from the book of Bereishit, whose very speech brings worlds into and out of existence? It is clear to all that this is a hopeless struggle for a mortal man to engage in.

Our case, however, is different. How so? God tells Moses to go speak with Pharaoh, yet promises I will harden Pharaoh's heart... And Pharaoh will not listen to you (7:3, 4). God seems to take a questionable path. Not only does a man have no chance in a struggle against God, here the man is not even left the possibility of changing his ways and finding a peaceful escape from the battle. He is condemned both to sin and to be punished. Where is the justice in this? How can someone be punished when he has no choice but to continue sinning? As our father Abraham, Scripture's first and greatest believer put it, Shall not the judge of all the earth deal justly? (Bereishit 18: 25). And as the RaMBaN says regarding our parasha, "If God hardened his heart, what is his crime?"

Actually, we face an even more serious theological problem. The Torah itself teaches us in Devarim 30:15: Behold, I set before you this day life and the good..., which means, apparently, that every human being has the choice between good and evil set before him.

Professor Yehezkel Kaufmann (in his monumental work, Toldot Ha-Emunah Ha-Yisraelit, vol. 1 book II, pg.451) considers this issue in comparison with pagan ideas. He begins:

Biblical literature sometimes attributes actions to God which cannot be explained by our moral thinking, or which actually contradict our moral thinking. These actions seem to arise not from a moral will, but rather from some awful "demonic" entity, without justice or mercy. The assumption that people freely will their actions is the foundation of moral recompense. However, we do find a few places in Scripture where God causes a person to sin in order to bring about their fall...Israelite religion viewed the world drama in a moral dimension, as the tension between God's will and commandments as against human will, which has been given license to rebel and sin. This tension replaces the mythological tension between the different divine powers of paganism. Israelite religion views sin as being un-Godly in its very essence. It derives wholly from human will. That is why even when Scripture does attribute a human's sin to God, it does not make God the primary cause of the sin. God makes heavy the heart of the sinner to keep him from repenting, but does not cause him to sin in the first place."

Josephus Flavius, who lived in the time of the destruction of the Second Temple and who wrote the first books of Jewish history, states that disagreement over the issue of free will vs. predestination was a source of controversy between the various sects of his age:

The sect of the Essenes affirm that fate governs all things, and that nothing befalls men but what is according to its determination. And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power..." (Antiquities of the Jews Book 9 chapt. 5 para. 9 - Whistin translation).

In contrast, the Pharisees and the Sages after them combined both systems, believing in two famous principles: providence and free-will, as expressed in Rabbi Akiva's celebrated phrase, "All is foreseen, yet freedom is granted" (Avot 3: 15). God watches, observes and oversees, but humans can choose good as well as evil. People can take responsibility for their futures and can change their fates. (See the comprehensive treatment by my teacher and uncle, Prof. E. E. Urbach in his The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs from page 255 in Abraham's translation).

It has been asked whether the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was exceptional, or whether it might constitute evidence for the Essenian and Christian position. Many exegetes have grappled with this difficult quandary. The third answer offered by Abravanel, which he refers to as "the one correct in my eyes," is also the one I personally find most appealing. This answer relates to the process which Pharaoh undergoes, the way the plagues are brought upon him, and, most importantly, the way the plagues are removed. God creates a pattern in which Pharaoh is always able to change his ways and free Israel, but every time that he almost gives in, God removes the plague. Instead of seeing the miraculous and divine nature of the plague's cessation, Pharaoh concludes that the plague had been a merely natural phenomenon from the start, whose course of development and subsidence could be predicted both by Moses as well as by the court magicians. During the plague itself, Pharaoh is subject to tremendous pressure and he is almost convinced, and just then the plague ends. Once again he is free to analyze the situation and choose between either making a change towards the good or continuing in his wicked ways.

In other words, one might say that God decided and saw to it that Pharaoh would act as he did. However, throughout the process Pharaoh chose to act in accordance with his own motives, attitudes, status, understanding, and character, in a manner that would appear to be completely independent of God. All that was needed for the divine plan's execution was for Pharaoh to continue behaving in accordance with his own character and personality, right up to his bitter end. (My teacher, Prof. Moshe Greenberg, offers this explanation in his book, Understanding Exodus).

The Torah sends us a complex yet clear message. Pharaoh's conduct is typically human; he is entrenched in the illusion that he controls his own life and deeds, and that he can do as he wishes with the world. Pharaoh thinks that his powers are boundless, that he can enslave the Jewish People for ever without any consideration for morality, for the sufferings and desires of others, or for God's will and commands. The message for us today is this: That a person must reflect upon his life and inspect his ways. He must not be entrenched in rigid modes of thought. A person is required to look around himself, to weigh his actions and be considerate of others.

This message may also be found in the haftorah for Rosh Hodesh that we read this Shabbat. In reaction to redemption and the sudden and swift return to the Land, the prophet asks: Who ever heard the like? Who ever witnessed such events? Can a land pass through travail in a single day? Or is a nation born all at once? Yet Zion travailed and at once bore her children! (Isaiah 66: 8). The prophet says: Look around yourselves, did anything like this ever happen before? Do you think that this sudden redemption is a natural occurrence? That is also the question facing Pharaoh: Were the events he experienced natural? Or were they special? Is there a guiding hand? This is also the question we ask in every generation, particularly in our own. Is the redemption of Israel in its Land a special event? Or is it merely a natural occurrence? And even if we are convinced and decide that it is a special event, does that mean that God will be with us regardless of our behavior? Shouldn't Pharaoh's imperviousness to the suffering caused to his own people as a result of his refusal to free the enslaved nation teach each us to be sensitive to the suffering both of others as well as of our own? If we internalize this deep message and come to know that "all is foreseen" - our actions and failures are all written up in a book, and especially that "freedom is granted" for us to change our ways, than we may be certain that the verses of consolation from the haftorah will be realized for us: Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad or her, all you who love her! Join in her jubilation, all you who mourned over her...I will extend to her peace like a river (66: 10-12).

Rami Pinchover is an engineer.

 

 

And Rabbi Pinchas Ha-Kohen ben Rabbi Hama said: Of that which is written: But the impious in heart become enraged; they do not cry for help when He afflicts them (Job 36: 13) - After the Holy One Blessed be He attends upon the wicked, waiting for them to repent - yet they do not repent - then, even if they wish to [repent], God finally takes charge of their heats that they not repent. What does the impious in heart mean? Those who begin by being impious in their hearts bring upon themselves rage in the end.

What does the impious in heart become enraged mean? Even though they want to return to the Holy One Blessed be He, and try to pray, they cannot. Why? He afflicts [asram, also "imprisons"] them - he locks [the gates of prayer] before them. So Pharaoh wished to pray, but God told Moses: "Not until he comes out and stands before you".

(Shemot Rabbah -Vilnah edition - 11:1)

 

And so said Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish: Even at he entrance to hell, the wicked do not repent, for it says: They shall go out and gaze on the corpses of the men who sin against me, etc. (Isaiah 66: 24). It does not say who sinned, but rather, who sin - they keep on sinning forever!

(Eruvin 19a)

 

The God "Who is Sufficient" Does not Require Signs and Wonders

Maimonides, the greatest of the faithful in the Jewish world, interprets the phrase El Shaddai as the God "who is sufficient" (Guide for the Perplexed I:63) : the God whose essence is in Himself, whose internal essence is sufficient for his existence, which is not a function which He plays in the world. Such was the understanding of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who believed in El Shaddai. The midrash points out that the patriarchs - in contrast to the people of Moses' generation - did not ask for signs and wonders upon which to base their belief in God. But now, when Moses is sent to bring the news of redemption to the children of Israel, who no longer knew God as El Shaddai, names which refer to God's actions in the world must be used. This brings us back to the great distinction which must be made between the great and deep faith in God as God, as against the perception of God as known to us through the functions he serves in history.

(Yeshayahu Leibowitz, z"l, He'arot Le'parashiyot Ha'shavua)

 

 

 

 

 

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Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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