This is the model for Source Sheet #2
First choose 2-4 pasukim from the "pshat" and " that we have studied in class.
Use either the Exodus (Freedom from Slavery)
or Devarim (Greatest Hits of Deuteronomy)
Then, you will need to find
a midrash that you must find, and then create your own personal midrash.
First choose 2-4 pasukim from the "pshat" and " that we have studied in class.
Use either the Exodus (Freedom from Slavery)
or Devarim (Greatest Hits of Deuteronomy)
Then, you will need to find
a midrash that you must find, and then create your own personal midrash.
(ד) וְחִזַּקְתִּ֣י אֶת־לֵב־פַּרְעֹה֮ וְרָדַ֣ף אַחֲרֵיהֶם֒ וְאִכָּבְדָ֤ה בְּפַרְעֹה֙ וּבְכָל־חֵיל֔וֹ וְיָדְע֥וּ מִצְרַ֖יִם כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י יְהוָ֑ה וַיַּֽעֲשׂוּ־כֵֽן׃
(4) And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he shall follow after them; and I will get Me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.’ And they did so.
Context: This text comes from the conversation God and Moses had when God was first instructing Moses on what to do. This pshat is very important because it says that God is going to harden Pharaoh's heart. This is act of hardening his heart should be very counter productive to setting the Jewish people free. To a novice reader of the Torah this would be very confusing and could even build a negative view towards God.
The phrase, ‘hardening Pharaoh’s heart,’ which is ascribed to God occurs nine times in the Torah and has always troubled me as it has many theologians. How could a just God exact punishment from Pharaoh for disobedience when God deliberately prevents him from obeying Him? Under these circumstances, how can Pharaoh be reckoned as guilty? Where is the free will that is basic to Judaism? Predeterminism is more akin to Calvinism than to Judaism. Surprisingly enough, the m’forshim and the Jewish philosophers circumvent the issue and do not deal with it head on for it is a loaded question. There is a contradictory issue here with how God operates in the world. If God operates in the world, there is no human freedom. If God doesn’t operate, why do you need Him? If God does operate, repentance becomes impossible (cf. Amos ‘. . . For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not reverse it. . . .’),and all of us become our own sin. Just as Pharaoh could not change, neither can we. Just as he could not repent, so can’t we either. Hence Jewish theologians and philosophers were faced with a thorny issue and were on the horns of a dilemma. For them, the best way to face up to the issue was to go around it or play down the issue of free will. (Bernard M. Zlotowitz)
I believe this drash is important because it not only gives his own experience of the pshat but he uses other texts to back up his thoughts. The drash talks about God taking away Pharaoh's free will, and as we learned that is the one thing God can not do. Bernard M. Zlotowitz was raised by an Orthodox family and studied History and Classics at Brooklyn College. He entered the Hebrew Union College in 1950, where he earned his MAHL degree and second rabbinical ordination. He passed away at the age of 90 last year in June.
This Pshat connects with me in a very typical way but it is something I did not realize until I was older and could form my opinions. When I was a child, around 6-9 years of age, my parents had control over my life but this amount of control was unknown to me. In this situation my parents would play the role of God and I would be Pharaoh. Since my parents had the power of experience and knowledge over me I usually just believed what they said even if it was a stretch. This lead me to following their bread crumb trail of biased knowledge that shaped how I think and act today. For example, in a positive sense, since they taught me that having manors and being respectful to my elders and ladies, it is now second nature for me to do these things. For some of the more serious issues such as politics and my views on the economy, it can be harder to trace back to my parents bread crumb trail because I drift from their opinions from topic to topic but it still is formed from their ideas. Comparing this back to God and Pharaoh, Pharaoh's heart was only harden leading him to be on a certain hate filled path that God made but Pharaoh still has free will and can make his own decisions just as I did when I disagree with my parents. Overall this modeling that God or your parents make does not define you, abstracting from this mold and creating new ideas is what makes you, You.