Parashat Va’era
Torah Reading
Maftir: Numbers 28:9-15
Haftarah: Isaiah 66:1-24 (Shabbat Rosh Chodesh)
Haftarah: Isaiah 66:1-24 (Shabbat Rosh Chodesh)
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CHOLESTEROL OF THE SOUL
“And I will harden
Pharaoh’s heart, ...” Exodus 7:3
The notion that God
hardened Pharaoh’s heart raises great difficulty. What does this say about free
will? Rabbi Yochanan asks, “Doesn’t this provide heretics with ground for
arguing that he had no means of repenting?” If God caused Pharaoh to
refuse to let the Israelites go, if he foreclosed Pharaoh from repentance, if
everything is preordained, then how can anyone be held accountable for their
actions? To paraphrase Abraham, how can God, the judge of all the world,
then claim to be acting justly?
For the first five plagues,
“Pharaoh’s heart hardened” - he chose to act as he did. But for the last
five plagues, “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”. In the Midrash, Resh Lakish
says, “Let the mouths of the heretics be stopped up. ‘If to scorners, He
will scorn.’ (Proverbs 3:34) When God warns a man once, twice, even three
times, and still he does not repent, then God closes his heart against
repentance so that He should exact vengeance from him for his
sins.” Still, why does God harden Pharaoh’s heart at all? Or does God
really do that?
Interestingly, in the
Talmud, Resh Lakish gives a different and more satisfying answer. He says,
“What is the meaning of ‘If to scorners, he will scorn; and to the meek he
gives favor’? If he tries to defile himself, he is given an opening; if he
tries to purify himself, he is helped.” Note the lower case here. Not
God, but man. If we turn to scorners, we will scorn. If we turn to
the meek, we give ourselves favor. We always have the choice to open our
hearts and souls or harden them to the cries of others. If we choose evil,
God passively leaves openings, which we can choose to enter - or not. If
we choose time and again to harden our souls, it becomes more and more
difficult for us to change our ways. But the difficult is not impossible. Because,
says Resh Lakish, if we choose goodness, God affirmatively helps us.
Unclog the arteries of
your soul, and heed the cries of those in need.
Shabbat Shalom v'Chodesh
Tov.
Rabbi Richard A. Flom
Congregation Beth Meier
Blogging at: http://rav-rich.blogspot.com
Visit me on Facebook
Twitter: @DrahcirMolf
"שתיקה כהודאה דמיא"
"Silence in the face
of wrongdoing is consent.”
BT Yevamot 87b
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Candle
lighting: 5:00 pm
Friday – Shabbat Evening
Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday – Shabbat Morning Service –
10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday – Religious School
Tuesday – NO Lunch and Learn –
Resume February 7.
Friday, 3
February – Shabbat
Evening Service – 8:00 pm. Oneg Shabbat follows.
Saturday, 4
February – Shabbat
Morning Service – 10:00 am. Kiddush luncheon follows.
Sunday, 5
February –
Religious School – 9:30 am. Adult Hebrew – 10:00 am.
Tuesday, 7
February – Lunch
and Learn – 12:00 noon.
Friday, 10
February – Musical,
Guitar-Accompanied Shabbat Service – 6:00 pm, followed by Shabbat Dinner – 7:00
pm. Dinner reservations required. Watch your mail for flyer!
This d'var torah
is offered for a refuah shleimah for Avi Shmuel Yosef Hakohen ben Bella,
Zehavah B’rakhah bat Leah, Yaakov Rani Ben Margalit, Sarah bat Devorah, Susan
Arbetman, Ken Bitticks, Elsbet Brosky, Jerry Daniels, Maya Fersht (Maya bat
Esther), Dr. Samuel Fersht (Shmuel Natan ben Gittel), Leonard Foint (Eliezer
Moshe ben Esther), Jerry Forman, Beth Goldstein, Myra Goodman, Simon Hartman,
Fouad Kay (Yehoshua ben Salima), Bonnie Kleiger, Philip Kovac, Tonya Kronzek,
Toni Linder, Roy Miller, Carol Rosen (Tsharna Aliza bat Leah), Deborah Schugar
Strauss (Devorah bat Chaya Feiga), Helen Schugar (Chaya Feiga bat Kreina), and
Naomi Zimmermann (Naomi bat Yorma).
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