Resisting Tyrants Since Pharaoh

My front hall closet is filled with an array of reusable grocery bags, but in recent weeks, I've purposefully been reaching for the one from T'ruah, a rabbinic human rights and social justice organization. On the side of the canvas bag, in bold burgundy letters, are the words: "Resisting tyrants since Pharaoh." Given everything unfolding around us right now, I'm drawn to the idea that within the long arc of human history, we've met Pharaohs before, and we know how to recognize Pharaoh-mindedness when we see it: the need for a leader to feed his own ego in order to feel powerful, and the cruelty and oppression that flows from there. I am comforted by the thought that our Jewish muscles instinctively know how to do the work of resistance, and that when we fight back against Pharaoh-ish tyranny, we are following in the footsteps of the many generations that have come before us.

This week's Torah portion, Parashat Bo, picks up in the middle of the Ten Plagues. The first seven plagues have already unfolded in a patterned repeat loop that goes something like this: Moses warns Pharaoh and God sends a plague; Pharaoh initially promises to release the Israelites until his heart hardens and he reneges; the situation worsens for the Israelites. Now, between plague #7 (hail) and #8 (locusts), something shifts, as a new element is introduced into this loop. Here's the opening verse of Bo, Exodus 10:1:

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כִּֽי־אֲנִ֞י הִכְבַּ֤דְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ֙ וְאֶת־לֵ֣ב עֲבָדָ֔יו לְמַ֗עַן שִׁתִ֛י אֹתֹתַ֥י אֵ֖לֶּה בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ׃

Then GOD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them."

Above, I've bolded the words that represent the key change in the pattern, so that it's easy to observe. In addition to hearing about Pharaoh's hardened heart once again, now, for the first time, we see the same phenomenon unfolding in the hearts of Pharaoh's "servants" ("avadav"). This group of people -- which functions as a single unit in the text, but must have represented many individuals who were advisors and members of his court -- seems to be very aligned with Pharaoh; their hearts and Pharaoh's heart all simultaneously serve as the direct objects of a single verb, hichbad'ti ("I have hardened"). Chizkuni (a commentary by R' Chizkiya ben Manoach, of 13th-century France) notes this alignment between Pharaoh and the members of his cabinet:

"We have not found this formulation in connection with any of the previous plagues. The reason that God reacted so harshly was that after Pharaoh himself had confessed that he had sinned, instead of releasing the Israelites, both he and his servants continued to oppress the Israelites." 

In the final phrase of this comment, Chizkuni directs the reader to revisit Exodus 9:34 - a verse at the tail end of last week's parasha - and notes that indeed, Pharaoh and his advisors were both described as returning to their sinning and stubbornness in tandem. The key point Chizkuni is making is that the presence of Pharaoh's advisors at this point in the plague cycle is new, and indicative of a new level of oppression in Egypt: now it's not just Pharaoh alone, but Pharaoh plus all of his servants, who are aligned in their stubbornness and their oppression of the Israelites.

Continuing a little further into Parashat Bo, we soon encounter Pharaoh's advisors again, but this time, as we'll see, they take a different stance vis-a-vis Pharaoh. In the intervening text (and you're certainly welcome to read Exodus 10:2-6 for yourself), Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and demand on God's behalf, "Let My people go that they may worship me," and they threaten that if Pharaoh refuses, God will cause locusts to descend upon the land of Egypt and cover the land, devouring everything and causing destruction to an extent never before seen. In Exodus 10:7, Pharaoh's servants re-appear, disagreeing with him somewhat and pushing back against Pharaoh's rigidity:

וַיֹּאמְרוּ֩ עַבְדֵ֨י פַרְעֹ֜ה אֵלָ֗יו עַד־מָתַי֙ יִהְיֶ֨ה זֶ֥ה לָ֙נוּ֙ לְמוֹקֵ֔שׁ שַׁלַּח֙ אֶת־הָ֣אֲנָשִׁ֔ים וְיַֽעַבְד֖וּ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם הֲטֶ֣רֶם תֵּדַ֔ע כִּ֥י אָבְדָ֖ה מִצְרָֽיִם׃

Pharaoh’s courtiers said to him, “How long shall this one [Moses] be a snare to us? Let those involved go to worship the ETERNAL their God! Are you not yet aware that Egypt is lost**?”

(**According to the 12th century Spanish commentator R' Abraham Ibn Ezra, the meaning of the final phrase of 10:7, "ha-terem teda," is "Do you first want it to become clear to you that Egypt has been destroyed?!")

In a nutshell, Pharaoh's advisors are telling him in this verse that he needs to make a concession and soften a little. Apparently, Pharaoh would have been willing to bring destruction upon all of Egypt to stick with his rigid no answer, but his advisors are not. These civil servants seem to have some sense of obligation to Egypt itself, and they are unwilling to see it completely destroyed on their watch; for this reason, they encourage Pharaoh to acquiesce to Moses and Aaron's demand to let the people go to worship.

And indeed, in the face of his own advisors' push back, Pharaoh backs down, at least in part. In Exodus 10:8-11, he permits Moses and the Israelite men (only) go to worship. Admittedly, this is not quite what Moses and Aaron had asked for -- as they had clearly wanted all of the people: young and old, sons and daughters, with flocks and herds, to be able to go; however, it is a significant concession... a crack that opens up for the first time for the Israelites, a small win on their road towards ultimate victory over the Egyptians and towards freedom from the constraints of Pharaoh's oppression.

Reading the opening section of Parashat Bo this week, I find myself reflecting on the relationship between Pharaoh and his advisors, which seems to be shifting in real time, right before our very eyes in these first 11 verses of Exodus chapter 10. Again, Pharaoh himself is undoubtedly cruel and oppressive -- and we already know this to be true from the first 9 chapters of Exodus. He treats the Israelites as objects or property, with no regard for them as human beings, and he acts in his own self-interest, from a place of fear, ever seeking to expand his wealth, power, and reputation.

The two verses I've highlighted above -- Exodus 10:1 and 10:7 -- showcase the subtle shift in Pharaoh's advisors' mindset. They act in two different ways: first, in total alignment with Pharaoh, hardening their own hearts and having God further reinforce their guilt and oppressiveness, but then, with increasing daylight between them, trying to counter or at least temper Pharaoh's worst impulses lest he bring down all of Egypt in his stubbornness. The intricacies of this relationship have me wondering about how Moses, Aaron, and God are fighting back against Pharaoh's tyranny... and what the role is of their noting and exploiting the lack of alignment between Pharaoh and his own servants/advisors. When Pharaoh is rigid to the point of engaging in self-destructive behavior, the fact that the advisors still respond to self-interest becomes a tool and a lever for change. I wonder what lessons we might be able to glean from this and apply today, as we seek footholds and cracks for change-making in the face of modern-day tyranny?

Today, I want to lift up that many of my colleagues -- rabbis, cantors, and faith leaders from a wide array of religious traditions, from around the country -- have converged on Minneapolis for protests and a march against the oppressive ICE presence there. Despite the frigid temperatures, they have showed up to exercise resistance in the face of a particular strand of tyranny. (Unfortunately my schedule here did not permit me to make a trip to Minnesota this week, but I assume there will be future opportunities; meanwhile, I'm happy to draw attention to their work and encourage you to be on the lookout today for media coverage of the faith leaders' march, among many other actions and protests.)

I know that many of us are struggling to make sense of this challenging moment, and especially to figure out what leverage we have -- it's certainly easy to feel powerless. But, I am heartened by the Exodus story that we've been reading over the past few weeks in our Torah cycle, and finding new details each time I look at it closely that feel relevant and helpful.

My blessing for us, heading into this Shabbat of Parashat Bo, is that we continue to discover inspiration in the foundational story of our tradition: the Exodus arc that takes us from oppression to freedom. May we find -- through the repeat loop of the Ten Plagues -- the courage to stick with our pursuits and values and try again and again, even in the face of setbacks. May we mine our tradition to find clues about how to do this work of resistance creatively -- for example, by exploiting the subtle differences between Pharaoh and Pharaoh's advisors -- in order to pursue productive paths towards justice and freedom. 

Indeed, we Jews are inheritors of a most awesome legacy! Our core purpose is to name the Pharaoh-mindedness we see everywhere it pops up in the world, and to resist and counter it with all of our being. "Resisting tyrants since Pharaoh" -- amen!

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Rachel Nussbaum