A.
Our parasha finds us in the midst of the ten hammer-blows which G-d rained down upon the Egyptians, ostensibly, at least, to force the Egyptian king to capitulate and free the bënei Yisra’él to leave Egypt. The first seven of these blows were described in last week’s parasha; the last three are in ours.
As we follow the account, and the blows grow progressively more disastrous and destructive we notice that the king appears to begin to give in, only to have G-d intervene, “strengthening” his heart, so that he reneges on the deal. This happens for the first time with the plague of Shëhin, a skin condition which caused the Egyptians to break out in boils and running sores (IX, 12), and continues onward to become a regular feature of the campaign.
At the beginning of our parasha, G-d takes a pause and explains to Moshe (and to us) why He is doing this; it is למען שתי אתתי אלה בקרבו: ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים ואת אתתי אשר שמתי בם וידעתם כי אני ד': (“...in order that I show these signs of Mine in [Egypt’s] midst. And in order that you will relate in your son’s ears and your son’s son’s how I ran riot [hith‘allalti] in Egypt, and My signs which I placed amongst them, and you will know that I am Ha-Shem”; X,1-2). Rashi explains the meaning of hith‘alalti: שחקתי כמו "כי התעללת בי", "הלא התעולל בהם" אמור במצרים וגו' (“‘I mocked’, like ‘for you have mocked me’ [Numbers XXII, 29], ‘Did He not mock them’ [I Samuel VI, 6], said of Egypt....”).
“Mockery” would seem rather an odd quality for G-d the gracious and merciful to espouse, rather like kicking someone when he is down, or an expression of Schaden-freude, the descriptive German word which means joy at another’s suffering. Clearly this perception must be wrong, and there must be some deep lesson in this for us (as, indeed G-d intimates). What might it be?
B.
We begin by considering the words of the great Rabbi Yitzhaq Hutner, זצ"ל. He begins by quoting Proverbs XXVII, 21: מצרף לכסף וכור לזהב ואיש לפי מהללו (“A smelter for silver and a crucible for gold, and a man according to what he praises”), and then quotes Rabbeinu Yona of Girondi on the verse: אם הוא משבח המעשים הטובים והחכמים והצדיקים תדע ובחנת כי איש טוב הוא ושורש הצדק נמצא בו כו' והמשבח מעשים מגונים או מהלל רשעים הוא הרשע הגמור וגו' (“If he praises good deeds, and scholars, and tzaddiqim, you may know and discern that he is a good man, and the root of justice is in him... And one who praises unworthy acts or lauds rësha‘im is himself a complete rasha‘....”).
In other words, Rav Hutner explains, a man’s character can be discerned by noting to what or whom he gives deference; which persons, acts, or ideas receive his praise and approval are likely guides to the inner man (עיי' פחד יצחק על עניני פורים, ענין א').
Applying the principle מכלל לאו אתה שומע הן, that from the above one can also determine the truth of the reverse, what a person denigrates or despises will also tell us a great deal about his character. The ba‘alei mussar refer to this capacity for denigration or disparagement as létzanuth, “ridicule, skepticism” or, indeed, “mockery.” Létzanuth operates by finding the chink in the armor, the weak spot in he wall which can bring the entire carefully constructed edifice of ego down.
With this concept firmly in hand, let us examine Pharaoh’s reactions to the calamities being rained down on his nation.
C.
A careful examination of those reactions will show that the Egyptian king was consciously applying the malign quality of létzanuth to avoid confronting the overwhelming but unpalatable truth of the message being pressed upon him.
For instance, there was the blow of Dever, the plague which wiped out the Egyptians’ livestock. The Torah tells us: וימת כל מקנה מצרים וממקנה בני ישראל לא מת אחד: וישלח פרעה והנה ממקנה בני ישראל לא מת עד אחד: (“...And all the livestock of Egypt died, and of the livestock of the bënei Yisra’él not one died. And Pharaoh sent, and behold, of the livestock of the bënei Yisra’él there had not died but one”: IX, 6-7).
The Gr”a famously explains the apparent contradiction between ‘not one died’ and ‘none died but one,’ by suggesting that the dead animal amongst the cattle of the bënei Yisra’él actually belonged to the son of Shëlomith bath Divri (Leviticus XXIV, 10-16). This unfortunate was the scion of the Egyptian overseer whom Moshe caught beating one of the bënei Yisra’él to death (Shëlomith’s husband, as it happened), and dispatched (Exodus II, 11-12, Rashi ad loc.). Orphaned before he was born, the child of course stayed with his mother and followed her people. He was, however, an ethnic Egyptian, despite his mother, since he had been born before Mattan Torah, when descent followed the father’s line (עיי' רמב"ן שם בויקרא וקידושין ס"ז:). Therefore, his animal was an Egyptian animal, and it perished in the plague.
Pharaoh was surely aware of the laws of personal status amongst bënei Noah. Had he wanted to find out what had happened, he could easily have discovered whose animal had died. Instead, he clutched at the excuse that it had apparently not happened exactly as Moshe had predicted, and that therefore (despite the fact that every Egyptian beast was dead), it was not the sign Moshe had claimed.
A second example may be discerned from the seventh blow, that of Barad, the miraculous hail made of fire and ice. The Torah describes the fall of barad: וד' נתן קלת וברד ותהלך אש ארצה וימטר ד' ברד על ארץ מצרים (“...and Ha-Shem gave noises and hail, and fire came to earth; and Ha-Shem rained down barad on the land of Egypt”; IX, 23). Pharaoh was panic-stricken, and begged for mercy: חטאתי הפעם ד' הצדיק ואני ועמי הרשעים: העתירו לד' ורב מהית קלת אלקים וברד ואשלחה אתכם וגו' (“...I have sinned this time; Ha-Shem is the tzaddiq and I and my people the rësha‘im. Beseech Ha-Shem, and may there be enough of these noises of G-d and hail, and I shall send you forth....”; vv. 27-8).
Moshe agreed: אפרש את כפי אל ד' הקלות יחדלון והברד לא יהי' עוד וגו' (“I shall spread my palms to Ha-Shem and the noises will cease and the hail will be no more....”; v. 29), and brought the frightful event to an end: ויחדלו הקלות והברד והמטר לא נתך ארצה (“...and the noises ceased, and the rain and barad was not poured out earthward”: v. 33). Rashi explains that this means that the rain and hail were suspended in mid-air immediately upon Moshe’s prayer, and hence immediately ceased reaching the ground, as the loud booms died away.
וירא פרעה כי חדל המטר והברד והקלות (“And Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail, and the voices had ceased....”). Even though the cessation had happened exactly as Moshe had predicted, nonetheless it was perceived by Pharaoh that the order as reversed, that the rain and hail had stopped first, and only shortly afterward the terrible noises: ויסף לחטא ויכבד לבו (“...and he continued to sin, and he made his heart heavy....”; v. 34).
For our third example, we take the final, awesome blow, the mass death of all the first-born Egyptians. Here, Moshe tells Pharaoh: כה אמר ד' כחצות לילה אני יוצא בתוך מצרים וגו' (“Thus says Ha-Shem: At about midnight [ka-hatzoth laila] I am going out amongst Egypt...”; XI,4). As Hazal famously explain, Moshe said ka-hatzoth and not ba-hatzoth (“at midnight”) lest it happen that Pharaoh had a clock which ran fast or slow, such that it might seem to him that the blow fell either too early or too late (ברכות ג:). Moshe had got wise to his tactics....
D.
What this illustrates, then, is the phenomenon of מדה כנגד מדה. that G-d engages us measure for measure; He meets us on our own turf, as it were, and employs the very psychological tactics and tricks which we use, when we try to avoid being straight, and try to avoid admitting the truth to ourselves.
It was this which G-d sought to impress on Moshe, and through him, on all of Israel, למען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך וידעתם כי אני ד' (“in order that will tell it into the ears of your son and your son’s son, and you will know that I am Ha-Shem”).
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