Dear Friends,
Pharaoh originally said “NO!” when pressed by Moses and Aaron to “Let my people go!” Actually, Pharaoh said it repeatedly.
However, near the end of this week’s Torah portion, Pharaoh relented and changed his heart. He called Moses and Aaron to his palace and announced, “Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go, worship the Eternal as you said!” (Exodus 12:31)
What made Pharaoh change his mind?
Clearly, the common answer was the Plagues which God poured upon Egypt, successively destroying her water, air, crops, animals, sun, and ultimately, the firstborn sons which resulted in terminating the Pharaonic dynasty. Yet, the answer to why Pharaoh changed his mind is more complex.
Likely, it wasn’t simply the plagues which did him in, and resulted in his people and his advisors recommending a change of decision and strategy. Rather, it was the cumulative effect of the plagues.
Pharaoh, and the Egyptians could manage any one plague at a time, or even two at a time. (In several instances plagues were coupled to undermine both the Egyptian gods and their portfolios. For instance, the frogs and the blood coupled to destroy the god of water and the Nile water source, while the hail and the locusts worked in tandem to destroy Egyptian agriculture and the agronomy god.) One or two plagues at a time were bearable. But ten of them successively was a different matter.
So too, for each of us. Many, if not most of us, will face multiple hardships or pains in our lifetimes, if not in a decade, year or month. There may be health issues, financial challenges, household woes, family concerns. And, hopefully, for most of us, we may be fortunate to address one issue at a time. As such, we can focus our attention, seek help, make decisions, and gain a worthy resolution. That issue is resolved, or dissolved.
However, when multiple challenges gang up and inundate or overwhelm a person, or a community or a nation, then there is the added challenge of the compounding, cascading effect of stresses, pains and suffering. Witness the Ukrainian people this past year. Witness anyone we know with medical issues which result in financial hardship, which adds mental stress and further physical ailments.
There is an Israeli phrase, “Yesh g’vul,” “There is a limit.” Every individual and community faces their g’vulot – their limits – when pains or plagues come surging and tumbling down, beyond which, something breaks. For each of us, it is up to our coping and management skills. For Pharaoh, it was ten plagues.
Yes, there are limits. It is helpful to know and prepare for them!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Pharaoh originally said “NO!” when pressed by Moses and Aaron to “Let my people go!” Actually, Pharaoh said it repeatedly.
However, near the end of this week’s Torah portion, Pharaoh relented and changed his heart. He called Moses and Aaron to his palace and announced, “Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go, worship the Eternal as you said!” (Exodus 12:31)
What made Pharaoh change his mind?
Clearly, the common answer was the Plagues which God poured upon Egypt, successively destroying her water, air, crops, animals, sun, and ultimately, the firstborn sons which resulted in terminating the Pharaonic dynasty. Yet, the answer to why Pharaoh changed his mind is more complex.
Likely, it wasn’t simply the plagues which did him in, and resulted in his people and his advisors recommending a change of decision and strategy. Rather, it was the cumulative effect of the plagues.
Pharaoh, and the Egyptians could manage any one plague at a time, or even two at a time. (In several instances plagues were coupled to undermine both the Egyptian gods and their portfolios. For instance, the frogs and the blood coupled to destroy the god of water and the Nile water source, while the hail and the locusts worked in tandem to destroy Egyptian agriculture and the agronomy god.) One or two plagues at a time were bearable. But ten of them successively was a different matter.
So too, for each of us. Many, if not most of us, will face multiple hardships or pains in our lifetimes, if not in a decade, year or month. There may be health issues, financial challenges, household woes, family concerns. And, hopefully, for most of us, we may be fortunate to address one issue at a time. As such, we can focus our attention, seek help, make decisions, and gain a worthy resolution. That issue is resolved, or dissolved.
However, when multiple challenges gang up and inundate or overwhelm a person, or a community or a nation, then there is the added challenge of the compounding, cascading effect of stresses, pains and suffering. Witness the Ukrainian people this past year. Witness anyone we know with medical issues which result in financial hardship, which adds mental stress and further physical ailments.
There is an Israeli phrase, “Yesh g’vul,” “There is a limit.” Every individual and community faces their g’vulot – their limits – when pains or plagues come surging and tumbling down, beyond which, something breaks. For each of us, it is up to our coping and management skills. For Pharaoh, it was ten plagues.
Yes, there are limits. It is helpful to know and prepare for them!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
