The Tomorrow Syndrome
“Tomorrow” is the lexicon of exile. The word “tomorrow” should not appear in our vocabulary when it comes to the end of pain and suffering or the end of exile. When we hear someone saying “things will get better, but I don’t want, care, or expect it to happen today” they’ve been infected with Pharaoh’s “tomorrow” syndrome. A Moshiach oriented person says, “today.” I want Moshiach today! And I expect Moshiach today! Our motto is “today,” or as the children (and the innocent child within us) sing “We want Moshiach Now!”
Pharaoh PhD
This week’s parsha features seven of the Ten Plagues that were designed by G-d not just to punish the Egyptians but to educate them as well. Each plague would introduce Pharaoh and the Egyptian people to the existence of one omnipotent G-d and to an appreciation for the special relationship He has with the Jewish people. The ultimate goal, of course, was to translate their education into practice by allowing the Jewish people go so that they would be free to serve their G-d. But if that was the only goal, G-d could have accomplished it with but one massive plague. The fact that it took ten plagues to achieve His objective, added to the fact that it was G-d Himself Who hardened Pharoah’s heart, proves that the plagues were also, if not primarily, an educational program.
The Ten Plagues were thus a ten semester course that would, in the end, grant the Egyptians a degree in theology, specializing in the subject of G-d’s ability to change nature.
The very first plague of blood which affected the Nile River, Rashi says, was intended to strike at the river which was their god. What then was the purpose of the second plague, that of frogs, which also was related to the Nile from which the frogs emerged? Indeed this plague was initiated by G-d who tells Moses to instruct Aaron to strike the Nile just as he had done for the plague of blood. What theological lesson did the Egyptian ruler learn from this plague? If it discredited the Nile what did it add on to the first plague of blood which already accomplished that goal?
The Plague’s Ending
The answer might lie in the way the plague ended. Pharaoh begs Moses to plead with G-d to remove this nuisance. Moses then asks him when he should he pray that the frogs disappear. Pharaoh’s response is “tomorrow.”
Rashi explains: “Pray today that they should cease tomorrow.”
Now the reason Pharaoh did not want to see the plague stop immediately, commentators explain, was intended to test Moses to see if indeed his power was from G-d or perhaps, instead, Moses was some sort of magician. Pharaoh therefore told Moses an unexpected time for the plague to cease. If Moses could still stop the plague at his appointed time this would indeed verify Moses’ claim that it was a punishment from G-d and not a product of magic or some special knowledge of natural phenomena.
When it ceased precisely as Pharaoh was foretold it would—tomorrow—he was introduced to the knowledge that not only was it G-d Who was in command of starting a plague when He chose, but that He could also stop it at whichever time He wanted.
The theological lesson was that G-d’s control over all of nature, including their vaunted idol, the Nile River, was subordinate to G-d’s will, and that this subordination was absolute. G-d could start the process, and He could end it.
Jewish Education
The Ten Plagues were not just theological lessons for Pharaoh and the Egyptians; they were also intended to educate the Jewish people as to G-d’s greatness, His love for them, and the way they had to prepare themselves to be freed from exile.
What lesson can we learn from the way this plague of frogs ended?
We can glean one lesson by first answering another question concerning the way Pharaoh asked for the plague to cease. As was mentioned above, Rashi states that Pharaoh asked Moses to pray today that it ceases tomorrow. What difference would it make to Pharaoh when Moses prayed? He could just as well have prayed the next day that it cease then?
Watering Down the Effects of the Plague
One way of answering this question is to read Pharaoh’s mind. Pharaoh wanted to diminish the effect this plague would have on the Egyptian people. If they would see how the plague would cease the very moment Moses finished praying that would prove to them that Moses was a G-dly man and that the plague was G-d’s doing.
If, on the other hand, Moses would pray today, but the plague would not cease until tomorrow, the people would still remain skeptical as to the source of the plague. If G-d was so powerful, they would ask, why did it take a full day for the plague to end?
Pharaoh Mentality
There is an important lesson we can learn from this that can apply to our own unique situation as we are poised to leave the current exile and to enter the age of Redemption.
Pharaoh is the force that tries to keep us enslaved and ensconced in exile. Even when he sees the miracles that G- d has performed he tries as hard as he can to inject doubts as to the true nature and origin of these miracles. One way Pharaoh accomplishes this feat is if the Jewish people grow skeptical when we do not see the immediate effects of all the signs that point to the fact that we are in the last moments of exile. If our prayers for the Redemption have the power to bring Moshiach, why hasn’t it happened already? If the Rebbe told us unequivocally that “the time of your Redemption has arrived,” why is the time of Redemption still not yielding the actual Redemption?
A Tale of Two Questions
And while we cannot give any rational answers to this question, we ought to know that this question can be phrased in two opposite ways. One way is desirable and constitutes the approach of Moses while the other plays into the hands of Pharaoh, The first “kosher” form of the question must be directed to G-d. This is, in fact, what Moses did when things got worse after he spoke to Pharaoh as he was commanded to do, as recounted in the end of last week’s parsha. Instead of things getting better for the Jews they got worse. G-d’s promise, it seemed, did not materialize. Moses then complained to G-d as to why the Jews were not liberated immediately? Why did they suffer more as a result of his going to Pharaoh? Why, now, is the Redemption not happening today? Why the “tomorrow?”
This is a legitimate way of raising the question. We have a right and indeed an obligation to say to G-d “ad masai-how much longer?!” How much longer do we have to wait for the promises we were given for the coming of Moshiach to take us out of exile? This demand is not a denial of G-d or of the message of Moses, and of the Moses of our generation to us; it is, rather, an affirmation of it. Our belief in the fulfillment of G-d’s promise is so strong that we cannot possibly find any logical explanation for it not happening, and not happening today.
When Pharaoh and his ilk, however, raise the question, their version of it is intended to dampen our spirits and sows doubts into the very efficacy of our prayers and of the very fact that we will leave this exile imminently. Pharaoh wants to demoralize us with his questions so that instead we will prefer to remain in exile.
Today, Not Tomorrow!
There is another way we can explain Pharaoh telling Moses “tomorrow.” This is the lexicon of exile. A Moshiach oriented person says, “today.” I want Moshiach today! And I expect Moshiach today! As we say thrice daily in our most important prayer, “And for Your salvation I hope for every day,” which is understood to mean that I hope and anticipate that he will come today. When we hear someone saying “things will get better, but I don’t want, care, or expect it to happen today” they’ve been infected with Pharaoh’s “tomorrow” syndrome.
This explains why the Torah doesn’t say when the plague actually ended. While we assume that it ended precisely as Moses told Pharaoh it would, and in fact Rashi says that he did actually pray that day that it would cease tomorrow, the Torah does not mention this explicitly. Perhaps it is the Torah’s way of saying that the word “tomorrow” should not appear in our vocabulary when it comes to the end of pain and suffering or the end of exile. Our motto is “today,” or as the children (and the innocent child within us) sing “We want Moshiach Now!”
FOREWORD
With praise to the A-mighty, I am presenting the essay entitled “Ten Plague Therapy,” in honor of the marriage of my beloved son Boruch Sholom ‘שיחי to his Kallah Naomi Rivkah ‘תחי.
The essay is divided into an introduction and ten chapters corresponding to the Ten Plagues.
The essay, as its name suggests, is an application of the Ten Plagues to our own spiritual and emotional development.
Each chapter explains one or several aspects of a specific plague and applies it to our own lives. It also shows the connection of each of the Ten Plagues to the Ten Commandments and the Ten Sefirot (Divine Attributes and soul faculties).
The Lubavitcher Rebbe declared that we are living in unique times; on the threshold of the future Redemption. He applied the words of the Midrash that “The time of your Redemption has arrived.” The Rebbe stated further that the straightforward way for us to bring about the actual Redemption is by learning what the Torah says about Moshiach and Redemption.
In this spirit, a connection is drawn from each of the Ten Plagues to the Messianic Age and what we need to do to prepare for it.
It is my fervent hope that this essay—with its emphasis on Moshiach—will contribute to our understanding of Moshiach and Redemption, as well as to help us prepare for the coming of Moshiach and the imminent Redemption.
It is also my fervent hope that this essay, will add to the merit of my son Boruch Sholom ‘שי and daughter-in-law Naomi Rivkah ‘תחי on the occasion of their marriage, on the second of Nissan, 5767, and may they build a bayis ne’man b’yisroel, on the foundation of Torah and Mitzvot as they are illuminated by the the luminescence of Torah, the light of Chassidus— and may all the blessings of the Rebbe be fulfilled.
It is also my heartfelt hope and prayer that this effort at disseminating teachings about Moshiach will contribute to the process of changing our galut/exile mindset into a Moshiach mindset, which is effected by the study of these themes in Torah. And may this effort, in turn, contribute to the imminent Redemption through our righteous Moshiach. Amen.
INTRODUCTION Why Ten Plagues?
Everyone is familiar with the Ten Plagues. These were the miraculous destructive forces that finally crushed the will of Pharaoh and brought him to his knees. At the end of these ten grueling and horrendous plagues, Pharaoh relented and let the Israelites go.
The first question that comes to mind is why ten plagues? Couldn’t G-d have “convinced” Pharaoh to let the Jews go after the first plague? Why the need for ten plagues when one would have sufficed.
The question is even stronger when we consider the fact that G-d hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would have to endure the punishment. He could not really change until G-d was ready for him to change. It is obvious that G-d wanted Pharaoh to endure ten plagues, no more and no less. This begs for an explanation.
An Educational Experience
In truth, as the Biblical text asserts, these plagues were not simply a punishment for Pharaoh and the Egyptian people; it was actually an educational system to introduce the Egyptians to the One G-d, His power and His love for the Jewish people Our Sages have added another dimension to the Ten Plagues. They were not just for the Egyptians, but they served as an educational and spiritual experience for the Jewish people as well. And, indeed, we can apply these teachings to our own lives today.
It is therefore no coincidence that the number of plagues matches the number of commandments the Jewish nation heard at Sinai, just seven weeks after they departed from Egypt. The Ten Plagues, our Sages tell us, were a prelude to the Ten Commandments. These Ten Plagues were intended to bring both awareness and refinement to the Jewish nation so as to make them receptive to the Ten Commandments.
The Kabbalah of the Ten Plagues
On a deeper Kabbalistic level, our Chassidic Masters have explained that the number ten is rooted in the number of Divine emanations known as Sefirot. These Ten Sefirot, are the Divine instruments through which G-d channels His light and energy into our world.
Corresponding to these Ten Sefirot are the Eser Kochot Hanefesh, the ten faculties of the soul, through which our soul expresses its G-dly potentials.
The world was also created with Ten Utterances that originate in the Ten Sefirot. However, the nature of the world is that it conceals its Divine energy and source. Indeed, the Hebrew word for world is olam that means concealment.
When G-d gave the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai it empowered the Ten Utterances to reflect the Ten G-dly emanations.
Of all the places in the world, Egypt epitomized the greatest expression of concealment. The low spiritual state of Egypt is mentioned in the Torah, which refers to Egypt as “the shame of the earth.” Indeed, even its Hebrew name Mitzraim expresses its unusually lowly state. This name is cognate to the Hebrew word meitzarim, which means straits.
Egypt was the most depraved land in the world; it was the most confining and concealing location.
Chipping Away at the Gross World One Step at a Time
In order for the world to become receptive to the Divine emanations that would be generated at Sinai with the giving of the Ten Commandments, the Ten Plagues were administered.
Every plague chipped away at the coarseness and grossness of Egypt, and by extension, the rest of the physical world. These plagues can be likened to the plowing before the sowing, or to use a military metaphor, “softening the enemy before the invasion.”
The Ten plagues thus enabled the Ten Commandments to infiltrate the Ten Utterances, so that they could reveal their true G-dly nature and source within the Ten Sefirot.
To summarize: The Ten Plagues were not just for punishment; they were an integral part of the process to help refine the world and prepare it for Mattan Torah-The Giving of the Torah.
In simple language, the Ten Plagues were an educational experience. In order for the Egyptians to appreciate G-d and for the Jews to appreciate G-d’s special message to them that would be delivered at Sinai following the Exodus, it was imperative that the barriers to appreciating the G-dly be removed.
Treating the Soul
What is true about the world at large, that it needed these Ten Plagues to refine it, is also true about the miniature world.
As mentioned before, the soul comprises Ten Faculties that derive from and parallel the Ten Sefirot. And as the Ten Sefirot are prevented from expressing their G-dly light because of the obstructive nature of the physical world, similarly, the soul’s G-dly light cannot shine because of the coarse nature of the body and the unrefined character of our animal soul.
Because the soul cannot fully express itself in our lives, we experience all sorts of spiritual and emotional problems.
In general, the observance of the Mitzvot and the study of Torah help to refine our bodies and animal souls. However, there are times when we are so spiritually and emotionally drained that even our Mitzvot are dry, mechanical, lacking enthusiasm, and do not allow the light that they generate to shine through them. It is at this point that the Torah provides us with the proper therapy.
Just as the world needed the Ten Plagues to remove the resistance of the world to the Divine energies it contains, so too, we need to implement the “Ten Plague therapy” to deal with our own resistant nature so that the light of the soul can shine through us.
Thus the Ten Plagues can be viewed as a ten-step program that chips away at those obstacles to spiritual and emotional growth. Most of our emotional problems can be dealt with effectively by integrating this Ten-Plague therapy into our lives.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeira by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
