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The grand story of our birth as a nation presents an elemental question. That question is, plainly expressed, “What’s going on with Pharaoh?” Doesn’t he get it? Can’t he take a hint and see it’s not working out? Water to blood, frogs all over the place, pestilence, hail… What does it take to convince this man that it’s just time to let go, lick your wounds, cut your losses, and give up. Just let them go! Why this long painful process?
There are many cute answers we could come up with to this question: Pharaoh’s a fool and can’t get off that easily (the Losers-Never-Win Approach), Pharaoh’s ego got in the way (the Freudian Approach), Pharaoh just couldn’t deal with change (Systemic Approach), and lastly, only through reinforcing stimuli of about 10 major extraordinary events Pharaoh could be conditioned to behave properly in response to national devastation (the Behavioral Approach). Ultimately, this question, in one form or another, is asked by all the great commentaries and midrashim, yielding many beautiful and insightful answers, most based on a combination of Pharaoh’s stubborn, wicked desires and ultimately G-d’s influence on Pharaoh’s will (the True But Complicated Approach). Let’s take a closer look at this latter approach. Click here to continue... |
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For daily shiurim by Rabbi Avi Lebowitz click here.
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