Bo

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‎Our parsha begins with a quite ambiguous statement from Hashem to Moshe.  Hashem tells Moshe בא אל פרעה כי אני הכבדתי את לבו ואת לב עבדיו, come to Pharaoh for I have hardened his heart & the hearts of his servants. ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים, and so that you may relate in the ears of your son & your son's son that I have amused myself with Egypt. 

The כלי יקר immediately presents several questions. First, why doesn't the posuk state what Moshe and Aharon were supposed to say to Pharaoh?  The command doesn't even mention anything about the makka, just that Moshe should go.

Additionally, why does it say by this makka in particular that you will tell about it to your children & grandchildren; why is this makka ‎singled out to be remembered more than any other makka?

‎He asks further why is it that this makka & the makka of hail are the only ones which include the words that Hashem will harden the hearts of Pharaoh’s servants too? 

He answers that by the other makkos there was really no difference between Pharaoh and the rest of the people, for those makkos didn't distinguish between Pharaoh or anyone else. However, the makkos that caused the food to be destroyed, like the hail & the locust were quite different for Pharaoh and his people. Pharaoh himself had storehouses of grain so he wasn't as affected by these makkos. That's why the makka of hail caused Hashem to harden the hearts of Pharaoh’s slaves, too, for they would be most affected. Despite this, the hail didn’t cause them to relent; perhaps because the hail didn't destroy everything. However, when the locust were consuming everything that the hail left over, we see that the servants implored Pharaoh to let the Jews go. 

Yet, Pharaoh still refused. At what point does he call Moshe & Aaron back to stop the locust? The Posuk says ותחשך הארץ ויאכל את כל עשב הארץ, the land became dark & they ate all the grass of the land.  The כלי יקר notes that the posuk puts the darkening of the land before the destruction of the produce, inferring that the darkening of the land was more than just a by-product of the swarming locust, but rather part of the plague itself. Why was it so important to tell us that they couldn't see the ground?‎
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He answers that we know a blind person eats but doesn't get satisfied because he doesn't see the food. The situation here was similar. There were so many locust that they darkened the whole land.  The locust themselves couldn't see what they were eating; they were eating blindly without getting satisfied. Therefore, what was in the field still wouldn't satisfy them.  They would then head to the houses, Pharaoh’s house included. That's when he called to Moshe & Aaron because he was about to be affected too.  That's why this is the only makka where the posuk says וימהר פרעה לקרא למשה ולאהרן that Pharaoh rushed to call Moshe & Aaron. When he feared that his food would be devoured, he made sure to try & stop it. 

Pharaoh was showing his true colors & how selfish he really was.  Until it affected him personally, he didn't care that his subjects would have no food because he still had storehouses of food.  However, once he determined that they were coming for him too, then he took action. 

This might explain why this is the Makka that was singled out for us to tell our children & grandchildren. This is the one that shows us how not to act; that if things are going on around us whether or not directly affecting us, we have to do something to try to help. We must do whatever we can to help those around us. We can’t wait until it affects us too, but rather, even when it's only affecting the other person.  We must go out & see how we could be of help to try to alleviate our friends’ suffering & not to be like Pharaoh who only acted when it would directly affect him!  


Parshathought.blogspot.com‎
Thanks! Yitzy