Iran’s Attack on Israel
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Shemos, 7:15: “Go to Pharaoh in the morning; behold, he is going to the water, and you will stand towards him on the edge of the river and you shall take in your hand the rod that turned into a snake.
Rashi, 7:15, Dh: Hineh yotsi lemaya: “To perform his bodily needs; because he made himself into a god and said that he did not need to perform bodily needs. So, he would rise early and go the Nile and perform his needs.
At the onset of the Ten Plagues, God instructs Moshe to approach Pharaoh while he is going out to the River Nile. Rashi, based on the Midrash, relates the background to this instruction. Pharaoh, in addition to being the all-powerful leader of the mightiest Empire in the word, claimed that he was no mere human being, rather he was a god. The problem with this assertion is that gods generally do not need to perform the normal bodily functions of regular human beings. In order to hide the fact that he was not in fact divine, Pharaoh would go to the Nile early in the morning to perform those functions so that nobody would be aware that he was doing so. God specifically instructed Moshe to approach him at that time to embarrass him and to show that it was evident that he was a regular human being.
The following question arises: As is obvious, most people do not suffice with performing bodily functions once a day. Accordingly, it would seem that at least on some occasions, Pharaoh must have endured considerably discomfort by not relieving himself, in order to keep up the façade that he was a god. Accordingly, why did Pharaoh put himself through this painful process in order to ‘prove’ that he was divine? On a practical level, it would not seemed to have made any difference to his life – he was already incredibly powerful and wealthy, and could do whatever he wanted.
This question can be answered by a teaching of Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz. He spoke at length about people’s desire for honor. In the words of Rabbi Yissachar Frand:
This is how crazy people become regarding their kavod [honor]. People will twist themselves into pretzels for the smallest amount of kavod, in Pharaoh’s case, for the difference between people thinking he is an omnipotent human being and their thinking he is an omnipotent god. For that insignificant difference, which was of no practical value to Pharaoh, he made himself painfully uncomfortable on a daily basis. This is the blinding power of kavod.
The Birkat Mordechai1 uses this insight to answer a well-known question that many commentaries raise. At the very beginning of the effort to free the Jews, Moshe argued to God that even the Jewish people would not listen to him, so how could he expect Pharaoh to listen to him.2 This is one of the few Biblical examples of the Talmudic principle of ‘kal v’chomer’ [a fortiori]: If the Children of Israel who wanted to hear the words “you are getting out of Egypt” did not listen to me, argued Moshe, certainly Pharaoh who would not want to hear such a message will not listen.
The commentaries ask that this is not a valid a fortiori argument (kal v’chomer) because the Torah itself explains why the Children of Israel did not listen to Moshe — “due to shortness of breath and hard labor”.3 Since this preoccupation did not apply to Pharaoh, perhaps he would listen to Moshe. Consequently, the kal v’chomer is thus nullified. The Birkat Mordechai answers that this was indeed a good kal v’chomer. It is true that the Jewish people were preoccupied because of the pressure of hard labor, which prevented them from heeding Moshe’s words. However, there was an equally good reason that Pharaoh could not listen either. He also had a terrible obsession and a terrible pressure. He had to go around the whole day playing ‘god’ to the extent that he had to control his bathroom habits to support his charade. This was at least as overwhelming a distraction as that faced by the Jewish people. Therefore, the kal v’chomer was a valid logical argument.
We have seen that Pharaoh presented himself as a god. This self-belief served as a major impediment to his ever admitting the omnipotence of the true God, because this would in turn demonstrate his own weakness. Thus, it seems that the timing of Moshe’s ‘visit’ did not merely serve to embarrass Pharaoh, rather it was the first step in the process of breaking his incredible arrogance in as a prerequisite to his finally submitting to God.
How do these lessons apply to our lives – not too many people think of themselves as gods! However, it seems that there is a great deal to learn from Pharaoh for each person on their level. It is quite feasible, based on his behavior, that Pharaoh himself believed that he was a god despite his knowledge that he was not above the regular functioning of the human body. This is obviously irrational, but it demonstrates the power of self-deception – convincing oneself that he has certain qualities or is a certain type of person and trying to foist this image onto others. In this way, we can all learn from Pharaoh, as we are all prone to self-deception and caring about what other thinks about us, more than the actual reality. A person might try to show that he is very intelligent or very worldly, or hide certain flaws, and actually come to believe deep down that his public image is accurate. However, this form of self-deception is very damaging, in that it causes the person to focus more on his appearance than this true essence. The first stage in rectifying this flaw is to honestly examine oneself and to internalize that his true level is the only thing that matters in God’s eyes, not how he appears to the world. Pharaoh had to endure great suffering to learn this lesson, but if a person makes the effort himself, then he can find his true self, without needing God’s ‘assistance’.
