In this week’s Parsha, we read about the first 7 of the 10 מכות. By מכת שחין, the 6th מכה, the פסוק says:
ויחזק ה’ את לב פרעה ולא שמע אליהם
Hashem hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Many of the מפרשים are bothered by a very basic question: We know that
הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים
Each person has בחירה חופשית- free will to choose good or bad. And it’s due to בחירה that we’re held accountable for our actions. However, if Hashem strengthened Paroah’s heart, he then had no בחירה. How then was he accountable for not allowing בני ישראל to leave מצרים?
We can perhaps answer this based on the words of חז”ל
עתידים הצדיקים לראות את יצר הרע כהר גבוה, ויתמהו ויאמרו, איך יכולנו לכבוש הר גבוה עליון הזה. ועתידים הרשעים לראות את יצר הרע דק כחוט השערה, ויתמהו ויאמרו, איך לא יכולנו לכבוש את חוט השערה הדק הזה.
The day will come when both the צדיקים and the רשעים will be shown the יצר הרע. To the צדיקים it will appear as a great mountain, while to the רשעים it appears as a thin thread. What are חז”ל alluding to in these words?
Another חז”ל sheds light on this:
עבר אדם עבירה ושנה בה, נעשית לו כהיתר.
A person who repeatedly engages in an עבירה, will eventually regard it as a permitted act. This is because the more an action is repeated, the more ingrained it becomes in a person’s nature. When a person is first challenged by the יצר הרע it is fairly easy to overcome, as is symbolized by the thin thread. However, after he succumbs again and again, it eventually becomes an ingrained habit, symbolized by the great mountain. The צדיק sees how great the יצר הרע can become and is grateful he never allowed it to grow big, while the רשע realizes how easy it could have been for him to not allow the יצר הרע to grow in the first place, and bemoans how he allowed it to overcome him.
We can now understand why Paraoh is held responsible for his actions even when it’s Hashem Himself who hardens his heart. For the first 5 מכות, Paraoh chose on his own to not send בני ישראל out, despite the warning signs he received. After repeatedly hardening his heart through his own volition, he eventually lost his ability to choose correctly. It was through his own actions and choices that he finally reached the point that he could no longer choose correctly.
The lesson we can gleam from here is that we cannot allow the יצר הרע to entice us by saying “it’s only once ” as that opens a pathway for the יצר הרע to grow stronger, and our ability to hold back in the future gradually weakens.
We’ll conclude with a story that highlights this point, told over by the Chofetz Chaim. 2 of the leading משכילים in Lithuania were Berel Levenson, and his friend Ahron Ginzburg. Both were Apikorsim, who spent their life spreading השכלה and secularism. Not fully believing in the afterlife they made a deal that whoever dies first will reveal himself to the other and tell him what really happens after death. Ginzburg died first and was buried in the Vilna cemetery. Some time after, his friend Berel Levenson walks past the cemetery, and sees the image of his friend hovering over his grave. His face was black and frightening! The shocked Levenson fainted on the spot. When he came to, he did not utilize this revelation to do תשובה. Rather, he concluded, it was just a hallucination.
Concluded the Chofetz Chaim ” Berel Levenson was given a clear and direct message from שמים to do תשובה. But because he was so set in his ways, he was unable to come back.”
May we merit to always choose the proper way- ובחרת בחיים!
Weekly Parsha Shiur 