A central theme in the
parasha is Pharaoh's refusal to set free the Israelites despite him and his
people suffering the terrible consequences of his stubbornness and
counter-will. Pharaoh's stubbornness and
defiance was reinforced by God ' hardening his heart ' so that after a
temporary relief from a plague, Pharaoh would go back on his word and was able
to endure the divine plan of 10 plagues. The first question is how can God punish
Pharaoh if his refusal to set the Israelites free was due to ' o' nes '= coercion,
duress and force. It was beyond Pharaoh's power and control to set them free because
God had hardened his heart against making this decision. The second question is
why Pharaoh and people in general don't learn from their mistakes or bad choices,
even when they suffer the terrible consequences of their choices and behaviors.
The classical example is the alcoholic who because of drink loses his job, his
wife leaves him, or gets imprisoned for destructive behavior under the
influence of drink. He then shows remorse and makes promises to abstain from drink,
which is usually short-lived and he is soon back in trouble again. Like Pharaoh ,
when they feel the stick beating down on them, they repent and do teshuva, but
when the stick is removed , they go back to their old ways.
The hardening of
Pharaoh's heart had 2 purposes. It came after an initial expression of
stubbornness and obstinacy that had to be supported and counter-act the pain and suffering inflicted by the
plagues. God did not want Pharaoh to release the people because of extrinsic reasons
that he was unable to bear the suffering caused by the plagues. The Divine plan was that Pharaoh would release
the Israelites when genuinely moved to repent and not for the wrong reasons -
to avoid the consequences, punishments and suffering. The second purpose was to
strengthen and highlight Pharaoh true will and intrinsic choice – to keep the
Israelites as slaves. He was therefore not interested in setting them free. Although
Pharaoh had no choice but to defy Moses' request and to refuse to set the
people free because God had hardened his heart, this was truly what he wanted
in his heart and therefore he was punished for this. There is a concept that
when a person is forced or coerced to do something wrong or sin because of '
o'nes ' or duress, and there is an element of willingness on his part to do the
action, the willingness in his heart defines the nature of the action. Instead of
one being forced and therefore not accountable, the person, because of his
deeper inner-will is said to have done the action intentionally
and willingly. This is learned from the verse in Jeremiah 30:14. עַ֚ל
רֹ֣ב עֲוֹנֵ֔ךְ עָצְמ֖וּ חַטֹּאתָֽיִךְ׃If most of a person sins were done intentionally – be'meizid,
his unintentional mistakes are considered as intentional sins, since without
being mistaken or acting without intention, he would have intentionally done those
wrongs and sins at some later stage. So while Pharaoh's actions were not in his
control, his heart approved and wanted what he was forced to do.
The reason why people
don't sustain change over a long period of time is because they engage in the
repentance of Pharaoh – repenting because of extrinsic reasons, changing just
to avoid the consequences of sin and inappropriate behavior. And once there is
relief from the consequences, they engage in denial or rationalizing what
happened to them as being unfair or bad luck etc, and soon goes back to their
old ways. Change can be sustained if a person has a new sense of purpose and a new
vision of himself. His essential needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness
need to be addressed as well. Change cannot be sustained if a person feels
forced to change or change just to avoid consequences. He has to change because
he believes in the positive value in what he does. Pharaoh has to change
because he acknowledges God's role in the world and the role of the Israelites
in God's plans. People need to feel
self-determined, autonomous, and connected to their inner-beingsand values. So
adopting a new life style and focusing on the underlying philosophy helps
people with drink, eating, gambling, anger issues etc. Often people are lagging
skills and competence required in order to adopt and live a new life style. They
also need a lot of guidance to learn new skills. Then
people also need to be supported by family, friends and care givers and to have
a sense of belonging and acceptance. In this way, even if progress is 2 steps
forward , one step back , their hearts are for doing the right thing and the
teshuva they do is genuine , not the teshuva of Pharaoh done to avoid
consequences.
When it comes to kids,
most of their behavior can be described as beyond their control as they are
lacking the skills needed to behave adaptively and flexibly when the demands that
outstrip their skills are placed on them. If we support their autonomy,
competence, relatedness and sense of belonging we will raise children who will
engage in true teshuva and sustain real change in their lives, engaging in an autonomous way in the moral act of restitution and reparation and not do
the teshuva of Pharaoh simply to avoid consequences. In this way we sustain
change and create a commitment to the underlying values involved.
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