English translation — וארא ב

Sicha b<pg>28</pg>

A.

At the beginning of the portion of the plague of blood<sup>1</sup>

"And the Lord said to Moses: Pharaoh's heart is heavy, he refuses to send the people" — Rashi copies the word "heavy" and explains: its translation is yekir,

and not it was heavy because it is a noun, like "for<sup>2</sup>

the matter is too heavy for you."

And the reason that Rashi needed to negate the interpretation "it became heavy"

(past tense verb — "that it already was..

heavy"<sup>3</sup>),

and he was not satisfied

(as is his way)

to say only the correct translation "heavy",

is not in order to establish the correct version in the Targum<sup>4</sup>

— because it is simple that this is not the subject of Rashi's commentary on the Torah to clarify and establish versions in the Targum<sup>5</sup>

— but rather because there is a plausible understanding<sup>6</sup>

in the plain meaning of the verse to interpret that "heavy" here is a past tense verb.

And the explanation of this: in the preceding verse<sup>7</sup>

it is said "and Pharaoh's heart was strong",

whose translation<sup>8</sup>

"and it was strengthened"

(like "it became heavy"),

and therefore there was room to interpret

(as translated and explained by the Tiv'a,

the Rashbam and the Ibn Ezra)

that what is said in the following verse "Pharaoh's heart was heavy" is also in that same manner

(like "and it was strong")

namely — "it became heavy",

past tense verb.

And therefore Rashi needed to negate this interpretation — "its translation is heavy and not it became heavy

(and the reason)

because it is a noun like 'for the matter is too heavy for you'.

But this very thing requires a reason — in the language of the Ra'ahm: who told the translator that it is a noun and not a past tense verb..

If because we find "for the matter is too heavy for you" which is a noun, behold we also find "youth" and "old man" which are nouns and nevertheless came "and it was when Isaac was old"⁹

past tense verb¹⁰..

And furthermore, the word "ma'ein" which comes immediately after it, which is a past tense verb, forces "kaved" to be a past tense verb..

Because "ma'ein" which is a past tense verb indicates that his heart had already become heavy from the past time.

And in the G'vurat Ari it explains,

"And what compelled the translation to interpret it as a noun and not a past tense verb is that one cannot say that Pharaoh's heart was already heavy [so that] he already refused to send the people, and therefore 'go to Pharaoh,' for perhaps even though Pharaoh's heart was already strong, now it is not strong."

But in Levush HaOrah, it rejects the interpretation of the G"v

(and upholds the objection of the Ra"m)

— because in the first five plagues, the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to inform<pg>29</pg>

that Pharaoh would not pay heed to truly repent,

And this is that "the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Behold, you have already seen that Pharaoh's heart was heavy and he refused to send the people, because his heart had already been hardened. Therefore, so that the people should not say: Even though his heart was already hardened, perhaps now his heart has softened and he will repent and send [them], therefore I do not want to bring upon him the plague of blood without warning, but go to Pharaoh etc. and warn him. And if now his heart softens, surely he will say: I will send the people, and I will not need to bring upon him the plague of blood. And if his heart is still hard, he has harmed himself, and everyone will know that he still defies Me, and it is just that I bring upon him the plague of blood."

And according to this, remains

(as above)

The question of the Ra'am: what is the necessity to explain "kaved" as a noun,

And especially that this does not fit with the continuation of the verse "ma'en go'" which is a past tense verb¹¹?

And it must be said that this that Rashi explains and forces the version of the Targum "yakiyr..

because it is a noun" is not founded

(only)

on the proof from the verse "ki kaved mimcha hadavar",

rather from the continuation of the parshah itself; but he only is assisted for this explanation of his

(that "kaved" is a noun)

from what is written "ki kaved mimcha hadavar".

2.

And one must say,

that Rashi's intention here is to answer a general question,

at first glance,

in this verse:

At first it is related,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses "Pharaoh's heart is heavy, he refuses to send the people",

and afterwards in the verses that follow¹²

the text continues to relate that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him "Go to Pharaoh etc. and say to him, Hashem..

sent me to you saying, Send out My people that they may serve Me..

you have not listened until now..

By this you shall know that I am Hashem: behold, I am striking etc. upon the water etc. and it shall be turned to blood".

And this means that in these things in general there are two matters:

(a)

an announcement to Moses — "Pharaoh's heart is heavy etc.",

(b)

the words of his mission to Pharaoh — "Go to Pharaoh..

and say to him etc.".

And behold, in this, this announcement differs from the announcements of the other plagues,

that in all of them the Holy One, blessed be He, began His words to Moses immediately with the words of the mission to Pharaoh

[Except for the plague of locusts,

where also there was a special announcement as an introduction to the words of the mission "Come<sup>13</sup>

to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart etc. in order to set these My signs in his midst, and in order that you tell etc. how I have made a mockery of Egypt etc."

(And as we explained elsewhere<sup>14</sup>

the reason for this announcement,

that with this He explained the reason that He commands Moses to warn Pharaoh

(As per the precise wording of Rashi "Come to Pharaoh,

and warn him")

even though "I have hardened his heart etc.",

that this is "in order that you tell etc. how I have made a mockery of Egypt",

as Rashi explains "I have mocked",

that He makes a mockery of Pharaoh as if he has free choice to listen or not)].

And from this itself, that this announcement that "Pharaoh's heart is heavy, he refuses to send the people" was said to Moses only as an introduction to his mission to Pharaoh

(and not as part of the things that he must say to Pharaoh¹⁵)

it is proven,

that this thing is not

(only)

a matter that needs to be delivered to Pharaoh,

but rather it pertains

(also)

to the knowledge of Moses himself,

and also,

that so it is in its truth of the matter,

that the reason that the plague of blood came upon Pharaoh is because "Pharaoh's heart is heavy, he refuses to send the people."

<pg>30</pg>

And it is perplexing: above¹⁶,

in the account of the sending of Moses to Pharaoh it is said,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses "And I will harden the heart of Pharaoh etc. and he will not listen to you, Pharaoh."

And from this it is understood,

that when Moses saw

(after the sign of the swallowing of Aaron's staff)

that "and Pharaoh's heart was strong and he did not listen to them,"

surely he thought that this is because the Holy One, blessed be He, fulfilled His promise and hardened his heart.

And since that is so,

how can it be said that "Pharaoh's heart is heavy" is the cause for the punishment of the plague of blood — behold the Holy One, blessed be He, is the One who made his heart heavy¹⁷?

This that Moshe was commanded to say thus to Pharaoh and to tell him that he is punished because "you did not listen until now" — is understood,

because the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted that Pharaoh finally send Bnei Yisrael of his own will through speech after speech.

[And likewise one should not ask — how is it indeed possible that punishment should come to Pharaoh for the lack of his will to send Bnei Yisrael from his land,

since the reason for this was

(not the will of Pharaoh,

but)

that the Holy One, blessed be He, strengthened his heart — because this question Rashi already answered earlier on the verse¹⁸

"And I will harden",

and his language is "since he acted wickedly and rebelled against Me and it is revealed before Me that there is no satisfaction among the nations of the world to give a whole heart to return, it is good for Me that his heart be hardened in order to multiply upon him My signs and that you know My might".

That is,

that this that the Holy One, blessed be He, hardened his heart was a punishment for "he acted wickedly and rebelled against Me"¹⁹].

But from this that this announcement was also to Moshe himself,

as above,

it necessarily follows that also he must know

(and so it is the truth of the matter)

— that since "Pharaoh's heart is heavy" therefore he truly deserves punishment.

And it is perplexing,

as above,

how does this fit with the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, to him previously: "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, etc."?

3.

At first glance it is possible to explain according to Rashi on the verse¹⁸

"And I will harden" — "And nevertheless in the first five plagues it is not said 'And Hashem hardened Pharaoh's heart' but rather 'And Pharaoh's heart hardened',"

that from the superficiality of the language it implies that in the first five plagues Hashem did not harden the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt,

but rather he hardened himself²⁰.

But when you examine well, it is impossible to explain thus,

because in Rashi's commentary it is only stated that

(in the verse)

"It is not said 'And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh'"; but in the words of the Holy One, blessed be He, to Moses we do not find that He informed him that in the first five plagues He would not harden his heart

(but only in the last five plagues).

And especially if you say according to the explanation of the commentators²¹,

that also in the first five plagues the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,

except that in the verse it is not said "And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh",

but rather "And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened"

[according to the precise wording of Rashi "And nevertheless in the first five plagues it is not said 'And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh' but rather 'And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened'" — and he did not write in simple language "In the first five plagues the Lord did not harden the heart of Pharaoh"

(and the like)]²².

<pg>31</pg>

And as explained in the commentaries&lt;sup&gt;21&lt;/sup&gt;,

"That in the first five plagues the Holy One, blessed be He, caused actions that strengthened his heart, like..

In the plague of blood, that they said by means of sorceries you do thus..

And this is 'And Pharaoh's heart was strengthened,'

but 'And the Lord strengthened' means that the Holy One, blessed be He, strengthened him explicitly and not through actions and causes"&lt;sup&gt;23&lt;/sup&gt;.

And the difficulty returns to its place — since Moses heard "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart etc.,"

how is it possible in accordance with this to inform him that "Pharaoh's heart is heavy" is the reason for the punishment of the plague of blood?

4.

And to resolve this question Rashi explains "kaved" — "its translation is yekir and lo ityakir,

because it is a noun" — with this Rashi intends to emphasize clearly,

that the intention of the Holy One, blessed be He, in "kaved lev Pharaoh" is to inform him,

that this is not

(only)

because He, may He be blessed, strengthened his heart

(for then there is no place to bring this as a cause for Pharaoh's punishment),

but rather to the state of Pharaoh's heart from its own side,

that this that "he refused to send the people" was not

(only)

because the Holy One, blessed be He, strengthened his heart,

but that

(also)

he from his own side made his heart heavy not to send Bnei Yisrael,

and therefore he is deserving to be punished for this.

[And along the lines of the answer in the books on the difficulty²⁴

— how did the Holy One, blessed be He, punish the Egyptians for enslaving Bnei Yisrael with hard labor,

and behold the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed upon them "and they will serve them and afflict them"²⁵?

— that this that the Egyptians enslaved etc. and afflicted Bnei Yisrael was not in order to fulfill the decree of the Holy One, blessed be He,

but rather because of the wickedness of their heart,

and therefore they were punished for this²⁶].

And therefore Rashi explains that "kaved" means "heavy and not made heavy" — because through this it is clearer that the intention is the heaviness of Pharaoh's heart from his own side: if the intention of the language "kaved" is "past tense verb",

meaning that there was here an act of making heavy,

there is no emphasis that Pharaoh from his own side made his heart heavy,

on the contrary — simply it must be said that it refers to the act of making heavy which is the deed of the Holy One blessed be He explicit above in the words of the Holy One blessed be He to Moses "and I will harden etc."

(and again there is no place to say that this matter will be an introduction and reason for the punishment of Pharaoh)

; and therefore Rashi explains that "kaved" means "heavy and not made heavy",

"a noun" describing the state of Pharaoh's heart — according to which it is plausible to say that the intention is that Pharaoh's heart was

(essentially)

in a state of "heavy",

that he had a heavy heart essentially,

and therefore he deserves punishment for not sending out the children of Israel,

as above.

5.

The essence of the Torah in Rashi:

heaviness²⁷

the heart, simply its meaning — stubbornness of the heart,

that is not affected by anything,

and even when his intellect instructs him that he should behave in an opposite manner,

and also the feeling in his heart inclines to the other side — he persists in not changing his conduct.

And this is the meaning of the "shell" of Pharaoh — Pharaoh [is] the letters of the neck²⁸,

which indicates stubbornness,

"stiff-necked".

And based on this, one must explain the depth of the intention of the sa-<pg>32</pg>

Rashi²⁹,

who explains "heavy

(Pharaoh's heart)

" — that Pharaoh's heart became like

(the body part called)

liver,

"Just as³⁰

the liver is angry, so too his heart became heavy"³¹

: It is known that there are three rulers in the body³²,

brain and heart and liver,

corresponding to the three parts of

(powers)

the soul — the intellect

(in the brain),

emotions

(in the heart),

and action

(in the liver).

And this is the connection between heaviness of the heart and the "liver" in the body — because the matter of stubbornness relates to the power of action of the person

(which is under the control of the "liver"),

that even when he has no reasoning

(in the intellect in the head)

and no emotion

(in the emotions in the heart)

— he does so only because of his stubbornness.

And on this Rashi adds — "heavy..

honored and I will not be honored" — because the stubbornness itself can be in two ways:

(a)

conduct in a manner of stubbornness,

stubbornness in action — "I will be honored"

(active voice)

;

(b)

this conduct penetrates his entire existence,

until a person becomes stubborn in essence and this is his adjective — "honored".

That is: this is not only a matter of conduct of stubbornness,

but rather the source of the heaviness in the soul is revealed in him,

and consequently every matter — for him is in a manner of stubbornness.

And so it was with Pharaoh,

that the meaning is not that he had to overcome himself in order to be stubborn against the Holy One, blessed be He,

but rather he was "heavy"

(stubborn)

in essence.

6.

And behold, the plagues that the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon Pharaoh—their inner intention was to break the husk of Pharaoh³³,

and this was done specifically through Moses our teacher,

and as it is said³⁴

"See, I have made you a god to Pharaoh",

and Rashi explains: "a judge to rule over him with plagues and afflictions".

But it is known,

that in order to nullify an evil attribute and the like, it is "in its kind and its likeness"³⁵

— in an attribute like it on the side of holiness.

For God has made one opposite the other³⁶,

that every evil attribute is "opposite" an attribute like it on the side of holiness.

And so it is regarding the matter of "heaviness",

that opposite the "heaviness" of the husk,

there is a "heaviness" of holiness,

which is the matter of accepting the yoke of the kingdom of heaven that is above reason and knowledge and feeling.

For in service that is according to reason and knowledge,

and also according to the emotions of the heart,

there are changes from time to time,

as is seen empirically that a person does not always stand on the same level in comprehension,

and certainly not in the feeling of his heart in love of God and His fear; but not so the service of accepting the yoke,

"heaviness" of holiness,

which is in a manner of stubbornness

(heaviness),

it is "far from changes"³⁷.

And from this it is understood in our matter,

that in order for Moshe Rabbeinu to be able to "subdue" and break the husk of Pharaoh,

he needed to awaken in his soul "heaviness" of holiness.

And it can be said,

that this is the hint and the inner interpretation of Rashi's words here "heavy — its Targum is yekir and not ityakkar": "its Targum" of "heavy" of Pharaoh,

that is to say,

the concept of "heaviness" as it is interpreted in holiness,

its concept — is "yekir",

and it is the matter of the &lt;pg&gt;33&lt;/pg&gt;

preciousness

("heaviness")

of the service of acceptance of the yoke in holiness.

And with this Rashi explains — "precious and not made precious",

that in order to nullify the heaviness of Pharaoh it is necessary [to have] "precious and not made precious".

And the explanation in this: in accepting the yoke there are

(in general)

two levels³⁸

:

A)

accepting the yoke in the manner of accepting the yoke of a simple slave,

for even though in abandonment it is pleasant for him³⁹

and he has no desire and will in His service,

nevertheless he forces himself to fulfill the will of his master.

And this accepting the yoke is below all the powers of his soul,

for even though he has no pleasure,

will,

comprehension

(intellect)

or feeling

(emotions)

— nevertheless he forces himself in deed actually,

contrary to his will and nature.

b)

Acceptance of the yoke that is above all the powers of his soul — and its content,

that his attachment to G-d is not measured and limited according to the measure of the limitation of his soul's powers

[the measure of his understanding and comprehension of G-d's greatness,

or the measure of his love and fear of G-d]

but he gives himself over to G-d completely,

without measure and limitation.

And this acceptance of the yoke has its source in the essence of the soul,

which "bears Your yoke" because it is "a unique one to unify You"⁴⁰,

"a veritable part of G-d from above"⁴¹,

and therefore there are no measures and limitations in the strength of the soul's attachment to G-d.

And this is what Rashi explains — "honored and I will not be honored" — that in order to nullify the heaviness of Pharaoh,

which is a "noun",

heavy in essence,

there must be "honored" of holiness and "I will not be honored",

that the service of G-d in acceptance of the yoke in "action" is insufficient,

the action of acceptance of the yoke,

which is below all the powers,

rather there must be service of G-d out of essential acceptance of the yoke,

"noun",

as it is in the essence of the soul.

The acceptance of the yoke from the aspect of "eitan" in the soul⁴²,

the "heaviness" and strength in the essence of the soul.

And on this Rashi brings the proof from the verse "like 'for the matter is too heavy for you'",

said regarding Moses,

for the nullification of the husk of Pharaoh is specifically through Moses,

as above,

and this is the hint in Rashi "heavy — from you the matter",

that "heavy" of holiness

(which nullifies the "heavy" of Pharaoh)

comes "from you",

from Moses our teacher⁴³

— for Moses his matter is "and we are what"⁴⁴,

the ultimate self-nullification to G‑d,

and therefore with him is the true strength and the "heaviness" which utterly nullifies the "heaviness" of Pharaoh

(which is only a strength of selfhood and coarseness,

"Mine is my river and I made myself"⁴⁵),

and "By this you shall know that I am the L‑rd"⁴⁶.

(From the talk of Shabbos Parshas Va'eira 5726)