There is a lot of conversation about the question of how Hashem
could remove Pharaoh’s free will. However,
there is much less discussion about Pharaoh’s stance before Hashem gets
involved. Early on, well before Hashem intervenes with Pharaoh in any way, the
Torah already tells us about Pharaoh’s own, personal response to Moshe &
Aharon’s request to allow the Jewish People to leave. And throughout these
conversations, we find that the Torah describes Pharaoh’s responses with references
to his LEV, his heart, but specifically with two different characterizations of
his heart: Vayechazak Lev Pharaoh & Kaveid Lev
Pharaoh. Both seem to mean that Pharaoh REFUSED to listen. But the Torah uses two different words for a
reason. What is the difference between
these two synonyms for Pharaoh’s refusal?
Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik explains that
these are, in fact, two very different responses. Chizuk always implies strength,
vigor, firmness. In our context, in
refers to the power of resisting something. If I can resist the onslaught of the
enemy, if I can be strong enough not to yield, not to give in, then I am chazak.
I am strong. And that can be both with
regards to physical strength as well as strength of character.
Kaveid, though, is a very different description. When something is kaveid that means it’s heavy. Kaveid does not imply vigor, firmness, or
strength, but rather dead weight. The
fact that someone or something is heavy does not necessarily make it strong. In fact, it is that heaviness that can weigh
us down and make us even weaker.
So what does it mean when we say “KAVEID LEV PHARAOH” that Pharaoh’s
heart was heavy? It brings to mind the
pasuk in Yechezkel where Hashem says to Am Yisrael: “V’hasirosi es Lev Ha’Even”
I will remove your heart of stone, and give you instead a LEV BASAR, a heart of
flesh. A Lev Even is a heart that is insensitive, impermeable, unresponsive to
the call of one’s conscience. When the Torah refers to Pharaoh as someone with a
Lev kaveid, it means he is simply shutoff, unresponsive to the calls of Moshe
and Aharon.
So, what then, is Chizuk HaLev?
The strengthening of one’s heart? This means that Pharaoh’s heart, at
times, would become sensitized, even malleable.
There were moments when Pharaoh would wake up and realize that maybe he
should be reconsidering.
After experiencing the plague of Barad, Hail, Pharaoh has an awakening,
an awareness that he should reconsider. Pharaoh sends for Moshe & Aharon, and
he tells them: “I have sinned. Hashem is
righteous and me and my nation are evil. Just daven Moshe, get rid of this
hail, and I will send you out!” And yet, as soon as the hail ends, says the
Torah: “Pharaoh’s heart becomes STRENGTHENED (Vayechezak Lev Pharaoh), and he
did NOT send the people out.”
Chizuk HaLev is a different type of refusal. It is when Pharaoh can see the moral challenge. He is sensitive to the fact that he may be
headed down the wrong path and should turn back, but he nevertheless DIGS IN, refusing
to give in even to the voice inside that tells him this is the wrong choice. And
why does he refuse? Rav Soloveitchik
argues that at least in part, it was for economic reasons. Egypt’s entire economy was dependent on slave
labor. To free the Jews would have
destroyed the economy of Egypt. So,
while Pharaoh, at times, recognized that Hashem was, indeed, in charge, and
that he really didn’t have a fighting chance, the pressure to hold his ground
and hold up the economy of his kingdom was too much, and Pharaoh was MECHAZEK
himself, he strengthened himself, to dig in and refuse to let the Jews go.
I found this explanation so interesting in light of another idea
that the Rav once taught regarding not the heart of Pharaoh, but our OWN
HEARTS.
The Gemara in Brachos talks about a person who is in danger,
and doesn’t have time to recite the entire middle section of Shmone Esrei. So, instead he or she is told to recite a
short version of the middle 12 brachos, called Havineinu. Havineinu is one paragraph which contains 12
short phrases, each one referencing one of these 12 longer brachos.
And at one point in the tefillah, we ask Hashem: “Mol Es Livaveinu
L’Yirasecha”, “remove the covering of our heart so we can fear you” and it is
in place of the bracha “Hashiveinu”, a tefillah about teshuva. At first glance, this sounds like a prayer
asking Hashem to help us CHOOSE to be God-fearing people. And, in fact, the
tefillah is borrowing language from a pasuk in Parshas Nitzavim: “Hashem will
circumsize your heart and the hearts of your children to love Hashem with all
your heart and soul!” But this idea is confusing: How can I ask Hashem to HELP
ME DO TESHUVA? That is taking away my
Bechira Chafshis, my free will!
Explained the Rav, the same idea we mentioned earlier when it comes
to Pharaoh. What is a Lev Arel? A covered heart? It’s the same as a Lev Even, a Heart of
Stone. If I have a Lev Even, a heart of stone, it means I have closed myself
off from choices. I am weighed down by so many different elements of my life, I
can’t even CONSIDER other options. A Lev Even isn’t a heart that makes
bad choices. It’s a heart that makes NO
CHOICES.
When we ask Hashem to remove the Orlas Lev, the covering of our
heart, we aren’t asking Hashem to make choices for us. We are asking Him to grant us the awakening, the
opportunity, the sensitivity to open ourselves up to recognize the choices
in front of us. In those moments, we
may still make poor choices. We may
still say the tradeoffs are just too difficult for me right now, but at least I’m
alive and aware, and sensitized to the issues in front of me.
If it bothers us that Hashem could take away Pharoah’s free will
that’s good because it means we realize that it is our ability to choose that
makes us human. And more than that, it
is our ability to choose that allows us to grow. Viktor Frankl famously
wrote: “Between stimulus and response there
is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our
response lies our growth and our freedom.”
There are times in our lives when the power of
choice, and the freedom to grow that comes with choice becomes harder to access.
We become so used to the way we live our lives, the rhythm of our days and weeks,
that we begin to lose sight of that freedom, of the opportunities for growth
that are right there in front of us. Slowly over time, without our even
realizing it, our hearts can turn into a Lev Even, a heart that isn’t as sensitive
to the choices that present themselves to us each and every day. The goal,
then, isn’t to decide to make the RIGHT choices. The first step, is to begin uncovering our
hearts, allowing our Lev Even to become a Lev Basar, a heart that is open and
willing to see and feel the opportunities for growth that are waiting for us so
many times each day.
Yes, Pharaoh was the one with the Lev Kaved, the Lev Even, the unwillingness
to even allow himself to be aware of the choices that existed before him. It is
our job, then, to take note. To remind ourselves that there are opportunities
for wonderful, positive, choices to grow in front of us every day. We just need to be sensitive enough to notice.