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It’s probably a common human experience.
You’re at a crossroads in life, and need to choose a direction. Considering the facts as you see them, you choose a course of action, believing that it’s the correct one.
Now what happens when you come across new 'evidence' which undermines your original decision? Oops!
You’re already invested in your decision. You’re headed in a direction. Your family and friends all know about it too.
Now what?
That's where character comes in. People with moral strength have the guts to stop short and admit a mistake. They have the courage to do the right thing, even though it may be seen as a public acknowledgment of their own inadequacy.
People with weak values keep boring ahead, irrespective of the facts.
It's what we call a Pharaoh personality.
Pharaoh devised his evil slavery program because he didn’t like the Jewish people’s presence in his land. But maybe he also had some grandiose vision of a Divine destiny to be visited upon the Jewish people.
After all, G-d had told Abraham his descendants would be enslaved for four hundred years (Genesis 15:13-14), and we can assume that Abraham didn’t keep it a secret.
Maybe Pharaoh thought he was fulfilling a historic mission.
Maybe. But that could have only taken him to a certain point.
Pharaoh was eventually confronted by Moses, a man who showed his G-dly credentials and gave clear instructions: "Let these people go. You’re doing something wrong. You and your people will suffer if you continue."
Yet Pharaoh continued. Pharaoh suffered terribly, yet he refused to change course. It took ten devastating plagues to loosen his grip. What kind of a person looks facts and self-destruction in the face, and continues on his wrong-headed path?
A person who can’t admit he made a mistake. A person who can’t find the courage to change direction.
The Torah is the story of our individual lives.
We each have an inner Moses, an inner Pharaoh, and personal Egypts that trap us in our daily lives.
When we rise above our egos to hand our inner Moses the reins of our lives, we can find the strength to push past our personal Pharaoh, escape our individual Egypt and find the way to our Promised Land.
It happened then. It should happen today.
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