{"id":626,"date":"2021-05-25T16:23:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T19:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/wordpress\/?p=626"},"modified":"2021-06-07T09:31:30","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T12:31:30","slug":"on-the-parshah-come-to-pharaoh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/2021\/05\/25\/on-the-parshah-come-to-pharaoh\/","title":{"rendered":"ON THE PARSHAH: “COME TO PHARAOH”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Summary)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the spiritual interpretations of Judaism, more meaningful than historical chronology is seasonal synchronicity. The plagues of Egypt precede Purim by almost a thousand years. Yet the date of a plague can be interpreted as being directly linked to and preparing for the dynamics of Purim.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the plagues of Egypt, G-d merely overthrew an evil king. But in the story of Purim, G-d turned the heart of an evil king to favor Israel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the seed of the story of Egypt blossoms the story of Purim.]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Hashem said to Moshe: Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart” (Shemos 10:1).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does the verse state “Come to Pharaoh,” whereas elsewhere the expression used is “Go to Pharaoh”?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also: Why specifically in context of the plague of locusts does G-d state “I have hardened his heart”?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two types of miracles carried out for the sake of the Jewish people.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is that G-d punishes those who harm the Jewish people. As a result, the evil ceases.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second is that G-d reverses the hearts of political leaders, so that they actually come to plan good things for the Jewish people.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate: in Megillas Esther, we find that Haman–not Achashveirosh–was punished. But G-d turned Achashveirosh’s heart to good in regard to His nation, the house of Israel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All this is alluded to in this week’s Torah reading.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sages teach that every plague lasted one month (Shemos Rabbah 9:12). We can deduce that the plague of locusts began in the middle of Shevat–thirty days before what would one day be Purim (in the middle of Adar).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here on earth, we delve into the laws of a holiday thirty days before it begins (Pesachim 6a). This has a heavenly analogue. Thirty days before a holiday, the heavenly dynamics begin to prepare for that holiday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plague of locusts took place thirty days before what would one day be Purim. The event of the plague of locusts presaged the dynamics of Purim.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the plague of locusts, G-d stated, “I have hardened his heart.” This indicates that Pharaoh’s heart was under the control of G-d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we have a general principle that “the good always outweighs the bad” (Sotah 11a).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if G-d has the power to harden Pharaoh’s heart, He is certainly able to carry out His tendency to turn hearts to the good: that is, to reverse the hearts of political leaders and advisors for good regarding His nation, the house of Israel.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This indicates that in the time of Purim, the heart of Achashverosh would actually turn to the good.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In accordance with this, we can interpret as follows:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

G-d told Moshe: “Come to Pharaoh.”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But how could Moshe bring himself close to the evil Pharaoh?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

G-d explained to Moshe: “Come to Pharaoh”–meaning, “Bring yourself close to him. You may ask how you can approach such an evil man. The answer is that I have hardened his heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, he is given over into My hand–and the good always outweighs the bad. Thus, I can turn everything to the good for my nation, the house of Israel.”
Kedushas Levi<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev (Summary) In the spiritual interpretations of Judaism, more meaningful than historical chronology is seasonal synchronicity. The plagues of Egypt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":627,"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/berdichev.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}