On the surface, the Torah is very simple. I am struck, however, by its choice of terms: twice the verse in Deuteronomy essentially says, “don’t harden your heart.” Ask yourself: in the Bible, whose heart is hardened? Let’s recall that Moses goes into Egypt and says, “Let my people go,” and Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. Any Jew who can look at a human being in need and not hear God’s call to “let my people go,” to do something, becomes a Pharaoh. You don’t have to be evil to be on the side of evil. You simply have to remain indifferent. All that it takes for goodness to be vanquished is for us to ignore the suffering and desperation of our fellow human beings. To fail to act is all it takes to create a society of inequity and of callousness. Refusing to lend a hand, we become the Pharaohs of our age.
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. What was Pharaoh’s sin? What does it mean to “become the Pharaohs of our age?”
2. Why do we sometimes ignore suffering in our midst?
3. Is it possible to always lend a hand to people in need? Is this a realistic expectation?
Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)