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Thawing a Heart

Friday, 27 January, 2017 - 11:06 am

In Boise’s harshest winter in decades, we have had our share of small challenges.  One morning I awoke to discover that we had no water in our home.  One pipe supplying our well tank had frozen overnight.  I was able to use a hair dryer and space heater to thaw the pipe, but for some reason that didn’t solve the problem. I eventually learned that the system needed to be emptied, shut off, and then restarted in order for the pressure to build and supply the home with water.

Even after the external challenge of freezing temperatures was eliminated, there still was an internal challenge of creating pressure and restarting the flow of water.

This experience made me think that sometimes in life we have both external and internal challenges. We might eliminate one, but still face another.

***

When Moshe argued with Hashem that he was unworthy and incapable of representing Hashem to Pharaoh and redeeming the Jewish people, Hashem responded, “See! I have made you a lord over Pharaoh, and Aharon, your brother, will be your speaker. You shall speak all that I command you, and Aaron, your brother, shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel out of his land.”

Aharon and Moshe were a team that went to Pharaoh to demand the release of the Jewish people. As this week’s parsha Va’era tells, Par’oh was not very receptive to their words, but eventually would concede and admit that Hashem was Master of the universe.

Why, however, did Hashem send both Moshe and Aharon? If Aharon was there to be Moshe’s mouthpiece, what was Moshe’s job? Couldn’t Moshe simply have dispatched Aharon as his spokesman?

The Midrash explains that they both played a role. Moshe would repeat Hashem words – verbatim in Hebrew – and Aharon would translate them and explain them to Par’oh, who did not understand Hebrew.

That explains what Moshe actually did. However, why did Moshe need to repeat G-d’s words in front of Par’oh, especially if the Pharaoh did not understand them?

***

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, the famed Chafetz Chaim, once sent a delegation of Rabbis to implore the Polish authorities to ease their recently-imposed restriction on kosher laws. The Rabbis returned with the gloomy news that their meeting failed because none of the members in the delegation spoke Polish, only Yiddish, and, as such, they had difficulty communicating their petition.

“Did anybody faint?!” exclaimed the Chafetz Chaim. “If someone would have fainted, they would have changed the law immediately.”

Some things can be communicated in any language. Or in no language whatsoever.

***

Similarly, the Chassidic Masters explain that Moshe’s role was to instill fear in the heart of Pharaoh (“I have made you a lord over Pharaoh”). By repeating, verbatim and in Hebrew, Hashem’s instruction, Pharaoh would have a direct communication from the Almighty. This would break the façade that he created around himself.

However, Moshe’s communication was imposed from the outside. Hashem didn’t want to simply force Par’oh’s hand.  He wanted Egypt’s king to come to terms with the fact that G-d was King and that the Jews deserved to be liberated. G-d wanted to effect internal change in Par’oh’s heart. For this, Aharon played a critical role. His job was to convince Pharaoh. It took a while, but ultimately, Par’oh did acknowledge the Almighty.

***

We, too, suffer from a Pharaoh mentality. Sometimes our ego gets the best of us and we fail to see the hand of G-d in our lives. Like Pharaoh, we want everything to operate according to our terms, not Hashem’s.

In our effort to surrender our egos to the Almighty, we might do well to consider a lesson from the tag-team of Moshe and Aharon.

Opening ourselves to the signs from the outside is a great start. But, like a recently thawed pipe, internal change is the next step.

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