Netvort Vaeira 5773: To Serve Man

By Rabbi Joshua (fearfully known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

 

God sends Moshe to warn Pharaoh that if he does not agree to release the Hebrew slaves, Egypt will be assaulted with another plague, that of barad, or hail. This hail would fall on all of Egypt, the people and their cattle.  Pharaoh was further told that people and cattle brought inside from the field would be saved, and all others would die. The Torah then says, “Whoever among the servants of Pharaoh feared the word of the Lord made his servants and livestock flee to the houses” (Shemos 9:19-20).

 

A number of questions arise in regard to these verses.  First, what does taking advantage of the opportunity to be saved from the plague have to do with fearing God?  Wasn’t it simply a matter of self-preservation?  Second, why is it that only the servants of Pharaoh who feared God took advantage of the opportunity? What about the rest of the Egyptians? Finally, are we able to identify any of the people who were included in the category of the servants of Pharaoh who feared God?

 

In regard to the first question, Rav Eliyahu Meir Bloch, zt”l, in his Peninei Da’as, says that the Egyptians were so intent on proving Moshe wrong that they lost their sense of reality and acted against their own self-interest. Although, they had seen the destruction wrought by the previous plagues, and noticed that their sorcerers could not replicate some of them, they maintained their attitudes of disbelief and did not act to save their possessions. Only those who truly feared God took advantage of the opportunity offered them.

 

Rabbi Bloch’s explanation seems to take it as a given that all of the Egyptians knew about the warning concerning the plague and the opportunity to escape its effects. However, Rabbi Aharon Dovid Goldberg, in his Shiras Dovid, takes a different approach. He says that the Torah refers exclusively to the servants of Pharaoh as taking advantage of the proffered opportunity because they were the only ones who knew about it. Pharaoh cared only about his own position and welfare, and not about the Egyptian people. Therefore, he did not announce the warning to anyone outside the palace, and the only people who knew about it were his servants, who heard it directly from Moshe. We may add, parenthetically, that this is exactly the opposite of the approach of Jewish leaders, including Moshe, who, the higher position they obtained, the more they were selflessly dedicated to the welfare of the collective of the Jewish people, as pointed out by Rav Kook, zt”l, in his work Oros. Because it was only the servants of Pharaoh who knew about the coming plague and the chance to be saved from it, it was only those among these servants who feared God that took the warning to heart.

 

Who, then, were the servants of Pharaoh who feared God?  Rabbi Goldberg cites the Targum Yonasan ben Uziel who says that Iyov gathered-in his slaves and cattle. The commentary to Targum Yonasan, Sarasi BaMedinos, explains that this identification is based on the fact that Iyov is described several times in the book that bears his name as a fearer of God. Perhaps, however, we can suggest a different factor behind this identification, based on Rabbi Goldberg’s comments.  Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt”l, in his Kol Dodi Dofek, writes that Iyov’s failing was that he focused his attention on the members of his own family without regard to the plight of others outside that circle. The rabbis, in fact, tell us that Iyov was one of three people included in a council of held by Pharaoh to determine how to deal with the Hebrew slaves. When Iyov heard of the plan to kill them, he reacted with complete silence, and that is why he was subjected to his consequent suffering.  Rav Chaim Shmulevitz explained that even though Iyov was powerless to stop this plan he should have reacted in some way, because when you are in pain you scream. His silence was an indication that he really didn’t care, and, therefore, he had to undergo his own suffering in order to become sensitized to the suffering of others. Iyov, then at that stage of his life, despite his fear of God, did not care for the plight of others, and in this way, was following in the path of his master, Pharaoh.