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Parshat Bo marks a turning point in the story of our people. In our parsha, the tenth and final plague is unleashed, the first Pesach is observed, and the Jewish people receive their first mitzvah as a nation. Parshat Bo announces the end of a bleak and painful era and heralds the beginning of a new and hopeful dawn for the Jewish people.
And yet, the very first words of the parsha remind us that redemption, even when promised, is never obvious from the inside. The Torah opens with God telling Moshe: “Come to Pharaoh” (Shemot 10:1).
The Zohar asks a striking question: “Why is it written ‘Come to Pharaoh’? Should it not rather have said ‘Go to Pharaoh’?” The Zohar answers: “[Moshe] was afraid to approach [Pharaoh]… When God saw that Moshe feared the Serpent (Pharaoh), He said, ‘Come to Pharaoh’” (Zohar, Bo).
It is astonishing. After seven plagues, after exchanging words with Pharaoh as an equal, after earning the respect of Egypt and Israel alike - Moshe is still afraid. The great redeemer of Israel still resembles the hesitant shepherd standing before the Burning Bush.
And so God speaks to him with gentleness and with firmness: “Come to Pharaoh,” meaning, as the Zohar implies, “Come with Me to Pharaoh.” Not: go alone. Not: go by the force of your own strength. But: come with Me beside you, with My presence before you, with My support beneath you. It turns out that Moshe did not need a new sign, a new wonder, or a new argument. He needed accompaniment. He needed to feel held by God as he confronted what terrified him.
We each have our own Pharaohs - our fears, our anxieties, our internal adversaries - sometimes formidable, sometimes familiar, always difficult to face. And like Moshe, we often know exactly what must be confronted, yet we hesitate at the threshold.
Parshat Bo teaches us that courage does not always begin with heroism. Sometimes it begins with the simple knowledge that we do not go alone. As Rebbe Nachman wrote: “The whole world is a narrow bridge. And the essential thing is not to be afraid.” The bridge remains narrow; life remains uncertain. What is steadying us is not the width of the path, but the One Who walks beside us.
May this Shabbat be one of feeling that presence - of knowing that as we confront what unsettles us, what holds us back, what we have postponed for too long - we do so with God at our side. And with that knowledge, may we find not only the strength to face our Pharaohs, but the confidence to move beyond them.
Shabbat Shalom!
-Rabbi Dan
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