A thought on פרשת בא
"...r'eu ki rah k'neged peneichem...""...beware of the evil which will get you..." (10:10)
One way or another, Pharaoh was going to stick to his beliefs. Despite the plagues and the signs which portrayed HaShem's absolute dominion over the universe, Pharaoh would not see past his stance that there were multiple forces operating in the world, competing for power in the heavens and earth. Here he was on the verge of conceding that Moshe could take our nation out of the country, yet he still warned him that he would not succeed. Rather, Pharaoh threatened, there would be a bad moon on the rise, and Moshe would fail.
Clearly, something deep and powerful was taking place here. This was not a petty debate or a vain taunt that Pharaoh was throwing at his nemesis. There has to be a message of theological significance here, and the Ralbag interprets it for us.
There is good in the world. We also perceive troubling events as "bad" in the world. This is our experience. Our brains are bicameral and prone to understandig paradox and conflict as a competition between two forces, the negative and the positive. Spicing up that cognitive analysis with some spirituality, or at least some cosmic flavoring, one can even conclude that there are two divine entities in the universe, the "god of good" and the "god of evil." There are people, and religions, who contend that, or who foster a similar dualism.
Pharaoh opined here that the "god of evil" is....HaShem. After all, from an Egyptian's experiential standpoint, all that this god had done was torture people, beasts and crops. He was the source of bad. He was the entity of evil. He had dominion over the dark side. He was not a god of goodness.
This was his foreboding message to Moshe. This is what he believed. Sadly enough, there were still among our people some individuals who worried about this. They had not sorted out the conflict between events and forces which are, apparently, "good", and those which seem to be "bad." There were those among us who bridged the gap and were able to accept that there was truly only One G-d, yet they assumed that He embodies both the attributes of good and of evil.
This misconception needed to be revised as well. The position which our faith is based on is that HaShem is Good. There is no bad emanating from Above. Those who were in doubt needed a sign from Above to help their conceptualization develop, just as HaShem had shown signs and wonders in Egypt.
The Ralbag suggests that the "sign" therein came later. In the passage of the "bad water" (15:25-26), when the nation thirsted for clear water and came to Marah, a place of bitter water, they balked. HaShem instructed Moshe to throw some bitter wood into the bitter water. The waters turned sweet, and there was a revival of our credence. The sign here, says the Ralbag, with bitter blending with bitter to sweeten the water, was to show the nation that HaShem is good. There is no bad in His powers. His acts are acts of healing, of compassion and goodness. In the same way in which the Egyptians were given signs, which for us proved to be blessings and goodness, our nation was given a sign that when we encounter challenge, the healing solution emanates from HaShem. In Marah, two "wrongs" made a "right." HaShem gave us a sign that even when we perceive something as bitter and negative, it is within HaShem's plan and design to bring about goodness.
Good Shabbos. D Fox
One way or another, Pharaoh was going to stick to his beliefs. Despite the plagues and the signs which portrayed HaShem's absolute dominion over the universe, Pharaoh would not see past his stance that there were multiple forces operating in the world, competing for power in the heavens and earth. Here he was on the verge of conceding that Moshe could take our nation out of the country, yet he still warned him that he would not succeed. Rather, Pharaoh threatened, there would be a bad moon on the rise, and Moshe would fail.
Clearly, something deep and powerful was taking place here. This was not a petty debate or a vain taunt that Pharaoh was throwing at his nemesis. There has to be a message of theological significance here, and the Ralbag interprets it for us.
There is good in the world. We also perceive troubling events as "bad" in the world. This is our experience. Our brains are bicameral and prone to understandig paradox and conflict as a competition between two forces, the negative and the positive. Spicing up that cognitive analysis with some spirituality, or at least some cosmic flavoring, one can even conclude that there are two divine entities in the universe, the "god of good" and the "god of evil." There are people, and religions, who contend that, or who foster a similar dualism.
Pharaoh opined here that the "god of evil" is....HaShem. After all, from an Egyptian's experiential standpoint, all that this god had done was torture people, beasts and crops. He was the source of bad. He was the entity of evil. He had dominion over the dark side. He was not a god of goodness.
This was his foreboding message to Moshe. This is what he believed. Sadly enough, there were still among our people some individuals who worried about this. They had not sorted out the conflict between events and forces which are, apparently, "good", and those which seem to be "bad." There were those among us who bridged the gap and were able to accept that there was truly only One G-d, yet they assumed that He embodies both the attributes of good and of evil.
This misconception needed to be revised as well. The position which our faith is based on is that HaShem is Good. There is no bad emanating from Above. Those who were in doubt needed a sign from Above to help their conceptualization develop, just as HaShem had shown signs and wonders in Egypt.
The Ralbag suggests that the "sign" therein came later. In the passage of the "bad water" (15:25-26), when the nation thirsted for clear water and came to Marah, a place of bitter water, they balked. HaShem instructed Moshe to throw some bitter wood into the bitter water. The waters turned sweet, and there was a revival of our credence. The sign here, says the Ralbag, with bitter blending with bitter to sweeten the water, was to show the nation that HaShem is good. There is no bad in His powers. His acts are acts of healing, of compassion and goodness. In the same way in which the Egyptians were given signs, which for us proved to be blessings and goodness, our nation was given a sign that when we encounter challenge, the healing solution emanates from HaShem. In Marah, two "wrongs" made a "right." HaShem gave us a sign that even when we perceive something as bitter and negative, it is within HaShem's plan and design to bring about goodness.
Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 9:22 PM
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