Fixing The Brain

Anyone following the storyline will be amazed at the seemingly random break between Vaerah and Bo.  Why is there a break in the middle of the makkos?  Why is it split into two parshios, one recounting the tale of the first seven plagues, and the second telling us the story of the final three plagues?  Everyone asks it shouldn’t have said bo el Pharaoh, it should say lech el Pharaoh, Moshe is going to Pharaoh, not coming toward him?  The Zohar explains that Moshe was afraid of Pharaoh and Hashem said come with me to Pharaoh, to subside his fears.  Moshe had already met Pharaoh many times, he had performed many miracles causing him great pain and trouble, why is Moshe all of a sudden afraid to the extent that Hashem must come with him?  At the end of the parsha, Klal Yisroel receive the mitzvah of teffilin.  Why is this mitzvah received as the Jews are leaving Egypt, how does it bear the message of the Exodus?

 As an introduction, we must understand that in Egypt, Klal Yisroel became so absorbed into the fabric of society, that the possuk (Vaeschanan 4:34) refers to yitzias mitzraim as “taking one nation from out of another.”  The midrash (Tehillim 107, cited in Gevuros Hashem Ch. 3) elaborates that we were stuck in Egypt like a baby animal within the womb of its mother, and Hashem had to pry us out.  We were complete swallowed up, in terms of our thoughts, actions and desires we were like an Egyptian.   Rav Tzaddok Hakohen (Pri Tzadikk #2) explains based upon the idea of the kabbalists that the ten plagues correspond to the ten sefiros.  It is well known the idea of the Zohar that the makkos were both an affliction for the Egyptians and healing for Klal Yisroel.  According to this approach, the first seven plagues are sent to fix the middos, the hearts of Klal Yisroel.  The first plagues served to instill into the hearts of Klal Yisroel the fear of the Lord.  The Egyptian heart was lost, and it was replaced by a Jewish heart. 

However, the last three plagues are of a different level.  That is why it is a separate parsha, it isn’t a continuation of the same makkos, the makkos in this week’s parsha are a different quality than the one’s preceding them.   They correspond to the three mochan, they are coming to fix the brains of Klal Yisroel, to give them a yiddeshe kup.  To reach that level, Moshe had to combat against the mochim of Pharaoh, to fight against the inner core and drive of Pharaoh.  Such a mission, to go up against the core of the evil of Egypt frightened Moshe.  That’s why it is in our parsha that he requires the assurance of God that He will watch out for Moshe.

 

The midrash in last week’s parsha, on the verse (7:14) כבד לב פרעה says that the heart of Pharaoh became a liver (כבד.)  What is the intent of Chazal?  Rav Shlome Fischer explains based upon what we discussed in the past, here, that מלך stands for the three prisms of human existence, the liver representing the animal side, the heart ,לב)) representing the emotions and the brain ((,מוח representing the brain.  Pharaoh had the evidence in front of his eyes, it was obvious who was boss, yet he misused his brain and ignored the obvious.  Because of this, he loses his control of his brain and instead of the normal order of a מלך that a king like himself should have, he is controlled by his animalistic inclinations he is lead by his כבד.  As we are gaining our “brains” Pharaoh is losing his.  Based upon this, we understand why we receive the commandment of tefillin as we exit Egypt.  The mitzvah of tefillin is to use your brain and heart to serve Hashem. It was after the exiting of Egypt that Klal Yisroel received their brains and hearts.  In order to channel it in the right manner, Klal Yisroel needed to receive tefillin (based upon Shiveley Pinchas 5767.)