First – stay on top of the Israel news at:
https://stories.bringthemhomenow.net/
D’var Torah:
Pharoah hardened his heart and would not let the Jewish People out of bondage. We are no strangers to the feeling of being held hostage. We anxiously await the release of four of our beloved held in Gaza, and we pray for an immediate release of all those held captive.
Is God again hardening the hearts our enemies? In the darkest hours of my tefillah over the last 476 days I have gone down that path. When I felt despondency taking over I let out a soul scream during my davenning. If God won’t hear our cries let God live up to what he told Moses and Aharon. The Lord said he would let Pharoah and the world know that “I am the God of Judgement and Mercy.”
In our time we do not rely on miracles or plagues. While the first seven were delivered upon Pharoah and that society when we needed Divine help, now it is up to us to deliver the Jewish People back to the embrace of our family. The seven plagues in this parsha, though, remind us that the world can be remade with a show of force. We have done that.
May the mercy of all hearts be stirred to lead us to a new chapter of living among our neighbors – even those who sought to or seek to destroy us. May there be a day when we hear the songs of the Children of Israel rising like those moments when Miriam and Moses sang at the shores of the Red Sea!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Bolton