I feel like I need a glass of wine for this:
Dam Tzefardea Kinim Arov Dever Sh’chin Barad Arbeh Choshech Makat Bechorot
The Ten Plagues. Our text today has us in the middle of them. We know this story so well.
This stop and start. The stop and start. This will they be released. Won’t they be released. I am pleased to announce that yes, four more hostages were released today. Baruch atah Adonai, eloheinu melech ha’olam matir asurim. But that is not enough. 

Shlach et ami, Let my people go. All of them. From the youngest little Bibas. To the oldest. Alive or dead. When the Israelites were finally freed, they took the bones of Joseph with them, as they had promised 400 years earlier, so he could be buried in the Land of Israel. Rescuing captive, hostages, is a high value in Judaism, and Jewish communities all over the world still hold designated funds specifically for this mitzvah.  

The early part of our portion gives us lines we know so well from the Passover Haggadah. Four parts of redemption. Four promises of G-d: 

• I will take you out: God will rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt  

• I will save you: God will free the Israelites from the penalty of sin  

• I will redeem you: God will equip the Israelites to accomplish his plans for them  
• I will take you as a nation 

But the Haggadah asks if there is a fifth promise, because the redemption is not complete. I will bring you…to the land that I promised to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is why we have Elijah who appears to the Passover seder. To bring redemption. To herald the messianic age, where there will be peace throughout the world. Where there will be no more wars and no more hostages.  

 Yet in our text, there is problem. Pharaoh’s heart is hard. Heavy. Pharaoh is stubborn. Sometimes it seems that he hardens his own heart. Is it fear? He’s afraid he will lose his source of labor? His power? Will these slaves attack him?  

Or as the text also says, is G-d hardening Pharaoh’s heart? How does that work if we have been given free will? Doesn’t Pharaoh have a choice? Y friend, Jeanne Pinard of blessed memory, taught me this. Pharaoh keeps making choices. Every time he chooses badly, his heart is hardened a little more. He is so very stubborn. He is more concerned with his own interests than those around him.  That’s how G-d hardens his heart.  

 While we remember each of the plagues, which punished the Egyptian Pharaoh and his people alike, we remember the midrash that G-d rebuked the angels from celebrating. “My creatures are downing, and you rejoice?” We can’t rejoice over the pain Pharaoh and G-d caused to the Egyptians. Or in today’s day, the very real pain caused to Palestinians, or frankly the hostage families by waiting to come to terms on a ceasefire. That was stubbornness. How many fewer people, including Hersh would be dead if the plan had been accepted in May? 

At times while wandering in the wilderness the Israelites, themselves were also described as stubborn. One of our Psalms from Friday night even says, “Harden not your heart in the ways of your ancestors who tried Me and tested Me in the wilderness, even though they had witnessed my miracles.” 

Stubbornness can be good. It can lead to survival. It can lead to perseverance. It can lead to resilience.  

This is a week where hope seemed in short supply. Where compassion and empathy seemed to be waning. Where the promised redemption is not yet complete. Last week I mentioned Edmund Fleg, a French philosopher who wrote this in 1927: 

I am a Jew
I am a Jew because my faith demands of me no abdication of the mind.
I am a Jew because my faith requires of me all the devotion of my heart.
I am a Jew because in every place where suffering weeps, I weep.
I am a Jew because at every time when despair cries out, I hope.
I am a Jew because the word of the people Israel is the oldest and the newest.
I am a Jew because the promise of Israel is the universal promise.
I am a Jew because, for Israel, the world is not completed; we are completing it.
I am a Jew because, for Israel, humanity is not created; we are creating it.
I am a Jew because Israel places humanity and its unity above the nations and above Israel itself.
I am a Jew because, above humanity, image of the divine Unity, Israel places the unity which is divine. (After Edmond Fleg, “CCAR Rabbi’s Manual”, page 203-4) 

The world is not yet complete, we are completing it. His words, as complicated as the world is, give me hope. They are like the famous John F Kennedy quote from his inaugural address: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” 

I have a new friend, Ruth Gursky, from my running world. One of her friends, Rabbi David Okunov, who I don’t know taught this hope this week: 

“There are times when we all feel like our efforts don’t matter. It’s easy to become discouraged and question our purpose. But Judaism teaches us a powerful truth: everything we do matters, even when we can’t see the results. 

The Midrash tells us about the frogs in Egypt, seemingly insignificant creatures, who fulfilled their ultimate purpose by jumping into ovens during the plague of frogs, as described in this week’s Torah portion. Their act wasn’t random—it symbolized breaking Egypt’s defiance and making G-d’s presence known. If even frogs can fulfill a divine mission, how much more so can we, who are created in G-d’s image. 

Every mitzvah, every act of kindness, every good deed, adds to the beauty of the world and brings us closer to our purpose. You were created with a unique mission that no one else can accomplish. 

Never doubt your worth. You matter, and your actions have the power to transform the world.” 

I will be stubborn.  I will believe in you. And your actions to transform the world. I refuse to give up on the hostages. On working for peace. On loving my neighbor. On supporting the widow, the orphan and the stranger. On being caretakers of G-d’s beautiful creation.   

I refuse to give up on kindness. On compassion. On empathy. On hope. And sounding just like the song Imagine, “I hope you will join me. And the world will live as one.”