By Dovid Lieberman, Upper School Judaic Studies Teacher and Israel Guidance.
(שמות ט, יח-יט) הִנְנִ֤י מַמְטִיר֙ כָּעֵ֣ת מָחָ֔ר בָּרָ֖ד כָּבֵ֣ד מְאֹ֑ד אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹא־הָיָ֤ה כָמֹ֙הוּ֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם לְמִן־הַיּ֥וֹם הִוָּסְדָ֖הֿ וְעַד־עָֽתָּה׃ וְעַתָּ֗ה שְׁלַ֤ח הָעֵז֙ אֶֽת־מִקְנְךָ֔ וְאֵ֛ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְךָ֖ בַּשָּׂדֶ֑ה כׇּל־הָאָדָ֨ם וְהַבְּהֵמָ֜ה אֲשֶֽׁר־יִמָּצֵ֣א בַשָּׂדֶ֗ה וְלֹ֤א יֵֽאָסֵף֙ הַבַּ֔יְתָה וְיָרַ֧ד עֲלֵהֶ֛ם הַבָּרָ֖ד וָמֵֽתוּ׃
(Shemot 9, 18-19) Behold, I will rain down at this time tomorrow very heavy hail, the likes of which have never been seen in Egypt from the day it was established until today. Now, send and shelter all your livestock and all that you have in the field, all the men and animals. Whatever is not gathered into the house, the hail shall come down upon them and they shall die.
The seventh plague—hail—was unique in that it was the only plague that the Egyptians could have avoided simply by obeying the warning of Hashem and bringing all of their property indoors. As the Pasuk tells us, Moshe gave them a very clear warning that this plague was coming and they should bring their animals inside if they didn’t want them to be harmed. Indeed, the Torah later tells us that some Egyptians did listen to the warning, and their animals were not harmed. Others did not, and they suffered from the devastating hail that rained down and destroyed their possessions.
The question begs to be asked: Why didn’t all of the Egyptians listen to the warning and bring their animals inside? They were warned about an impending financial loss, and all they had to do was bring their animals inside to avoid it. So why didn’t they do that?
The Da’at Zekaynim (9:27) explains: “Because with wickedness, they left their animals in the fields and they did not believe in Hashem.” It seems that their refusal to bring in their animals stemmed from a lack of belief in Hashem’s word that the plague would occur. This explanation seems perplexing. This warning to move their animals inside came after six crushing plagues—blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, cattle disease, and boils. Each plague came with a warning beforehand, and the plagues came about exactly as Moshe had described them. Even if they did not believe in Hashem and were not willing to set the Jews free, shouldn’t logic dictate that the Egyptians at least be cautious to avoid monetary loss and bring in their animals? Weren’t they afraid of even the possibility of damage?
One of the most powerful psychological mechanisms that human beings have is the drive to maintain consistency in all situations. The Egyptians' adamant refusal to believe in Hashem regarding the ultimatum to let the Jews go caused them to deny even the possibility of Hashem carrying out His threat of hail, so they could maintain a consistent attitude. Their rejection of Hashem’s request to free the Jews had strong ulterior motives—the loss of slave labor would certainly hurt their economy. This same motivation to prevent financial loss should have compelled them to listen to Hashem’s warning and bring their animals inside to save them from the oncoming destructive hail. However, the need for consistency didn’t even allow them to be cautious. They stubbornly left their animals outside and suffered this loss in order to deny Hashem completely.
It is important for us to realize that the argument for consistency is often a strategy of our yetzer hara (evil inclination). While many temptations seem too powerful to resist, other challenges to our willpower may not be as formidable, and we would like to overcome them. Yet, our inner adversary taunts us and says, “You’re not that type of person; you don’t do other mitzvot, so why should you do that one? You’d be a hypocrite and a phony if you kept some mitzvot and not others!” It is essential for us to internalize that any good deed we can do should be as precious to us as gold and silver. Would we refuse a large profit today just because we have turned down other opportunities for profit in the past for fear of appearing inconsistent?
The taunts of inconsistency appeal to our sense of pride and vanity. If we are humble enough to acknowledge that we are not perfect and that we make occasional mistakes, then we can move forward and capitalize on any opportunity for spiritual growth, despite it not being consistent with other things we have done in the past.