Passover is a fascinating holiday, pregnant with meaning and insight that goes well beyond the Seder.  By only observing the Seder we barely begin to scratch the surface of what this holiday can teach us.

It captures our essence as a people, so much so that when we recite the Kiddush on every Shabbat, we say that “It is the first amongst the holy festivals, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt.”  The Passover Seder is among one of the most observed practices among North American Jews.  It not only connects us with other Jews around the world who are doing exactly the same thing we at the same time, but it also connects us with generations past, who observed the same holiday in the same manner we do. Yet, Passover is far more than just one or two Seders.It is a whole week long!

This year, Margaret Lange and I will give you some points for reflection in a daily e-mail, focused on one of the players in the Passover saga.  I encourage you to respond with your thoughts, opinions and insights about the daily topic.

Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn
rabbi@templeisraelkc.org

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Pharoah – Adult Reflections

What is the deal with God hardening Pharaoh’s heart?

We read in the Torah (Exodus 9:12) “And God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses.”  But then God punishes Pharaoh for not obeying God! That doesn’t seem fair!

The best, most direct, simplest answer to the question above is: “In order to demonstrate God’s power, and in order that God’s name might be proclaimed throughout the entire earth.” God raised up Pharaoh and hardened Pharaoh’s heart in order to promote God’s own glory.
Yet it just doesn’t seem proper that God would arrange for a person to actually sin, fail and rebel just to make Himself great.  Many wise and reputable commentators propose that when the Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, what it really means is that God simply facilitated a process that Pharaoh himself initiated.  After all, the Bible also repeatedly states that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, i.e. Exodus 8:15 and 32.

Our tradition teaches that humans can always change and improve, yet many times we get stuck in ruts and end up behaving against our best interests, ethics and morals, because we have “hardened our hearts” and get blinded to the consequences of our behavior.  Not only do we behave like Pharaoh, we in fact become our own Pharaoh by enslaving ourselves to old ways as well as negative and unproductive ways.

Passover is a great revolution because in a world where slaves were always slaves, it teaches us that things can change.  Similarly, we should use this Passover to reflect on what behaviors we wish to change, and be aware that we have the power to overcome our own internal Pharaohs.

Pharoah  for the Younger Children

Remember that our Passover story says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  But what does that really mean? It means that Pharaoh didn’t care about other people any more. His heart had become cold and there was no room in it for love or caring.

He didn’t care about the people; he just wanted to give orders to them. He became very bossy. When we become bossy we don’t listen to other people and we may do things to hurt their feelings.

Ask the children to consider one or more of the following questions and lead them to a discussion of how we can become uncaring when we are too bossy.
Do you ever get bossy at home or at school?
How do you feel when one of your friends or your sister or brother gets bossy over you?
Why don’t people like somebody who is bossy?

Pharoah for the Older Children and Teens

Remember in the Passover story it says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. But what does that really mean? It means that God turned Pharaoh’s heart to stone so that he really didn’t care what happened to the people.  Because he didn’t care he made bad choices and acted badly.

Our pre-teen and teenage years are really important in our growing up. We begin to establish habits, good and bad, that we will probably have for life!  Many of these habits will affect how we act with and around other people.  One of the hard things to see when we are young is that all of our actions have consequences…either now or later. It’s so important to work hard to develop good habits and good actions that will have good consequences.

Think about some poor choices that you or your friends have made that lead to acting badly. What were the consequences?
Discuss how acting badly, lying, cheating, etc., can undermine a teacher or your parent’s confidence and trust in you.
Discuss how acting badly can be the beginning of making other poor choices…like have to tell bigger and bolder lies to cover up the original one!