Bo

In this weeks Parsha, the Torah tells us of the last 3 plagues Hashem sent upon the Egyptians. The Pasuk says regarding Makas Bechoros, “Ya’yakam Pharaoh Layla” (Pharaoh got up in the middle of the night). Rashi on this Pasuk adds one word: “M’mitaso” (from his bed).

What is Rashi adding? Of course he got up from his bed! Where else?

Rav Yaakov Galinsky, a Mashgiach from Bnei Brak, says that maybe Rashi was telling us something about Pharaoh's attitude. The simple meaning of the Pasuk could have meant that he got up from his throne and he went to look for Moshe and Aharon to beg for mercy. Rashi therefore tells us that he got up from his bed. He went to sleep that night.

At first glance this seems very difficult. How could he have gone to sleep? The Egyptians have suffered through 9 plagues, there country has basically been destroyed, and Pharaoh finds out that the last plague was going to occur that night. Pharaoh wasn’t nervous? He himself was a Bechor! Imagine someone tells you that an earthquake is going to hit tonight. Would be able to sleep that night? Would you be comfortable? How could Pharaoh deny the reality that was staring him in the face?

We find a similar idea in the end of last weeks Parsha by Makas Barad. The Torah tells us that the ones that feared Hashem brought their cattle and slaves in from the fields, but the ones that didn’t fear the words of Hashem left their property outside. How could the Egyptians have been so blind? How could they have totally disregarded the warning they have received?

The Steipler ,in his sefer on Chumash, answers that sometimes a person can know the truth but he doesn’t internalize the truth. A person’ heart sometimes doesn’t allow him to act on his knowledge. If a person doesn’t want to believe, it doesn’t matter how many proofs he has, his heart will win out over his mind.

Psychologists call this cognitive dissonance. When there is a disconnect between the heart and the mind. A person can know the truth but his heart will win out his mind and will prevent him from acting on that knowledge. It’s not enough for a person to hear the truth. He has to be listening to the truth. Sometimes a parent gets angry at a child and they scold the child, criticize the child, and the child is just sitting there with no reaction. The parent will turn to the child and say, “Do you hear me?!” The parent is not asking the child if they literally hear. What the parent is asking is whether the child is listening. Is it registering on you or just going in one ear and out the other? A person has to be able to open his mind and his heart and be ready to internalize what is going on around him.

Growth in Torah is no different. If a person has an open heart, an open mind, if he is willing to listen, if he is looking for new opportunities to grow, than he'll grow no matter where life takes him. Whether it be the work place or school, if we are willing to grow the opportunities will always be there.

(completely from his Rebbe, Rav Koenigsberg)- As transcribed by my roommate YP