Parshas Bo – Moshe’s Heavy Speech and Pharaoh’s Hard Heart

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This week’s Parsha begins with Hashem telling Moshe , “Go to Pharaoh since I have hardened his heart.” This motif of the heart of Pharaoh recurs throughout the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim. The word for hard and heavy in Lashon HaKodesh is the same as the word for liver, and the Midrash Rabbah says his heart became a liver.
This is not just a play on words but an important idea. In the spiritual structure of a person there are three levels. They are the brain, heart, liver. They are parallel to thought, speech, and action. They are also from the lowest to the highest: Nefesh, Ruach, and NeshamaThe GR”A explains that the Neshama is always connected to HaShem, the Nefesh is the Nefesh HaBahami – the physical animalistic part of a person, which is always disconnected. It is the Ruach which is the place of choice – Bechira. That is what the Pasuk says , “And who is aware of the spirit of a person if it goes up to Shamayim, or descends to the earth.”
One is expected to have the level of Neshama, of thought, control the lower levels. Pharaoh took his level of speech which is the level of the heart and Ruach, and brought it down to the liver and physical Nefesh.
Moshe is heavy of speech and tounge. Many Mefarshim try to understand why the emissary of HaShem to Pharoah and ultimately the human whom the Shechinah is to speak from within his throat should be heavy of mouth and tongue?
The Ran in his Derashos has an interesting explanation . We are well aware of how in our generation we can be influenced by silver-tongued charlatans. HaShem wanted it to be clear when Klal Yisroel followed Moshe it was because he spoke in the name of HaShem, and not because of his rhetorical abilities. Therefore, even though on the one hand Moshe was born and the house was filled with light; Hashem specifically removed his ability to speak, so this point would be emphasized.
There is a different approach which is hinted at in the Ran, and which the Maharal and the Shelah develop. When a child is born a Malach comes and smites it on the lips, and that causes the child to forget the Torah that is learned in the womb. Explains the Maharal, that this is because before in the womb the child is completely spiritual, and the Torah can be learned. But when the child becomes physical, then the spiritual Torah is forgotten and needs to be relearned on the physical level. Moshe remained on that spiritual level and could not speak on the physical level and could only speak on a spiritual level. The inability of Moshe to speak is not a disability. It is because the speech of Moshe is from HaShem. On the physical level that was viewed as a blemish, but it was perfection. Therefore, his speech was hardened because it could not connect to the physical world. Only once the Torah was given could the speech of Moshe be understood in the world. Then he can say all of Sefer Devarim and his speech could be understood.
By Moshe, the physical liver pulled down his Ruach and hardened it. But instead of desiring that, Moshe lifted the physical world to Shamayim. That was the role of Moshe to take Klal Yisroel out of Mitzrayim, away from Pharoah, and lift us up to his level, where we can speak the language of HaShem.
But there is another aspect to this. When did Moshe’s speech become impaired? Was he born like this? The Midrash that teaches us this is well known. It seems to be a story for Gan, but it is not. It is sad that the ideas we learn as children, we very often do not examine with the knowledge of adults and put them in the context of the Torah as part of our adult Torah.
The Midrash teaches that when Pharaohs’ daughter brings Moshe into her father’s house, he immediately is recognized as an unusual child. Pharaoh is smitten by him and allows the child to play with him. Moshe takes his crown and puts it on his head. When his advisers and magicians see this, they are sure that this child is the one whom they had seen in their astrological signs and advise Pharaoh to execute Moshe before he can lead a rebellion against Pharaoh. Yisro disagrees and suggests to perform a test and bring a tray with gold and coals and see which the child chooses. Moshe starts to choose the gold, but the Malach Gavriel pushes Moshe’s hand towards the coals and Moshe burns his hand. That causes Moshe to put his hand with the coals in his mouth and that burns his tongue and mouth. That is why Moshe is heavy of mouth and tongue.
The words of Chazal are not a child’s story and we learn from here several lessons. Moshe was not born with a disability. Pharaoh causes this to happen. And is it Yisro his future father-in-law who suggests this idea. These events also seem to be difficult to understand in the context of the Maharal that explains the disability of Moshe differently. Also, the fact that Moshe is raised in the palace of Pharaoh is not coincidental.
I think the way to put all this into context is in the following manner. Chazal say that the spiritual Galus in Egypt is that the power of speech was in Galus. That was the idea that Pharaoh wanted to take his heart and make it a liver; the power of speech and make it physical. Moshe was born and the house was filled with light . The Maharal says that normally the birth of a human into this world causes the Torah learned in the womb to be forgotten when the physical world impacts the Kedusha of the Torah. But that does not happen to Moshe . Moshe is a completely pure Torah. That is Torah ShBishcav that is completely pure with no argument or disagreement.
Only when even he is taken to the palace of Pharaoh is there another level of Galus. His pure Torah is now in Galus. But even at that moment, his Neshama did not want to be in Galus. Therefore, Moshe is attempting to return the world to a perfect speech where the speech is lifted to the brain and the Neshama. But since the time had not yet come for Geulah, he was in danger. Yisro, who represents Torah ShBel Peh , saves him by giving him a choice between good and bad. At that moment Moshe is forced to choose the wrong choice. That makes Moshe also hard of tongue and mouth, seemingly like Pharaoh.
But Moshe will return and overcome Pharoah, take Klal Yisroel put of Egypt, overcome Pharoah, and then give the Torah. Then his speech will return, and he will lift his speech back to the speech of Neshama, and Moshe will speak clearly.
Shevat is the month of the liver as brought in the Sefer Yetzirah. But is also when Moshe taught all of Sefer Devarim. It is when he spoke the greatest words of Torah. He lifted his ability to speak to the highest level and overcame the Galus of Mitzrayim as we were to enter Eretz Yisroel.