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Did Pharaoh Have Free Will In His Decision To Keep The Jews In Egypt? ‐

Eliana Ruben (10th grade)

This is a monumentally important question for us, as Jews, because we have a belief that all humans possess
Free Will. In fact, that is one of the things that separates us from animals. It would make no sense for Hashem to
take away Pharaoh’s ability to make his own decision for the sake of the narrative, because it goes against hu-
mans’ right to choose.

Ramban makes an argument as to how this could be looked at as Hashem not only giving Pharaoh the ability to
make his own choice, but forcing him to. Ramban holds the opinion that Hashem wanted Pharaoh to continue
ignoring Moshe’s plea to ‘let his people go’ because that was what he actually intended to do. Of course Phar-
aoh would have let the Jews go after seeing rivers turn to blood and witnessing hailstorms etc., but that would
not have really been his true choice. Hashem made sure that the plagues did not interfere with his decision, so
that Pharaoh would be able to make the choice himself, and he chose not to let the Jews go until it was too late.

A lesson we can all learn from Ramban’s opinion is that Hashem went to such an extent to ensure Pharaoh’s
free will because He values the power of choice so much. He would rather someone make the wrong choice than
not have the power to choose at all.

Why Did Hashem Harden Pharaoh’s Heart? ‐ Coral Yeudai (8th Grade)

After each one of the ten plagues Hashem performed in Egypt, Pharaoh remained stubborn and refused to let the
Jews free. As a result, Hashem hardened his heart after each one. The Chumash uses the words קזחיוand דבכיו
which means ‘and He hardened’. We assume the reason Hashem does it is as a punishment. But is there another
logical explanation for why Hashem hardened Pharaoh’s heart

The Rambam explains in Parashat Bo 10:1, that Hashem had hardened Pharaoh’s heart for two reasons. The first
reason that Hashem tells Moshe is , םהב תושעל ץפח יא רשא תותואה הלא םברקב תישעש ןעמל ןכ יתישעש םעטה״ .”
Meaning, that Hashem did this so he can put these signs in the midst of Pharaoh that Hashem desires to put be-
fore him. The other reason Hashem says is, “ ידכ דועו הזה דובכה יפמ רתוי יתרובג תא םירצמ ועדיש םתוא שיעאש אל
.” ישעמ חכ םיאבה תורודל לארשי לכו התא רפסתשThis tells us that Hashem hardens Pharaoh’s heart to relate to our
children the strengths of Hashem’s deed. Rambam explains that Hashem hardened his heart not because of stub-
bornness. Hashem adds on and tell Moshe that .״ץראבו םימשב השעא ץופחא רשא לכו ׳ה יא יכ םתא ועדתו״By this
Hashem is saying that we should know that He is Hashem, and whatever he decides to do on earth or in heaven
has a legitimate reason. These are the explanations the Rambam gives to help us understand why Hashem would
harden Pharaoh’s heart.

The lesson we can learn from this is that sometimes pain isn't always necessarily a bad thing. From bad, can
come something good and memorable. Sometimes we have to experience pain to get to great ending results.
This lesson applies to what we are talking about, because just like Pharaoh experienced his heart being hard-
ened, in the end the Jews were finally set free from Egypt.