This week, Parashat Bo recounts the last three plagues brought upon Egypt: locusts, darkness, and death of the firstborn. Familiar to many from the Passover seder, this moment in our text opens with God saying to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, I have hardened his heart.” I often find myself wondering about Moses in these moments: what is going through his mind? Here he is being told by his God, the God of the Hebrews, to go to his adoptive brother, the most powerful man in Egypt, and make a major demand. If I were in Moses’ position, would I have the courage to go to Pharaoh? Would you?
In the first two verses, God speaks only to Moses. However, in the third verse, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh together. Multiple times in the Exodus narrative, God speaks exclusively to Moses before Moses and Aaron proceed in unison. If one of my siblings came to me and asked me to join them on this “project” of approaching Pharaoh, I’d probably ask them if they were joking—especially if that “project” were an ongoing task that seemed only to result in plague after plague after plague…until we reached ten.
I often think about the phrase “God doesn’t give us any more than we can handle.” While I personally believe that to be true, I also believe that we are only given what we can handle as long as we have the support and love of those around us. Perhaps Moses couldn’t have approached Pharaoh all by himself; whether it was due to his speech impediment or his own nerves, he needed his brother, Aaron, by his side.
None of us, not even Moses, can do everything on our own. Bo, meaning “come”, urges us to think of who is on the journey with us as we face the modern plagues that surround us.
—Yael Farber, Rabbinic Intern