Remember your Alef, Bet, Gimel?
The Need For Man
To Subjugate His Will
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WERE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE
RABBI ELIEZER COHEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ith the sedrah of She-
mot, we begin the story
of the exodus from
Egypt. Moses presents
himself before Pharaoh — the
master of Egypt, and perhaps a
god in his own mind and in the
eyes of his nation.
Contrary to the prevalent mis-
conception, Moses does not de-
mand, "Let my people go," but
rather he requested that the Jew-
ish people be granted permission
to obey their God to "sacrifice to
Me in the wilderness" (Exodus
5:1). Moses, in fact, never re-
quests more of Pharaoh than his
full acknowledgment of God.
In Pharaoh's initial refusal:
"Who is this God that I should lis-
ten to His voice to send Israel (to
sacrifice)? I do not know this Lord
nor will I send Israel" (Exodus
5:2), we have the challenge to
which all of the plagues and the
exodus itself is a response. At the
very outset, Moses had been told
(and this is repeated numerous
times) that "God will smite Egypt
. . . and afterward Pharaoh will
send you" (Exodus 3:20). It had
to be Pharaoh, himself, who
sends the Jews as proof that he
finally acknowledges the exis-
tence of and the duty to obey the
one God.
This lesson was not easily
learned by Pharaoh, and, in fact,
required a step-by-step educa-
tional process. If we look carefully
at the verses themselves through-
out the first three sidras of
Exodus, we see this process ex-
plicitly stated.
The first plague is prefaced by
the verse: "With this you will
know that I am Lord" (Exodus
7:17). This is the first step in the
process: simply to realize that
this God exists. This is under-
stood by Pharaoh after the sec-
ond plague when he tells Moses
and Aaron: "Pray to Lord and re-
move the frogs . . ." (Exodus 8:4).
To this Moses states, "It shall be
so in order that you should know
that there are none like Lord our
God" (Exodus 8:6). This second
lesson for the polytheist Pharaoh
— that the God of Israel has no
peer — is understood when, af-
ter the third plague, the magician
acknowledges "it is the finger of
God" (Exodus 8:15). By this point
Pharaoh and the Egyptians know
that the God of Israel exists and
is stronger than any other god
that they accept.
The next step is stated before
the next plague: "I will distin-
guish between the land of Goshen
W
Eliezer Cohen is rabbi of Young
Israel of Oak-Woods.
wherein my nation resides . . . in
order you may know that there
is none like Me in all the land"
(Exodus 8:18); this God of Israel
actually has power within Egypt
itself (and is not simply some lo-
cal God as they may have be-
lieved). After this comes: "In order
that you know that there is none
like Me in all of the land" (Exo-
dus 9:14).
Even after Pharaoh admits: "I
have sinned this time; the Lord
is righteous; I and my people are
wicked," (Exodus 9:27) the next
stage is "in order that you know
that the land is the Lord's (Exo-
dus 9:29). Little by little, Pharaoh
and the Egyptians come to real-
ize and to acknowledge the ex-
istence and something of the
nature of the one true God. But
as each plague passes, the need
to subjugate himself to this power
is still not realized. As the verse
itself says: "It is still prior to you
and your servants having fear be-
fore Lord God" (Exodus 9:30).
The next stage is: "In order
that you should relate to your
children and grandchildren that
which I have done . . . and you
will know that I am Lord" (Exo-
Shabbat Shemot:
Exodus 1:1-6:1
Isaiah 27:6-28:13
29:22-23.
dus 10:12). With the plague of
hail "like your fathers and fa-
thers' fathers never saw . ." (Ex-
odus 10:6) the servants of
Pharaoh beg him: "How long will
this be to us as a snare? Send the
men that they may worship Lord
their God before you know that
Egypt is lost" (Exodu : 10:7). But
still Pharaoh refuses Moses' re-
quest that all of Israel must go.
And even when after further
plagues, Pharaoh agrees, Moses
then demands: "Also you give us
sacrifices to bring to Lord God"
(Exodus 10:25).
Even after the slaying of the
first born and Pharaoh, himself,
finally insists: ". . . leave my na-
tion, you and the sons of Israel,
go worship Lord as you said . ."
(Exodus 12:31), he still pursues
them to his own destruction as
the verse says "that the Egyp-
tians know that I am the Lord"
(Exodus 14:4).
Pharaoah apparently could not
bring himself to full subjugation
to the will of God. In truth, how
many of us can .?