הרב שניאור אשכנזי, פרשת וארא • השאלה הגדולה מכולן: האם פרעה היה מסוגל לשחרר את ישראל ממצרים?

For more fascinating videos: http://shneorashkenazi.com/ Want to receive an update when the weekly lesson is up? Subscribe! From Parashat Va'ara 5700 – Was Pharaoh able to free Israel? 1. Exodus 7: And the Lord said to Moses ... You shall speak all that I command you ... and let the children of Israel go out of his land: And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt: and Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay My hand on Egypt. Rashi: Since he has transgressed and rebelled against Me, and it is clear before me that there is no rest for the nations to give a whole heart to return, it is good for me that his heart be hardened, so that My signs may be multiplied in him, and that you may know My mighty acts. Ezekiel 18:1-3: For I have no pleasure in the death of the dead, says the Lord God, and he shall return and live. Ezekiel 33:11: As I live, says the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Exodus 13:4: Rabbi Yochanan said, opening the mouth of the men to say: There was no repentance on his part [Pharaoh found himself in a situation where his choice was over and he was forced to sin]. Ramban 7:3: The question that everyone will ask: If the Lord hardened his heart, what is his sin? 2. Exodus 5: Then Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Send my people away, and let them gather themselves together in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I do not know the Lord. And Pharaoh commanded... those who were with the people... You shall no longer give the people straw to make the whitewash, as yesterday and the day before yesterday: they shall go and gather straw for themselves... - Mishnah Idiyot 2:10: The judgment of the Egyptians is twelve months... The judgment of the wicked in Gehenna is twelve months. Exodus 7:25: And seven days were fulfilled after the Lord had struck the river - Rashi: If the plague lasted a quarter of a month and three weeks, he would testify and declare them. Exodus 10: And the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may do these two signs among him - Rashi: And you shall be punished. Likkuti Sichot 6/59: 'Testimony' and 'warning' are different concepts: There were plagues that came as punishment for Pharaoh's failure to send Israel out of his land earlier. Like the first plague, a plague of blood, which came because 'you have not heard before.' And Moses 'testified' in the language of certainty that the plague would come. In the plague of locusts, on the other hand, Rashi emphasizes that Moses was sent to be a test for Pharaoh, and the warning is from this point forward, as the verse emphasizes: 'For if you refuse to let my people go [from here to here], behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory' ... Likkuti Sichot 6/64: How can Pharaoh be punished for the fact that he now 'refuses', and he is forced and has no choice? Note 43 Ibid.: And how did He command Pharaoh, 'Let my people go, that they may serve me' [when He was unable to send them]? 3. After the plague of blood (7:22): And Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not listen to them. After the plague of frogs (8:11): And Pharaoh saw that there was relief and he hardened his heart and did not listen to them. After the plague of lice (8:15): And Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he did not listen to them. After the plague of locusts (8:28): And Pharaoh hardened his heart. After the plague of lice (9:7): And Pharaoh's heart hardened. Only starting from the sixth plague, boils, is it said (9:12): And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. Rambam, Laws of Repentance 6:4-5: Regarding this matter, the righteous and the prophets ask in their prayer ... Let not my sins prevent me from repenting, but let the authority [choice] be in my hand until I return and understand the way of truth ... which is the measure in every person who, as long as he continues in the ways of wisdom and righteousness, desires them and pursues them [and vice versa] ... and there at the beginning of the chapter: Therefore it is written in the Torah, 'And I will harden Pharaoh's heart,' since he sinned of his own accord first and did evil to the Israelites who were living in his land, the law was given to prevent repentance from him until he repented from it, and therefore God strengthened his heart. Likkuti Sichot 6/65: The old Rebbe explains in the Egrah of Repentance that even those of whom it is said that 'they are not able to repent', the meaning is only that they are not helped in repentance, but certainly the person remains free to choose to repent and if 'he presses on and enters' they receive his repentance. Therefore, even after 'the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart', and after the Lord said in words: 'And I have hardened his heart', Moses was still sent to persuade him an...