Shemot Chapter 10-13:16 - Negotiations
by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen
The exchanges between Moshe and Aaron on the one hand, and Paroh on the other, are lessons in negotiation. Incidentally (Paroh or sometimes Faro, are the most accurate transliterations).
Moshe approaches Paroh and doesn't ask as the song goes “Let my people go .” Meaning set us free. But simply “let us go and worship our God .” This itself was a challenge to Paroh, because as far as he was concerned the Egyptian gods were the most successful and powerful of all the gods of the Middle East at that time. Who could possibly want to worship any other? But Moshe and Aaron opened the negotiations softly, gently testing the waters.
The first plagues were replicated by the magicians and dismissed. But then they admit that this is “the finger of God.” Something beyond their control. The negotiations and the plagues proceed , so too do the demands. Paro is willing to let them sacrifice to their God… in Egypt. To which Moshe argued that sacrificing sheep in Egypt would only insult the Egyptians who worshipped them. That was why they needed to go out of the country. But he only asks for three days.
After the threat of hail, public opinion began to pressurize Paroh. He appears willing to compromise. But when he asked who's going, Moshe replied, “Our young men and our old men, our sons and our daughters, our flocks and our herds, all to celebrate.” He's asking a lot more than Paroh was prepared to concede. Then Paroh actually admitted that he had sinned and was wrong. And yet he still tried to bargain, and said they could go, but leave their flocks behind.
Paroh wants some insurance that they will return to servitude. Even after the first born are killed and Pharaoh says, “get out of town,” nevertheless it will become clearer later that he still thought he would get them back.
The negotiations proceeded step by step. With both sides modifying their positions and bargaining for a better deal. Eventually reality begins to hit home.
There's another lesson that we learn from the use of language. The difference between what it means when you say, “ Go to Pharaoh,” in Hebrew Lech Le Paroh( Shemot 7:15). And the phrase “Come to Pharoah “ Bo El Paroh” ( Shemot 10:1) Both words Le and BO can be translated in English to go to or to come to. And yet there is a subtle difference. EL can simply mean physically, to come to a place. Whereas Bo means come closer, engage.
These are two different ways of communication. One is to simply go to a person or situation. The other is to try to come closer, interactively. The Torah, uses both words, both tools. Sometimes we want to convey facts, information. Sometimes we want to persuade, get closer to someone to achieve what we want.
There is a similar nuance with the words Lech ET and Lech IM. Both can be translated as Go With. When Bilaam is told by God to go with the men of Balak, it is to go ET with them, simply to accompany them, not to identify with them. But he actually goes IM which is much more intimate, which is why then God ‘got angry’ ( Numbers 22 Verses 20&21).
This is the art of communication and negotiation. To listen carefully to the language of the person you're trying to communicate with and making sure that he or she understands what it is that you are trying to convey. And to be prepared to have patience as well as perseverance. Whomsoever you want to engage with.
Shabbat Shalom and Rosh Chodesh Shevat Tov.
Jeremy
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Jeremy Rosen was born in Manchester, England, the eldest son of Rabbi Kopul Rosen and Bella Rosen. Rosen's thinking was strongly influenced by his father, who rejected fundamentalist and obscurantist approaches in favour of being open to the best the secular world has to offer while remaining committed to religious life. He was first educated at Carmel College, the school his father had founded based on this philosophical orientation. At his father's direction, Rosen also studied at Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva in Israel (1957–1958 and 1960). He then went on to Merkaz Harav Kook (1961), and Mir Yeshiva (1965–1968) in Jerusalem, where he received semicha from Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz in addition to Rabbi Dovid Povarsky of Ponevezh and Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Yeshivat Be'er Ya'akov. In between Rosen attended Cambridge University (1962–1965), graduating with a degree in Moral Sciences.