Dvar Torah for Parshat Bo

'God said to Moshe, "Come to Pharaoh..." (Exodus 10:1).

Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses, our teacher) and Pharaoh. Two people with very different points of view on life. Moshe Rabbeinu, Rebbe Nachman often points out, is the personification of daat (awareness) of Hashem (God). Pharaoh, on the other hand, is the personification of anti-daat, cancellation of our awareness of Hashem. Why should Hashem command Moshe Rabbeinu to engage in a face-to-face confrontation with someone who could undermine his daat?

This is not a historical question. This is a practical question, because everyone of us has (more than just) a little bit of Moshe Rabbeinu within (see Likutey MoHaran II, Lesson #26). What we also need to know, sometimes desperately, is how did Moshe Rabbeinu survive the confrontation?! Can we do what he did in order to survive our 'face-to-faceîs with Pharaoh? We should also bear in mind that our goal is not only to come away unscathed, but to actually gain daat as a result of the confrontation.

Oh. You're wondering just exactly who your 'Pharaohî is? He (or she) may be the slave driver who signs your paycheck or supervises you at work. However,'Pharaohî will most certainly be any number of factors in your life–attitudes, events, people, (mis)information, for example–which combine to suck you into a vortex of Question and Doubt.

Moshe Rabbeinu's mission was to tell Pharaoh, in Hashem's name, 'Let My people go and they will serve Meî (Exodus 5:16). There are souls enslaved, subjects of Question and Doubt, who need to be rescued so that they can use their talents to serve Hashem. A tzaddik of Moshe Rabbeinu's caliber, even though he cannot disclose the answer to every question and doubt, must study such questions. His holiness enables him to weaken Question and Doubt so that the enslaved souls break free of Pharaoh and attach their selves to Moshe Rabbeinu, allowing him to free them totally.

Those of us lacking Moshe Rabbeinu's holiness must use a different method to overcome Question and Doubt. When Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu that the Israelite elders would accompany him to Pharaoh (ibid. 3:18), Hashem says that the Israelites are to refer to Him as 'God of the Ivriyim (Hebrews).î We are called Ivriyim, says Rebbe Nachman, because of our faith in Hashem and His Torah, the faith that we have received from our holy Patriarchs, Sages and ancestors. This faith enables us to oveir, pass over and overcome, Question and Doubt.

Little by little, Moshe Rabbeinu in his confrontations with Pharaoh, and we in ours, free the enslaved souls–including our own.

agutn Shabbos!
Shabbat Shalom!