KI TISA- MOB RULE AND MOB RULERS

by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman

The parsha is an amazing crystal ball, so to speak- actually a prism, by which to understand world events. The Torah speaks to our inner human drama. But it also speaks both symbolically and metaphorically to the drama of world events - our outer human drama. The Torah is both timeless and topical at the same time.

The Arab world's most populous country, Egypt, is undergoing a revolution. The world anxiously hopes that this "people's revolution" will finally bring the Arab world into the liberal progressive world of responsible democratic self governance, with respect for the rights of all minorities to live in peace and justice equal to that of the majority. But recent attacks on journalists have threatened to pull back the curtain a little to enable the world a glimpse of Egypt's dark side.

An examination of the word for Paro (Pharaoh) is quite fascinating. The Torah could have merely used the common term for king, which is melekh. But it doesn't. It uses the word Paro, a word which also connects to the episode of the Golden Calf which is a central feature of this week's parsha. It also relates to the narrative of the Bitter Waters, the ordeal of the sota, which features later in the Book of Numbers, chapter 5, in parshat Naso.

In the Golden Calf episode, Moses descends the mountain in a fit of pique, angrily demanding of his brother Aaron how he could have allowed the people to make for themselves an idol, a Golden Calf. And the Torah describes (EX 32:25) Moses as saying that Aaron let the people loose, or wild (pharua/phraoh). In other words, he was forced by the unruly and wild, untamed mob to violate one of the central commandments of the decalogue, experienced in the recent theophany, expressed in stone, that Thou Shalt have No Other gods Before Me.

And back to Naso, the narrative of the Bitter Waters, or alternately, the Jealous Husband, in NUM 5:18, the priest instructs the woman accused by her husband of infidelity to let loose the hair of her head. The word for "let loose" is Pharah (uFarah et rosh haIsha).

How do all these cognate forms of PhaRO (Fey, Resh, Ayin) relate to each other? What thread connects their inner meanings? How do we create any sense of unity to weave together these seemingly disparate narratives?

Jealousy. The jealous husband suspects his wife of disloyalty in the marriage. G*d suspects (with evidence) the Israelite nation of disloyalty to their mutual covenant forged via the Exodus and Sinai. And G*d accuses Pharaoh of stealing the services of Israel, and even their hearts, when they serve Pharaoh instead of the One True G*d in their physical labors, and yearn to return to the comforts of a structured routine and secure life in Egypt, instead of having the proper emunah, the faith in G*d, to follow Him in returning to their land, Eretz Yisrael.

And lack of self discipline. The unruly mob surrounding Aaron is loose, figuratively speaking. The sota's hair is untied, loosened, undisciplined, symbolizing her alleged lack of moral discipline in the marriage. And Pharaoh, the supreme ruler of the world's super power du jour, himself lacks the mental discipline to realize that G*d, and not he himself, is the authentic Deity. Arrogating to himself a supremely Divine status, he cuts himself loose from G*d's mercy and grace.

On the level of mussar for personal growth, it is important to understand the message which speaks to us here in the text. A lack of moral self discipline, a loose sense of moral boundaries, augurs ill for the attainment of one's deepest spiritual longings. Self mastery leads to Divine Grace. You cannot master your outer world unless you first master your inner world.

Lastly, it is fascinating to understand that the same root word, PhaRA, connects both the idea of a mob and an autocratic ruler (Pharaoh). When people act like a wild, unruly mob, they require the firm hand of autocratic suppression to maintain social order and security. And when people have the moral self discipline to resist the mob mentality, to rather assert their individual sense of moral boundaries, are they then deserving of a new type of rule - enlightened self rule. For as they master themselves, so shall their master be.

Shabbat Shalom

© 2000-2011 by Rabbi Baruch Binyamin Hakohen Melman

These words of Torah are written in the merit of my beloved father, Israel J. Melman, obm, Yisrael Yehoshua ben Harav Ya'aqov Hakohen ben Meir Yisrael Hakohen Melman, z"l. And in the merit of my beloved mother, Esther Melman, obm, Esther Bat Baruch, z"l.

I was raised in the musar tradition of silence and meditative thoughtfulness, as were my father and grandfather before me, and was born on the first day chol hamoed Sukkos, which is also the yahrzeit of both Rebbe Nachman and the Vilna Gaon.

http://seferchabibi.blogspot.com/2007/07/yahrzeit-of-my-father-27-tammuz.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506EEDC1630F93BA35754C0A9649C8B63

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=esther-melman&pid=143745543