Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari
Shalom,
Pharaoh was known to be an intellectual thinker. You don’t just become the king of the mightiest country of the world at the time, you better deserve it. The country went through the plagues: Blood, Frogs, Lice, Wild Animals and Pestilence. The plagues came upon the Egyptians as promised like clockwork and…and they would skip the Hebrews. ‎”When Pharaoh inquired, he found that not a head of the livestock of Israel had died” (Shemot 9:7) He sent his inspectors and agents to see for themselves. After they reported back to Pharaoh what they found; nothing of the Jews had died-not even of sickness or old age- not even one!
“And he would not let the people go.†He still wouldn’t free them, even after seeing these wonderful miracles that couldn’t possibly be explained, as the Seforno comments. So what was his response? How should he have reacted? The truth is that he wasn’t looking for an answer, all he wanted was to attack. If it worked, good; If not, he would shamelessly go on and wait for another opportunity.
Unfortunately, you see this time and again. If a person would stop and look at a bug, a fruit, or even the intricacies of his own limbs, it should shake him to get closer and closer to his creator…
The Alshech Hakadosh brings the verse “‎When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, ‘Produce your marvel,’ “(Shemot 7:9) what is “ and say� He explains that HaShem is telling Moshe and Aharon that Pharaoh only wants to “say†to attack. Even if you show him many more marvels he won’t be fazed!!!
Our job is to pay attention to the world around us, to come to realize the greatness of the creator, and to change our ways and come closer to Him through Torah and Misvot.