A Lesson from Pharaoh

“I never did you any favors, so why do you hate me so much?”

***

Look at this guy.

He saw sticks turn into snakes. He didn’t budge.

He saw water turn into blood. His heart remained closed.

He felt and smelled the invasion of the frogs. Nothing.

He itched from lice. Barely blinked.

He ran in fright from the wild animals. What an experience!

He saw the corpses of Egyptian livestock strewn all over the city. He laughed at the notion of freeing the slaves.

He rolled on the floor to ease the burning pain of his boils. Who cares?

He watched in awe and fright as balls of fire and water pounded the landscape. Who is this G-d?

HELLO, PHAROAH! WHY DON’T YOU JUST GIVE UP?

He woke up in the morning to find empty drawers, all the food consumed by grasshoppers. “I should let them free? Are you out of your mind?”

He sat in total darkness for three days, then for the next three days was unable to move. That was cool.

He cried as his first-born suddenly dropped dead, and became fearful for his own life: after all he was also a first-born. Umm…

Ok, finally he gave in; he let the Jewish people go. It had surely taken a while, but now his heart softened.

Or so we thought.

Surprisingly, the story continued.

A few days after the Jews had left, when they were already far away near the Red Sea, Pharaoh regretted his decision. He begged for volunteers to join his mission, and, all invigorated, he chased after his former slaves, vying to bring them back.

As he approached the Jewish camp, G-d blocked the Egyptian camp with a cloud, causing all the arrows and spears aimed at the Jews to bounce back.

Think he cared?

He saw the waters split. THE JEWS WERE LEAVING! He panicked and decided to chase after them.

No “miracles shmiracles” were going to change his mind.

This guy just never gave up!

So without skipping a heartbeat, he and his men followed the Jews into the sea. The rest is history…

In Yiddish we would call pharaoh an “akshan” – a stubborn mule. Nothing, absolutely nothing could push him off his (crooked) path.

The Kotzker Rebbe taught, that we should learn a lesson or two from our first tormentor: A lesson in defiance.

A lesson in perseverance.

A lesson in pride.