Rabbi Frand on Parshas Bo
These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: Tape # 490, The
Lefty and Tefillin. Good Shabbos!
The First Born Plague Was Set for the Stroke of "Around Midnight"
Prior to the plague of the first born, Moshe told Pharoah, "Thus says
Hashem: 'At around midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt.'" [Shmos
11:4]. Rashi comments on the expression "around midnight". Of course G-d can
be precise. He does not need to approximate. Why then did He say "around
midnight?" Rashi explains that the fear was that Pharoah's astrologers might
err and think that G-d was late (or early) in arriving. They might have come
to the conclusion that the prophecy was imprecise. They would have accused
Moshe of being a liar.
Moshe had been predicting the arrival of the plagues for over a year. He had
been calling exactly what had happened. He had been right every time. Now
this was the final plague. So what if he said "midnight" and the astrologers
thought that the plague began a little before or a little after exact
midnight? Would they have been any less impressed with the track record of
Moshe? Would that be a justification to call him a liar? Look at his track
record! He was right the whole time. Would they call him a liar just because
he was two minutes off on plague number ten?
In past years when discussing this question, we have pointed out that this
in fact is the nature and power of cynicism (laytzanus) -- to find any
minute flaw and to build it up into a flaw of major proportions.
Recently, I saw a different approach from Rav Elya Meir Bloch, zt"l. We are
not worried about cynics. We are worried about the Honor of Heaven. If G-d
said that he would be there at midnight and people were waiting and thinking
that it was already midnight, that would be a Chillul HaShem [a desecration
of G-d's Name], albeit one that lasted perhaps only one minute.
We cannot tolerate a Chillul HaShem even for one minute. This can be
compared to someone who was accused falsely in the morning edition of the
paper. A retraction was planned for the next day's morning edition. The
person who was falsely accused will not want to wait until the next day. He
will want a retraction printed in the afternoon edition. Not only that, but
if there is a later morning addition, he will want his name cleared by that
final morning edition. He will not be satisfied with the fact that "by
tomorrow morning it will all be cleared up".
The fact that there could be a desecration of G-d's name for even a minute
is something that could not tolerated.
The Real Heretic Goes To Bed on The Night of the Tenth Plague
The Torah relates that when Moshe came to Pharoah for the last time, they
exchanged their final tense words with each other. Rav Elya Meir Bloch
raises the following interesting question: Moshe Rabbeinu had harassed
Pharoah for a long period of time. Each time Moshe came into the palace, it
must have been highly aggravating for Pharoah, to say the least. Why, then,
didn't Pharoah kill Moshe Rabbeinu?
Pharoah did not need to worry about CNN or about human rights groups.
Consider any modern despot in Pharoah's situation. Wouldn't the simple
solution be to just put a quick end to his adversary, once and for all? Why
did Pharoah continue to tolerate Moshe?
Rav Elya Meir Bloch explains that this illustrates the distinction between
Pharoah and modern day tyrants. Moshe Rabbeinu was not merely a nuisance to
Pharoah. This was a theological dispute regarding G-d. Pharoah was not
merely a pragmatist who was simply interested in being rid of a nuisance --
that would not have solved the problem. Pharoah was not like one of today's
two-bit despots, who can be bribed and are only interested in power. Pharoah
was the real heretic. "I'm G-d", he proclaimed. He could not just remove
Moshe from the picture. That would be a pragmatic approach. Pharoah needed
to prevail over Moshe. Pharoah was determined to fight to the bitter end to
prove that he was in charge.
One or two hundred years ago, people used to sit in cafes in Paris and talk
about the reason for life. "Is there a G-d? Is there not a G-d?" People used
to think about weighty matters. Now people think about conveniences -- "what
kind of cell phone do you have?" -- and nothing more. People no longer think
about G-d and the meaning of life. We live in a silly, trivial, world.
Nothing of substance is important anymore. Today, importance is given to the
Super Bowl, not to the meaning of life.
The Kotzker Rebbe provides an insight on a Rashi in this week's parsha.
During the plague of the first born, the pasuk says, "Pharoah got up at
night..." [Shmos 12:30]. Rashi on this phrase adds the words "from his bed".
What is Rashi teaching us?
The Kotzker Rebbe inquires: Was Pharoah out of his mind? Moshe predicted
that every first born would die at midnight. He specifically predicted that
Pharoah's own first-born son would be smitten. Pharoah was a first born son
himself. Should Pharoah not have at least been sweating it out that evening?
No. He went to bed! The only thing that woke him up were the screams of the
Egyptians after the plague hit at midnight.
How can a person go to bed on a night like that after nine plagues came true
exactly as Moshe predicted? The answer, the Kotzker Rebbe says, is that
Pharoah was a real heretic. There is an expression that there are no
atheists in a foxhole. That might be true of 'modern atheists'. But the 'old
time atheists' -- they remained atheists even in when in a foxhole! Pharoah
was the real thing -- a heretic down to the last minute.
"I am going to bed. What happened before were just freaks of nature. I have
nothing to worry about." Pharoah was not interested in ridding himself of
the nuisance of Moshe Rabbeinu. "I am going to fight this thing to the
bitter end." And so he did.
This write-up was adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher
Frand's Commuter Chavrusah Torah Tape series on the weekly Torah portion.
The complete list of halachic topics covered in this series for Parshas Bo
are provided below:
Also Available: Mesorah / Artscroll has published a collection
of Rabbi Frand's essays. The book is entitled:
and is available through your local Hebrew book store or from
Project Genesis, 1-410-654-1799.
