Bo is a fascinating portion. It follows the developing story of Moses and the Israelites and the final plagues. It chronicles the call for the Passover as a ritual to celebrate liberation. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart (10:1,2) and we see the ultimate threat of the killing of the first born as the trigger for eventual freedom. Curious that at the end of the portion the Israelites are called to dedicate their first born of everything from crops to first born son to the service to God. (13:11ff). This is a portion filled with layers of meaning, from history to ritual; ethics to theology.
There are numerous discussions surrounding the hardening of the heart of Pharaoh. We see texts that state God caused this and thus the question is raised as to really how culpable was Pharaoh in this drama if he was “controlled” by God (and then why would God do such a thing?). Other discussion center around the fact that Pharaoh acts, at times, as if on his own, thus as one modern commentator stated Pharaoh’s action were a result of his now natural inclination and that he”hardened his heart on his own.”
That raised the question, do we follow inclinations that are there for us, ingrained in us all the time, as part of natural inclination? There is a passage from Talmud (Makkot 10b) that states that “A person is led by the way he wishes to follow”. Do we follow a path that has been there for us all along? As we grow older and look back at our journey of life, have we made choices that follow a path that really was part of our path? How much free choice did we actually have? Have our life choices been “programmed”? Have we arrived at a stage in our life that was there all along?
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Richard F Address
Rabbi Richard F. Address, D.Min, is the Founder and Director of www.jewishsacredaging.com. Rabbi Address served for over three decades on staff of the Union for Reform Judaism; first as a Regional Director and then, beginning in 1997, as Founder and Director of the URJ’s Department of Jewish Family Concerns and served as a specialist and consultant for the North American Reform Movement in the areas of family related programming. Rabbi Address was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1972 and began his rabbinic career in Los Angeles congregations. He also served as a part time rabbi for Beth Hillel in Carmel, NJ while regional director and, after his URJ tenure, served as senior rabbi of Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ from 2011-2014.
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