Community Blog

Shabbat shalom! This week’s Torah portion is Parashat VaEra, in which Moses begins his regular visits to the Pharaoh, with his brother Aaron by his side to speak for him, to ask for Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Of course Pharaoh refuses and seven of the famous Ten Plagues ensue through this parasha. 

We spent a significant amount of Torah study this week discussing whether and why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart or if God merely predicted to Moses that Pharaoh’s heart would be hardened. Though God says up front “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart,” following most of the plagues, the text says, “Pharaoh’s heart was hardened”. The passive language leaves a lot of room for interpretation as to who was causing the steeliness. We do know that we are already talking about a man who enslaved an entire people because they were different from him and their fertility frightened him.  We know that when enslavement didn’t completely break their spirits and willingness to create new families in their community, this man turned to baby-murder. So it almost doesn’t matter to me whether or not he hardened his own heart, or as one of the traditional understandings of this text teach, he hardened his own heart up to a point that God considered past no return, and then God hardened his heart from there to ensure the climax of the final plague. 

It is troubling to read God’s words that take responsibility for Pharaoh’s hardened heart. It is difficult to reconcile what we like to believe of a loving, just, and merciful God, with the idea that perhaps God was playing games with human lives and extending suffering more than necessary just to make a point. However, I question why we get so stuck on that that we are willing to dismiss Pharaoh’s own culpability. Pharaoh has not earned our benefit of the doubt, he has not earned our sympathy, and he has not shown any true willingness to change, even when he backpedals ever so slightly during the height of the plagues and asks for the inconvenience to be lifted from him. All he has shown is a disinterest in fully dealing with the consequences of his own choices. 

I believe that people can change, and we should be open to accepting a former villain’s redemption. However, I also believe that it is dangerous to pretend to not know someone means us harm just because a particular action may be seen to have plausible deniability as to its motive or intent. If a person with an incredible amount of power who espouses doubt about our right to exist and encourages violence against others makes an awkward gesture, I see no reason to dissect the gesture to determine how real or intentional the fear it caused was. Such a person has already shown themselves to have a hardened heart, and must now actively prove otherwise, rather than expect those who have come to see the worst in them to continue to prove the dangers of genocidal rhetoric and imagery. We must be aware and alert to signs that worse plagues are coming, that Pharaoh’s heart shows no sign of truly softening any time soon, and we must prepare to fight for our survival and the survival of the rest of the mixed multitudes who will be affected by the oppressive regime. 

May we be strong and steadfast in our faith and in our values. May we be resilient in our communities and protective of one another. May we be honest with ourselves about grim realities without giving into fear and despair. And may we find our way out of the narrow places into freedom and redemption for all. Amen and Shabbat Shalom.