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As the drama of the
Exodus from Egypt draws nearer its climax in this week’s Torah reading,
one cannot help but be struck by the stubbornness of Pharaoh in the face
of all of the plagues visited upon him and his nation. His advisers had
long before told him that all was lost and that he should cut his losses
quickly by freeing the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. This
seemingly wise and rational counsel was rejected by Pharaoh out of hand.
Pharaoh sees
himself as a godlike figure, omniscient, supremely brilliant and all
knowing. He is trapped in a propaganda web of his own making – he can
never admit to being wrong or to having made an error of judgment or
policy. In the course of human history this has often been the fatal
error made by dictators who were always supremely confident in their
arrogance and who never acknowledged their mistakes.
Just recall the
mass murderers and dictators of our past century – Hitler, Stalin, Mao,
Pol Pot, Arafat, etc. None of them ever admitted to error and all of them
led their people to disaster and untold suffering. This was the arrogance
of power overwhelming rational thought and nullifying good strategic
planning. There is also an arrogance of intellect. The intellectuals
amongst us, who always know what is best for everyone else, are never
reticent about rendering opinions on all issues and policies. Again, the
fact that they have been wrong – dead wrong – so many times in the past
causes them no inhibition in advancing their current viewpoints.
The Torah seems to
attribute Pharaoh’s continuing folly of unreasonable stubbornness, to
God, so to speak, ‘hardening his heart.’ This implies that somehow
Pharaoh’s freedom of choice was diminished and he could not have
capitulated to the demands of Moshe even if he had wished to do so. This
philosophic and theological difficulty has been dealt with by the great
commentators of Israel over the ages, with varying theories offered and
advanced.
It seems from many
of their opinions that at a certain point in human decision- making, a
tipping point is achieved when the leader can no longer admit to error
and remain the leader. ‘Hardening’ the leader’s heart means there is an
unwillingness to give up one’s position of power. Very few leaders in the
history of humanity have willingly surrendered power.
Simply rising to a
position of leadership, let alone absolute and dictatorial power, almost
automatically ‘hardens one’s heart’ and limits one’s choices and policy
options. The Torah blesses a generation that is privileged to have a
leader that is capable of admitting sin and error and can offer a public
sacrifice in the Temple in atonement.
The greatness of
King David lies not only in his heroic spiritual and physical accomplishments
as king of Israel but in his ability to admit to personal failings and
errors of judgment. Pharaoh is incapable of such self-scrutiny and
realistic humility. His lust for power has ‘hardened his heart’ beyond
the power of recall. He has doomed himself as have so may of his ilk over
the centuries.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Berel Wein
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