(10) Ad-nai spoke to Moses, saying, (11) “Come to tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites depart from his land.”
Ad-nai said to Moshe:
Come to Pharaoh and say to him:
Thus says Ad-nai:
Send free my people, that they may serve me!
Ad-nai said to Moshe:
Come to Pharaoh and speak to him:
Thus says Ad-nai, the God of the Hebrews:
Send free my people, that they may serve me!
Ad-nai said to Moshe:
Come to Pharaoh!
For I have made his heart and the heart of his servants heavy-with-stubbornness,
in order that I may put these my signs among them
~ Those are all the instances of "Come to Pharaoh".
~ What do you make of the language?
~ What do you make of them? Is the one that begins our portion (10:1) any different than the others?
Come to Pharaoh. Why is it written in this plague come to Pharaoh, which is not said in the rest of the plagues? It is said "go to Pharaoh", and here, "come". This is to teach us that the Holy Blessed One's glory fills all the physical reality. And when God wante to speak with Moshe, God spoke with him in Egypt, and when Pharaoh came out of Egypt, God said "go to Pharaoh". But in this plague he is standing in Egypt, and so, God says "come to Pharaoh".
~ This comes a partial manuscript found by Solomon Buber in Aleppo, and published in 1894.
It is dated ~ 12th century CE.
~ How does it explain the verbs? What theology it adds?
בא דבר אל פרעה. בא עמי והכנס בעיר ודבר אל פרעה כי אני אלך עמך אבל במקום אחר שהוא בזמן יציאה חוץ לעיר כתיב לך, כגון לך אל פרעה בבקר הנה יוצא המימה.
!בא דבר אל פרעה, "come with Me, and enter the city, and speak to Pharaoh, since I will be with you". But in a different place, which is the time to go out of the city, the Text says "go" such as "go to Pharaoh in the morning, behold, he is coming out towards the water".
Chizkuni (Rabbi Hezekiah ben Manoah, France, in mid-13th century) seems to be the only classical commentator really bothered by the use of "come" instead of "go". How does he solve the problem? what theology does he add?
(טו) לֵ֣ךְ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֞ה בַּבֹּ֗קֶר הִנֵּה֙ יֹצֵ֣א הַמַּ֔יְמָה וְנִצַּבְתָּ֥ לִקְרָאת֖וֹ עַל־שְׂפַ֣ת הַיְאֹ֑ר וְהַמַּטֶּ֛ה אֲשֶׁר־נֶהְפַּ֥ךְ לְנָחָ֖שׁ תִּקַּ֥ח בְּיָדֶֽךָ׃
GO TO PHARAOH. To his palace. Rabbi Judah Ha-Levi says that two plagues were in the water: one, that it turned red and the fish died; two, that frogs arose from it. Two plagues were on the earth: one of gnats and the second the swarms, which were an assortment of wild animals. And it is written, Let the earth bring forth the living creature (Gen. 1:24). There were likewise two plagues in the air. Murrain (plague) is nothing but a change from the normal in the air’s heat or cold. This change causes an untold number to die in an instant, as the spirit of life which resides in the heart depends on the air. The second plague was the boils. Scripture refers to the firmament which is above their heads as the heaven. The seventh plague was a mixture of the sphere of the whirlwind and the sphere of fire. It is thus written, and fire flashing up amidst the hail (v. 24). The eighth was the plague of locusts which the wind brought from afar. The ninth was a wonderful plague in that the light from the two great luminaries and the stars was absent from above the land of Egypt. The tenth was the descent of the destroyer from the spheres of the glory to kill the first-born.
~ How does Ibn Ezra (Spain, 11th and 12th centuries) solve the problem? What does he use his commentary for?
(1) In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of GOD came to me: (2) O mortal, turn your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. (3) Speak these words: Thus said the Sovereign GOD: I am here on you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great serpent, sprawling in his channels, who said: "My Nile is my own, I made it myself."
Said Rabbi Shimon: now it is time to reveal secrets, that are connected to higher and lower (worlds/beings). Why is it written "come to Pharaoh?" It should read "go to Pharaoh". What is "come"? Rather, the Holy Blessed One made Moshe enter room after room, towards the strong higher serpent, from whom several levels come as a chain from it. And who or what is this? This is the secret of the "great serpent".
And Moshe was afraid of it, and only came close to those rivers, and they are its levels, but he wouldn't come to it directly because he was afraid, since he saw that it was connected (rooted) in the higher connections (roots).
Since the Holy Blessed One saw that Moshe was afraid, and that the appointed higher proxies could not come near it, the Holy Blessed One said: "I am here, on you, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great serpent that sprawls inside his channels" (Ezekiel 29:3). And the Holy Blessed One had to wage war [at that moment] and not later, as it is written "I, Ad-nai" from where they learned "I, and not an agent". And they clarified the secret of the wisdom of the Great Serpent that sprawls on his channels, [the wisdom] of the sages of Midian, that know the secrets of their Master.
~ How does the Zohar understand the language of "come to Pharaoh"?
~ How does the Zohar understand the addition in the haggadah: "I and not an agent/messenger"?
Notes:
~ Seder Hishtalshelut is the chain-like descent of the spiritual worlds, between God and Creation. Each spiritual realm embodies a creative stage God continually uses to go from God's Self to the creation of the physical world, the material Universe being the end of the chain, and the only physical realm. Each spiritual world denotes a complete realm of existence, resulting from its general proximity or distance to divine revelation. Each realm is also a form of consciousness reflected in this world through the psychology of the soul. This is a basic concept both for Kabbalah and Hasidut.
~ sages of Midian - probably the Druze, as they regard Yitro as their ancestor, chief prophet and religious founder.
“God said to Moses: ‘come to Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart, etc.;’” (Exodus 10:1) It is appropriate to examine why in this case God tells Moses to בא אל פרעה, “come to Pharaoh,” whereas elsewhere God told him; לך אל פרעה, "go to Pharaoh.” Another change in nuance which has caught our attention is that in conjunction with the plague of locusts it is said “I have hardened his heart”. The issue is that there are two classes of miracles. One, in order to punish those who have been persecuting His people, and to persuade them to refrain from doing that. Two, in order to bring about a complete change of heart on the princes and advisors to encourage them to do good [for the Jews] instead. And behold, Haman was punished yet Achashverosh was not punished, but God caused his heart to undergo a complete change and he became friendly to the Jews. And there is a hint in our Torah, that each of the plagues lasted for a month. The plague of the killing of the firstborn occurred in the middle of the month of Nissan, so that the plague of hail occurred in the first half of the month of Sh’vat, a month before Purim. This is alluded to in the words "I made his heart heavy" his heart had become captive to Me" - and there is a good measure in that, tht his heart is captive to Me, that I made his heart heavy, since it is apparent that I am able to change the heart of princes and advisors to the good of the children of Israel. And just as we ask and study [the laws of Pesach] thirty days before the chag, so here is the hint that 30 days before Purim God can change the heart of Achashverosh, from what it says "I made his heart heavy". And according to this we explain "come to Pharaoh" since, from the outset, how would Moshe come close to the evil Pharaoh? And to this the Holy One of Blessing said to Moshe "come to Pharaoh", that is, come close to him. And should you say 'how am I going to come close to an evil man?' the answer is 'since I made his heart heavy, and he is captive to My hand, and this is a good and great measure, and I can cause a complete change [in it] to the good of My people the house of Israel.'
~ How does the Kedushat Levi (Levi Yitzchak of Berdychiv, Ukraine,1740 – 1809) understand the expression?
~ What is the theological dimension he adds?
[Regarding] the statement in the Holy Zohar, “Come to Pharaoh (Ex. 10:1) – it should have said ‘go to Pharaoh!’” (cf. Zohar Bo, 2:34a), as well as the question posed by the commentators, which I wrote above – the miracle of the Exodus from Egypt was that the Awareness was in exile with wicked Pharaoh in Egypt; and therefore Israel was exiled there to bring the Awareness from there. And the difficulty of the servitude made it whole, as is stated in Tikkunei Zohar: “And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve… in mortar [be-homer] (Ex. 1:13-14), that is [the logical argument of] ‘…and certainly…’ [kal ve-homer]; and in brick [oo-vil’venim] (Ex. 1:14), that is the heating [libbun] of halakhah; and in all manner of service in the field (Ex. 1:14), that is the external sources; in all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor [b’farekh] (Ex. 1:14), that is argumentation [pirkha]” (Tikkun 9, Supplement 147a), which is to say that all of this was in exile in Egypt. And through their servitude they took the Awareness, which is the Torah, out of the exile. When they served in mortar they brought [the logical argument of] “…and certainly…” out of the exile, and so on for all the other servitudes as we have stated. And therefore when Moses our Teacher, peace be upon him, said, Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me [ – How then shall Pharaoh listen to me] (Ex. 6:12), and Rashi explained, “This is one of ten ‘…and certainly…’ [arguments] in the Torah,” that is to say that when [Moses] said this “…and certainly…” [argument] he brought the “…and certainly…” [argument] in the Torah out of the exile. For the all of the Torah was in the Egyptian exile, since the Awareness was in exile; and the Awareness is the Torah. Now, the Torah begins with [the letter] bet, In the beginning [God] created etc. (Gen. 1:1); but why didn’t the Torah begin with aleph, which is the first of all the letters? Because [if that were the case] the world would not be able to exist for even one hour, and would be nullified from existence because of the letter aleph’s great brightness, since it alludes to the Champion [aluf] of the World, who is Blessed God in [God’s] Glory and [God’s] Essence, as if it were possible. But because the Ad-nai God is a sun and shield (Psalm 84:12) – which is to say just like one can not look at the sun because of its great brightness, only by way of a shade or a shield can one look at the sun’s light – so too, as if it were possible, with a thousand thousands of thousands of distinctions without end or boundary, would it be impossible to exist because of the letter aleph’s great brightness, since it is the Champion of the World. Only by way of a shade or a shield, which is the letter bet – [only] through it does it become possible to constrain the letter aleph so that it can also be in the Torah. For after the letter bet in bereshit we find several alephs, in the word bereshit and in the words bara elohim, once it was constrained by the letter bet. And that is [the meaning of] Come [בא] to Pharaoh, which is to say through the bet the aleph will be in the Torah. And since now the Torah is in exile, therefore I have hardened his heart and [the heart of his servants] (Ex. 10:1) so that Israel will serve in mortar and in brick (Ex. 1:14) to bring the Torah out of exile. And as is stated in Tikkunei Zohar, “… in mortar [be-homer] (Ex. 1:13-14), that is [the logical argument of] ‘…and certainly…’ [kal ve-homer],” as we said above – through this they brought [the argument of] “…and certainly…” out of the exile, and so on for the other servitudes. And that is [the meaning of] that I may show these signs [otot] of mine among them (Ex. 10:1), that the letters [otiot], which belong to the Torah, must be taken out of exile. And the verse concludes, that you may tell … how I have toyed (Ex. 10:2), which is to say that I made Myself small since the Awareness was in smallness. And now you may know (Ex. 10:2), as was stated above.
~ How does the Me'or Eynayim (Rabbi Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, Ukraine, 1730-1797) understand the expression 'go to Pharaoh?' Why is it needed?
~ What is Awareness?
הקושיא מפורסמת שזכרו המפרשים איך נוטל ממנו הבחירה שהיה ראוי להיות חפשית. ועל פי דרכינו נשים לב לדקדק מלת אלה באמרו למען שתי אותותי אלה בקרבו הוא כאלו מורה באצבע על האותות שאלה הם אשר לנגד עיניו ובאמת לא למראה עיניו היה אמנם ענין יציאת מצרים שהיה הדעת בגלות אצל פרעה והוא כי העם אפילו בני ישראל לא ידעו את ה׳ אף על פי שהיה להם בקבלה מפי אבותיהם הקדושים אבות העולם מכל מקום בעבור שהיו דור רביעי נשכח מהם הדעת האמיתי שעליו אמר דוד המלך עליו השלום לשלמה בנו (דברי הימים א כ״ח, ט׳) דע את אלקי אביך וזהו עיקר הגלות שהיה דעת בגלות במצרים ולכן אמר פרעה הרשע מי ה׳ וגו׳ שכפר בעיקר שלא האמין רק בכשפים שהיה מכשף גדול ולא ידע את ה׳ כי אין מלבדו כתיב ואפילו כשפים שמכחישים פמליא של מעלה אין להם יכולת לפעול בלתי רצון השם יתברך כמבואר בש״ם במעשה ברבי חנינא בן דוסא ולכן כשרצה השם יתברך לגאול את עמו בני ישראל ממצרים שיהיה להם הדעת האמיתי ולהורות כי ה׳ הוא האלקים שהוא תקיף ובעל היכולת ובעל הכחות כולם אמר למען שתי אותותי אלה בקרבו בעבור שהוא כפר בעיקר בשביל חסרון געת ואמר מי ה׳ אצרף אותותי אלה בקרבו כלומר שהיה אצלו בגלות ועל ידי זה הצירוף יהיה תיבת אלקים בשלימות ויודע כי ה׳ הוא האלקים הוא התקיף ובעל היכולת ואין עוד מלבדו ואפילו כשפים כאמור:
On the famous question, posed by the commentators: How could Choice be taken from [Pharaoh], when it was supposed to be free? And based on our way we should pay attention to read precisely the word 'these' in [God’s] statement, that I may show these signs of mine among them (Ex. 9:1) – it is as if [God] points with a finger at the signs, that here they are before [Moses’] eyes; but in truth they were not visible to his eyes. However, the point of the Exodus from Egypt was that Awareness was in exile with Pharaoh; and that meant that the nation, although they were the Children of Israel, did not know God even though they had a tradition from the mouth of their holy ancestors, the fathers of the world. Nevertheless, since they were the fourth generation they had forgotten the true Awareness about which King David, peace be upon him, said to his son Solomon, know the God of your father (1 Chron. 28:9). And that is the essence of the exile, that Awareness was in exile in Egypt. And therefore wicked Pharaoh said Who is Ad-nai? etc. (Ex. 5:2), that he denied the essential principle and believed only in sorcery. For he was a great sorcerer and did not know God or that it is written, “there is none but [God] (Deut. 4:35)" even sorcery, “which contradicts the power of Heaven” (Sanhedrin 67b); they have no ability to act beyond Blessed God’s will, as is explained in the Talmud in the incident of Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa. And therefore when Blessed God wanted to redeem [God’s] nation the Children of Israel from Egypt so that they would have the true Awareness, and to teach them that the Ad-nai is God (Deut. 4:35), powerful and master of all abilities and powers, [God] said that I may show these signs of mine among them. That is to say, it was with [Pharaoh] in exile, and through this combination the word “Elohim” will be in wholeness and, and it will be known that Ad-nai is Elohim, [God] is powerful and master of ability, and there is none but [God], even sorcery as we have stated.
~ What is the basic understanding of the Me'or haEynaim of the question of choice?
~ How does he explain sorcery?
“Go, speak unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt,” (Shemot, 6:11)
It is written in the Midrash (Tanchuma, Vaeira, 2), “The saying goes, there is no profit in acacia wood, only in thorns.” What could this enigmatic saying mean? Pharaoh did not listen to Moshe, nor did the children of Israel, as the verse says, “they did not listen …” The children of Israel are the acacia. Saying “there is no profit in acacia wood,” is as if to say, though Israel is like a good tree with strong roots, the real profit is in the thorny tree, Pharaoh’s oppression. Before the slavery was harsh, Israel did not listen to Moshe. Pharaoh’s insolence and obstinacy served to cause Israel to listen to Moshe, and from this we can recognize the advantage of Pharaoh over the children of Israel.
~ Why did the harshness of Pharaoh moved the Israelites?
~ Left to its own devices, what would have happened to Israel, according to the Mei Hashiloach, in our story?