Rav Yerucham Levovitz discusses an age old question. Paroah was a smart man. As we see, Hashem decided to deal with him. He didn’t come to prove a point to people that weren’t on the level. The Midrash says that when Moshe Rabbenu came to show them the miracles, they told him he was ‘bringing wheat to a town of wheat.’
Yes, they might have had a lot of ‘wheat,’ in other words, they knew a lot about black magic. They knew all about powers and forces....and now they would see the real thing.
That’s why Mitzrayim was chosen to show Hashem’s greatness.
Paroah was a smart man. So, when he saw all the plagues, what was he thinking? Why didn’t they impact him? This went on to the extent that Rav Yerucham says he wishes he could find out what exactly Paroah did. It says that after the first plagues, Paroah strengthened his heart. What specific technique did he use to strengthen his heart? How was he so courageous? What exactly did he do to work on himself?
He says that the Torah reveals to us a powerful lesson. Regarding Paroah, it says
וַיִּ֣פֶן פַּרְעֹ֔ה וַיָּבֹ֖א אֶל־בֵּית֑וֹ וְלֹא־שָׁ֥ת לִבּ֖וֹ
He turned, and came into his house, and didn’t pay attention
What does that mean? It means he didn’t do anything at all. It all came from being passive, from not paying attention; what he calls “a lack of delving and thinking.”
This is a power of human beings. A human being is able to blank out everything around him, if he doesn’t pay attention to things.
Rav Yerucham mentions all of the horrific curses that Moshe Rabbenu gave before he passed away, and talks about the man that heard all the curses and yet, says in his heart,
שלום יהיה לי
Everything will be fine for me
It’s possible that a person can hear all kinds of things going around him, and yet remain in total denial.
He doesn’t have to do anything to be in denial, except not pay attention or think about it.
This is what enabled Paroah to see all of the miracles, and yet they didn’t talk to him.
What does this have to do with us, and what does this have to do with bitachon?
Rav Yerucham says we might think,
That’s all very nice for Paroah, but we don’t see any miracles.
Oh really, says Rav Yerucham; There’s a pasuk in Yeshayah that says
“Lift up your eyes to the heavens and see Who created this world.”
He says that if you think and pay attention,
you will see wonders and miracles daily. With every day that goes by, there are wonders and wonders.
The only problem is, we aren’t paying attention. We aren’t thinking.
He says that if a person doesn’t think, there is almost no hope.
He goes on, and quotes a Gemarah that says the same thing about a person’s final destination. We all know there is a final destination. No one is walking around over 120 years old. There’s no question about this. And yet, we go about our lives as if we are here forever. Think about that. There’s a final destination that we have prepare for.
That is why it’s important to pay attention.
This has a lot to do with our work on bitachon.
If you don’t think, or pay attention, if you don’t contemplate, then the world around you doesn’t talk to you.
On the other hand, if you think and contemplate, then everything takes on meaning. We are in a world with a Creator, who is directing this world, Who has a plan, and is getting us someplace. Things are happening. He talks to us. He wants things from us. Things don’t happen haphazardly.
The things we hear about, are meant for us to hear. The whole world is talking to us. That’s why Rav Yerucham says that we too can be guilty of the Paroah attitude.
For example, when Corona first started, people said they would make changes in their lifestyles. They said would change. Well, Corona is still here and nothing has changed.
It’s like the plagues that came, one and then another, and yet, וְלֹא־שָׁ֥ת לִבּ֖וֹ גם כן
We didn’t pay attention to this either.
Rioting in Washington, instability, rioting over Black Lives Matter… we just continue our lives like everything is fine, expecting that it’ll all go back to normal.
But one that has bitachon realizes that Hashem is running the world. Hashem is talking to us. Things are happening for us to pay attention to. Hashem wants us to connect to Him, and have a relationship with Him.
There’s a whole world going on around us, and we have to pay attention to it.
We have to pay attention to the sun and the moon. We have to pay attention to the wonders of our body…. we have to pay attention to everything that is going on.
If you don’t pay attention, you can just go by your whole life, and nothing will speak to you.
Everybody has a little Paroah inside of them. The Zohar says that Paroah represents the Yetzer Hara. This is the Yetzer Hara’s trick: Don’t pay attention to anything. Just go along your merry way without thinking. That’s what Paroah’s advice was: Keep the people busy. Don’t let them think.
Because thinking and paying attention are the Yetzer Hara’s downfall.
So that’s what we have to do. We have to think and pay attention. Have a wonderful day, and a Shabbat Shalom.