Parshas Vaera 5761
R' Podolsky z"l
Prior to the first plague, Hashem commanded Moshe: "Go to Pharaoh in the morning -- behold! he goes out to the water -- and you shall stand opposite him at the River's bank... (Shmos 7:15)." Why does the Torah emphasize that Pharaoh "goes out to the water"? Who cares where Pharaoh went?
Rashi explains that Pharaoh had proclaimed himself a god. As incontrovertible evidence of his "divinity", Pharaoh presented the unusual "fact" that he had no need to use the facilities. Certainly a genuine god would not be beholden to mere biological functions. There was only one problem: Pharaoh wasn't a real god. How could he successfully deceive his subjects?
Pharaoh -- a genius in his own mind -- devised what he assumed to be a foolproof scheme. Every morning, bright and early, he would sneak out of the palace to a secluded spot on the banks of the River Nile. There he would unobtrusively relieve himself. Afterward, he would hurry back to the palace and jump into his PJ's and bed, rendering his subjects none the wiser. Any evidence of Pharaoh's mortality would be conveniently flushed away by the flowing waters of the Nile.
Thus, Hashem commanded Moshe to surprise Pharaoh in a most disconcerting predicament.
Two verses later, Moshe warns Pharaoh that he is about to turn the waters of the river into blood. Why did the first plague specifically involve the Nile? Rashi explains that since very little rain falls in Egypt, the populace traditionally relied on the Nile River for their water. Periodically, the Nile overflows its banks, generously irrigating the fields with nutrient-rich water. Since the Nile provided life, the pagan Egyptians viewed it as a god. With the plagues, Hashem intended to teach the Egyptians (and perhaps some wayward Jews) a lesson as to Who is running the show, and so He thrashed their god first.
With this in mind, let us now reexamine verse 15. Pharaoh, in his attempt to appear divine, would slink out every morning and relieve himself. Where did he opt to do this? In the Nile river. Think! In the process of self-deification, Pharaoh apparently had no qualms about relieving himself on his own god! Is there no limit to sacrilege?!
For those who read last week's article, the explanation should be obvious. Although logically speaking, ideology should dictate one's personal lifestyle, by most people, their lifestyle determines their ideology. Pharaoh craved to be viewed as a god. This in turn required him to appear as though he needed no facilities. The most convenient restroom happened to be the Nile. True, Pharaoh and every other Egyptian worshiped the Nile. In this case, however, Nile-worship would cramp Pharaoh-worship. And so Pharaoh conveniently reconstituted his ideology to suit his agenda.
Pharaoh, as a symbol of evil, was not only a person, but also a concept. In a sense, we all contain a little bit of Pharaoh. To the extent that the Torah is not the sole determinant of our lifestyle but is rather a product of it, we carry within us trace elements of Pharaoh-ism. In our efforts to "deify" our lifestyle, almost nothing is sacrosanct. To advance our own agenda, we are capable of treading on almost any Torah principle, in the most disgraceful fashion. True, we don't see this every day, but if we are not careful to eradicate the evil from our midst, there is a distinct danger that it will one day erupt with violent ferocity.
The lesson: Humble ourselves to the timeless Truth of Torah. We won't regret it! |
