Write one nice thing someone did or said to you this week:
(א) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר ה' אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה רְאֵ֛ה נְתַתִּ֥יךָ אֱלֹקִ֖ים לְפַרְעֹ֑ה וְאַהֲרֹ֥ן אָחִ֖יךָ יִהְיֶ֥ה נְבִיאֶֽךָ׃ (ב) אַתָּ֣ה תְדַבֵּ֔ר אֵ֖ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֲצַוֶּ֑ךָּ וְאַהֲרֹ֤ן אָחִ֙יךָ֙ יְדַבֵּ֣ר אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה וְשִׁלַּ֥ח אֶת־בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֵאַרְצֽוֹ׃ (ג) וַאֲנִ֥י אַקְשֶׁ֖ה אֶת־לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְהִרְבֵּיתִ֧י אֶת־אֹתֹתַ֛י וְאֶת־מוֹפְתַ֖י בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
Important: For the 1st 5 plagues Pharaoh hardens his own heart, while Hashem hardens the heart of Pharaoh for the last 5 plagues.
(ג) וְאֶפְשָׁר שֶׁיֶּחְטָא אָדָם חֵטְא גָּדוֹל...שֶׁמּוֹנְעִין מִמֶּנּוּ הַתְּשׁוּבָה וְאֵין מַנִּיחִין לוֹ רְשׁוּת לָשׁוּב מֵרִשְׁעוֹ כְּדֵי שֶׁיָּמוּת וְיֹאבַד בְּחֶטְאוֹ שֶׁעָשָׂה... לְפִיכָךְ כָּתוּב בַּתּוֹרָה (שמות ד כא) "וַאֲנִי (אֲחַזֵּק) [אַקְשֶׁה] אֶת לֵב פַּרְעֹה".
לְפִי שֶׁחָטָא מֵעַצְמוֹ תְּחִלָּה וְהֵרֵעַ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל הַגָּרִים בְּאַרְצוֹ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (שמות א י) "הָבָה נִתְחַכְּמָה לוֹ". נָתַן הַדִּין לִמְנֹעַ הַתְּשׁוּבָה מִמֶּנּוּ עַד שֶׁנִּפְרַע מִמֶּנּוּ. לְפִיכָךְ חִזֵּק הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא אֶת לִבּוֹ...כְּדֵי לְהוֹדִיעַ לְבָאֵי הָעוֹלָם שֶׁבִּזְמַן שֶׁמּוֹנֵעַ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא הַתְּשׁוּבָה לַחוֹטֵא אֵינוֹ יָכוֹל לָשׁוּב אֶלָּא יָמוּת בְּרִשְׁעוֹ שֶׁעָשָׂה בִּתְחִלָּה בִּרְצוֹנוֹ.
(3) A person may commit a great sin or many sins causing the judgment rendered before the True Judge to be that the retribution [administered to] this transgressor for these sins which he willfully and consciously committed is that his Teshuvah will be held back. He will not be allowed the chance to repent from his wickedness so that he will die and be wiped out because of the sin he committed.
This is implied by the Holy One, blessed be He's statement [related] by Isaiah [6:10]: “Make the heart of this people fat [and make their ears heavy. Smear over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes... understand with their hearts, repent and be healed].”
Similarly, [II Chronicles 36:16] states “ They mocked the messengers of God, scorned His words, scoffed at His prophets until the anger of God mounted up against His people until there was no remedy.”
Implied [by these verses] is that they willingly sinned, multiplying their iniquity until it was obliged to hold back their Teshuvah, [which is referred to as] the "remedy."
For these reasons, it is written in the Torah [Exodus 14:4], "I will harden Pharaoh's heart." Since, he began to sin on his own initiative and caused hardships to the Israelites who dwelled in his land as [Exodus 1:10] states: "Come, let us deal wisely with them," judgment obligated that he be prevented from repenting so that he would suffer retribution. Therefore, The Holy One, blessed be He, hardened his heart.
Why did [God] send Moses to [Pharaoh], telling him: “Send [forth the people], repent”? The Holy One, blessed be He, had already told Moses that he would not release [the people], as [Exodus 9:30] states: “I realize that you and your subjects [still do not fear God].”
[The reason is stated in Exodus 9:16:] “For this alone, I have preserved you… so that My name will be spoken about throughout the earth],” i.e., to make known to all the inhabitants of the world that when the Holy One, blessed be He, withholds repentance from a sinner, he cannot repent, but he will die in the wickedness that he initially committed willfully.
Similarly, Sichon was held liable for repentance to be withheld from him, because of the sins he committed, as [Deuteronomy 2:30] states: “God, your Lord, hardened his spirit and strengthened his heart.”
Also, the Canaanites held back from repenting, because of their abominable acts, so that they would wage war against Israel as [Joshua 11:20] states: "This was inspired by God, to harden their hearts so that they should come against Israel in battle in order to utterly destroy them."
Similarly, the Israelites during the era of Elijah committed many iniquities. Repentance was held back from those who committed these many sins, as [I Kings 18:37] states: "You have turned their heart backwards," i.e., held repentance back from them.
In conclusion, the Almighty did not decree that Pharaoh should harm the Israelites that Sichon should sin in his land, that the Canaanites should perform abominable acts, or that the Israelites should worship idols. They all sinned on their own initiative and they were obligated to have Teshuvah held back from them.
Sforno and Rav Yitzchak Albo: Pharaoh would have naturally given in, but out of weakness, and not out of moral conviction. G-d hardened the heart, to balance things out in order to give Pharaoh a fair chance to choose freely, to make the moral decision.
Other commentator's distinguish between the verbs of the heart (chizuk) vrs hardening (kasheh) of the heart vrs heavying (Kaved) of the heart. At 1st G-d strengthenned and only later did G-d harden...
"In Egyptian myth, the deceased underwent a trial to establish their worthiness, and to enjoy life after death in Auru, where souls live in pleasure for eternity. They believed the soul resides in the heart, and the trial consisted of the ceremony of the weighing of the heart. Other organs were removed but the heart, the seat of the soul, was kept intact, and it was weighed. If the heart weighed more than a feather it would be eternally eaten by a lion/crocodile god named Annus.
The feather represented Ma'at, the central Egyptian values, representing the concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, justice, morality and law. It was the job of the Pharaoh to ensure that Ma'at prevailed.
As part of the trial the deceased would have to make 42 confessions declaring themselves innocent of any sin which would deny them access to the afterworld.
For example:
I have not done injury to man.
I have not oppressed those beneath me.
I have not murdered.
I have not caused suferring to men."
(ה) וְיָדְע֤וּ מִצְרַ֙יִם֙ כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י ה' בִּנְטֹתִ֥י אֶת־יָדִ֖י עַל־מִצְרָ֑יִם וְהוֹצֵאתִ֥י אֶת־בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מִתּוֹכָֽם׃
(ד) וְחִזַּקְתִּ֣י אֶת־לֵב־פַּרְעֹה֮ וְרָדַ֣ף אַחֲרֵיהֶם֒ וְאִכָּבְדָ֤ה בְּפַרְעֹה֙ וּבְכׇל־חֵיל֔וֹ וְיָדְע֥וּ מִצְרַ֖יִם כִּֽי־אֲנִ֣י ה' וַיַּֽעֲשׂוּ־כֵֽן׃
1st Plague: blood in the nile directed against Hapfi the god the Nile:
2nd plague: frogs directed against the Heqet, the Egyptian goddess of fertility:
9th plague: darkness directed against RA, the sun god.
Lesson #1: Pharaoh claimed to be acting for the sake of the order in Egypt. He couldn't allow these slaves to get too big and possibly rise up against his nation (As the Hyskos's had done years earlier), but he couldn't allow them to leave lest other slaves learn from them. But ultimately all of these rationalizations came crumbling down as the last 5 plagues crippled Pharaoh, until it was clear to even the Egyptians that Pharaoh wasn't working for the good of the nation, but only for his own stubborn egotistical justifications.
Lesson #2: Morality is universal, certain things are wrong, whoever does therm, whoever they are done against. They are wrong by Egyptian standards too. Killing the Israelite male children was a sin against Ma'at.
Take Away's for us:
1: In each generation Hashem finds new ways for us to unravel the Torah's texts! Amazing how Hashem always provides new vista's to digging deeper into the texts.
More books on the torah than any other book. and these are trully new ideas!
2: G-d cares about Non-Jews too! There are universal laws of morality.
Rav Sacks championed the cause of interfaith discussions, based on the bible.
He often spoke of the brotherhood of all men. The evolution of the brotherly relationships.
In last week's Parasha he reminded us of the heroism of Bat Pharaoh/Hitand Shifra and Puah, who were arguably non Jewish heroes.
3: In another article on the hardening of Pharaoh's hard Rav Sacks takes a more psychological approach:
Perhaps Pharaoh's hardening of the heart refers to the fact that the more we act upon our good or bad impulses, the more we strengthen the reflexes to do those actions.
We choose our habits and then they choose us!