Shabbat Shalom. I'm so glad that there are no major issues in the world and everyone was able to get here easily.
In my torah portion, “Bo” lots of big events happened. We have all the plagues, Moses and the Israelites leaving Egypt, and through all of this, pharaoh being stubborn. The Israelites are enslaved by Pharaoh. Moses and Aaron try to get Pharoah to let the Israelites go. After he says no, God puts plagues over all of Egypt. After every plague Pharoah will desperately agree to let them go. Then his heart is hardened and he changes his mind.
My big question is what does it mean that God hardened the pharaoh's heart? I think it is an important question because I want to know if God was doing the right thing and making the right choices. Mostly I find it confusing and I don’t particularly like when things do not have easy and clear answers. Here are some commentaries that might help us understand why God hardened pharaoh's heart.
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch lived in Germany in the 1800’s and he believed that Hardening Pharaoh’s heart was meant to teach us and the future generations of Jews to have faith that God is all-powerful and always there for you when you need help. Since the Israelites had faith, God freed them. I find this commentary interesting because it can apply to real life. For example, when I go up to the plate to bat in baseball, what happens is my decision. If I have a good mindset, it gives more potential for me to get a hit. If I have a bad mindset, It will be harder for me to get a hit.
Rambam, who lived in Spain in the 1100s, is one of the greatest Jewish thinkers ever. He taught that everyone has free will to make choices, whether good or bad. He doesn't believe that God hardened the pharaoh's heart. Rambam knew Pharaoh's heart was hardened 20 total times. The first 10, the Torah says, ``And Pharaoh's heart hardened.” The last 10 say “God hardened pharaoh's heart. This means that pharaoh made a lot of horrible choices. God does not force anyone to make choices. God can't decide what Pharaoh chooses even if the text says that God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. If you're confused, which is totally reasonable, this next commentary should help you understand.
The third and my favorite commentary is by Erich Fromm who was a psychologist from the 20th century who fled Nazi Germany and came to America.
Fromm said, “People develop patterns and the more they do something, the more likely they are to continue to do them. When one continues to make bad choices, they get stuck and have fewer and fewer choices available. Like developing bad habits that you don’t even think about anymore.” Pharaoh had said no so many times already. Each time he said no it got harder to do the right thing. God hardening the pharaoh's heart really means that the pharaoh had said no so many times that he didn't think about it anymore.
In my Mitzvah project, I helped out once a week at the temple. Originally I put letters in the mail, and organized things around the temple. Now, I help manage the temple's social media and help run special services on zoom. While working in and around the temple I felt more a part of the community. I felt like I was making a difference. I am and was excited about getting more involved with the temple and to continue running services on zoom after my bar mitzvah. Unlike pharaoh, I made good choices and found a great way to volunteer at the temple. This good choice will create the opposite pattern that pharaoh created and I will be able to keep making good decisions.
For me, good decisions, and the path of good decisions, brings me back to my question again. If God wants us to make good decisions, why does the Torah claim God hardened Pharaoh's heart? Rabbi Harvey Fields says in his commentary: “ no one can stop God’s will for human liberation. It is always triumphant. God wants us to be free!”. I agree with Rabbi Fields. Pharaoh thought he was a god. He thought he was all-powerful and no one could punish him. He believed he could keep the Israelites enslaved. But God was with the Israelites and they believed that they could overcome Pharaoh and be free. This made Pharaoh dig in even more. God “hardens his heart” to show him and his people that he was not a god and could be defeated. God is with the Israelites and helps them change their mindset to believe that they were not powerless and could be free. God gives us the mindset that we can be free.
I have learned way more than I could ever have imagined from the Torah, and Rabbi Penzner. I learned that all of these are pieces of a puzzle to Judaism. When you put them together, it shows that God does not make choices and God is there to help us overcome the powerful.
I've also learned to look in between the lines of the torah. What lies in between the lines gives us the biggest and hardest ideas to comprehend. I learned that I have to look at myself from the inside. We all could use a reminder to look on the inside of things and not on the outside. Especially during COVID.
Many people have helped me to become a bar mitzvah/ I want to thank my Mom and Dad for being supportive even when it was hard for me to keep going, I want to thank my sister Eleanor for showing me that nothing is as hard as it seems, I want to thank my cousins, the Coakleys, for being there for me throughout the pandemic and my life. I’m grateful to my grandparents for being so caring and loving towards me. That includes my Zayde who is no longer with us. I want to thank Rabbi Penzner for teaching me so much about the Torah and helping me process my ideas. I also want to thank Morah Missie for being a great tutor and helping me learn really difficult stuff. I want to thank Benita for helping me find a way to volunteer at the temple. I also want to thank Morah Hillary and all my chaverim teachers and classmates for encouraging me throughout my journey.
Thank you all for being with me here today in person and on zoom,
Shabbat Shalom.
