VaEra - The Stubborn of Sin and Their Destruction

Parshas VaEra continues the story of the exodus of Israel from Egypt. A major theme is just how destructive a single sin can be if it is stubbornly adhered to. The sin which triggers the harsh retributions on Pharaoh and Egypt is their refusal to allow Israel to leave their domain. This causes ten horrible plagues and culminates with the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea.

The sin in fact begins when Pharaoh places a golden necklace around the neck of Yosef. To a certain extent he is telling Yosef that even with all of this luxury; he is chained to Egypt. This becomes clearer with the burial of Ya'akov. Pharaoh allows Yosef to leave temporarily only because of an oath made to his father to bury him in the Holy Land. When Yosef actually travels to the Ma'aras HaMachpela he is accompanied by a large Egyptian force which would make escape very difficult. In addition the possessions and children of the Israelites remain in Egypt to a certain extent as a pledge.

When Israel becomes a large and powerful people, Egypt fears that in the event of a war by making a deal with the enemy they could leave. In the first nine of the ten plagues Pharaoh steadfastly refuses to authorize Israel to travel away from their control. After the death of the first born Egypt consents to their departure but reneges and pursues.

Egypt recognizes the considerable good that Israel has done for them. They are also cognizant that Israel has the right to leave, however they do not respect that right. This is similar to the attitude of Lavan. Ya'akov has made him from a poor man into a rich man. Lavan not only did not want Ya'akov to leave but wanted to keep all of the profits for himself and treat Ya'akov as if he was a small child helping around the store. A rectification for this sin was made in the Mishna by Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya when his wife asked him if he could accept the fact that his appointment to be head of the Sanhedrin would only be temporary. He replied he could as it would be an honor to have held the post even for a short time.

The stubbornness of Egypt's determination to hold onto Israel, though, seems only to be a vehicle for how destructive a relatively small sin can be if it is clung to. The desire to retain a productive employee, who has his sights on better opportunities, is not so terrible. However, the obstinacy causes much more serious sins and with serious consequences. In Egypt it starts with persecution which becomes paranoid and murderous.

By the time Moshe approaches him, the sin is ruling over Pharaoh, his advisors, and the Egyptian people. When Moshe turns his staff into a snake which eats the staffs turned to snakes of Pharaoh's advisors, they really should know that they can not win. With the third plague (lice) Pharaoh's advisors verbally acknowledge that it is the finger of G-d. The threat to bring a plague of locusts (the eighth) is taken seriously, but it does not change the situation. The obstinacy in clinging to a small sin causes big sins and other sins that were present to surface. Pharaoh begins a tyrant and his people become murders. When the sin rules over them it twist there brains making them vain apostates playing stupid games. In the end it causes their destruction.

All people and all nations have their failings and shortcomings. The question is at what point they are corrected. At times a religious precept will strike a responsive chord and a person will proceed to follow it. This would be reckoned as an act of faith. Other times a person is taught by the behavior of his environment. Still other times a person will be guided by his internal sense of right and wrong. If this is the product of things like observation and meditation it would be a product of the intellect. Certain types of behavior arouse love or hatred or can be beautiful or ugly. Learning from this is a product of the emotions. At times behavior elicits a physical reaction, good or bad. This is in the realm of action.

In all four situations there are degrees of clarity. At times a person is dealing with abstruse hints other times message is apparent. A religious precept can be very clear. Other things can be very logical or very stupid. An emotional response can be very strong. Something can be physically beneficial or harmful. As clarity increases the case for a particular behavior becomes more compelling. At some point refusal to submit becomes a sin and a psychological complex tends to develop.

There is a social dimension as well. Typically one must violate popular morality to do something wrong. However there are times when society is wrong and a person must separate himself to do the right thing. When a person acts on knowledge of a new fact or an understanding of the implications of existing information, he is reckoned as a חכם (wise man). If he adheres to dogma he is reckoned as principled. If he pays a price for doing the right thing he is reckoned as a צדיק (tsadik).

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Parsha VaEra explores how great the damage caused by stubbornly clinging to a transgression can be and knowing when a person must change his behavior.

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