It was heartrending this week to learn of the tragic airline collision in Washington, DC that resulted in so many deaths. The figure skating community in the Boston area was particularly affected, as a number of the passengers were part of that community. Adding to the suffering where the incomprehensibly offensive remarks from the President in response. May those words vanish into the dustbin of history, and may all those who lost family and friends in the crash find support and healing.
In this week’s Torah portion, Bo, we read about the culmination of the ten plagues brought against Egypt. With each successive plague, we are told that Pharaoh’s heart “hardens” or “becomes heavy.” With the early plagues, Pharaoh hardens his own heart in response to Moses’ pleas to free the Israelites. As the plagues progress, the Torah says that God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. This has perplexed Jewish commentators for centuries. Assuming that all people have freewill, what does it mean to say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart? Doesn’t this imply that he then had no power to change his mind? There is a stream of commentary that argues that there was a cumulative effect to Pharaoh’s hardening of heart and mind. What began as a voluntary action became, over time, a habitual reaction, such that he lost the capacity to have compassion and make the right choice. In the end, Pharaoh brings calamity upon his own people, and cannot prevent the Israelites from being freed.
The metaphor of “heart hardening” seems very apt to me, as directives from Washington threaten the most vulnerable in our society—trans youth and adults, immigrants, citizens reliant on government programs—in order to deflect attention from the real problems facing our nation. It is a hard heart, indeed, that seeks to separate families and deport people who have fled for their lives to the U.S., or to deny U.S. citizens the ability to assert their identity without fear. It is a whole system of hardened hearts that cares nothing for the individuals in the U.S. and around the globe who depend on government funding for basic health and safety needs. We are living in acutely Pharaonic times.
And while it is fairly easy in this moment to identify those in power who are acting much like Pharaoh, the plague of “heart hardening” can affect all of us. In her commentary on the Torah portion, Rabbi Shefa Gold writes: “When we witness the plagues — aspects of the God-force that have been separated off and distorted—we are initially moved to compassion. In the face of immediate suffering and need, our hearts are wrenched open. But when the immediate danger is past and we have recovered from the initial shock, our hearts tend to close again in complacency. We get used to the world in its imbalance and develop strategies that will ensure our short-term survival. This is called the 'hardening of the heart.' It is accomplished by narrowing the focus, deadening the senses, and denying any feelings that might threaten the status quo.”
Shefa goes on to say: “At the beginning of [parshat Bo] God speaks to Moses, the prophet within us, and says, ‘Bo! Come on in! I am waiting for you inside the heart of Pharaoh. The heart of Pharaoh is inside you. It is the place that has grown heavy with the weight of life’s experience. It is the place that has hardened — its outer shell cynical, and its inner layers made of fear and unhealed grief. Through this heart of Pharaoh you must come if you are to know Me, if you are to find your freedom.’”
Our challenge, in this very difficult moment, is to stay connected to that divine spark within ourselves, that spark that might get lost amidst our fear, our numbness, our overwhelm. We are called to meet heart hardening with the power of compassion and love, with our commitment to justice and to care. And we are reminded that most people are not, in fact, Pharaoh, and have that spark of the divine within them that can be awakened.
May we each find access to our inner Moses, our capacity for true liberation, this Shabbat. May our hearts remain open to all the beauty and wonder around us, even in these difficult times. May we experience a Shabbat of renewal and rest.
