PARSHAS Bo 5784
He Is Generous With Us
Leora Estersohn
Director of Youth &
Family Programming
This week’s Torah portion continues the saga of the 10 plagues and the miraculous ways G-d freed the enslaved Jewish nation from Egypt. There are horrific tales of what the Egyptians, and their Pharoah in particular, did to the Jewish nation. Killing babies to bathe in their blood…the stories are far from pleasant. Pharoah was evil. Period.
But after telling Moshe to visit Pharoah to warn him of an oncoming plague, G-d states that Moshe should deliver this warning despite the fact that G-d already hardened the Egyptian king’s heart.
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein teaches that this offers a lesson for us for all time. No matter how evil a person may seem, we as humans cannot see into their heart. We are obligated to warn others of the repercussions of their actions before we can move toward punishment.
If this is the level of respect and due process G-d accorded an evil despot such a, we can only imagine how generous He is with us, members of His chosen nation, and people who are certainly not acting with such cruelty on a daily basis!
In appreciating how G-d treats Pharoah we can recognize His overwhelming love and respect for all His people, and take heart in knowing that it is greater than we can possibly imagine.
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