אבוב היה במקדש חלק היה דק היה של קנה היה ומימות משה היה צוה המלך וציפוהו זהב ולא היה קולו ערב נטלו את צפויו והיה קולו ערב כמות שהיה צלצול היה במקדש של נחושת היה והיה קולו ערב ונפגם ושלחו חכמים והביאו אומנין מאלכסנדריא של מצרים ותקנוהו ולא היה קולו ערב נטלו את תיקונו והיה קולו ערב כמות שהיה
Our Rabbis taught: There was a flute in the temple which was smooth, subtle, made of reed, and from the days of Moses. The king commanded that it be covered in gold leaf, but it made its sound no longer sweet. After they removed the overlay, it returned the sweetness of its sound, like it was before.
The was a cymbal in the Temple, made of bronze, whose sound was sweet. It was cracked, and sages went for skilled workers from Alexandria, Egypt, who repaired it, but its sound was no longer sweet. They removed the repair, and its sweet sound returned, as it was before.
Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year, reaches its climactic moment. The Rabbi, in front of the congregation, throws himself down on hands and knees, an ultimate act of self-abnegation. He cries out to his Creator, “Before You, I am nothing!” The Cantor, on cue, jettisons down, sobbing with animation: “Before You, I am nothing!”
Mr. Schwartz in the first row is so moved, so inspired, so galvanized, that he dives down, landing on hands and knees, and yells out, “Before You, I am NOTHING!”
Registering the kerfuffle in the first row, the Rabbi looks over to the Cantor. Dripping with sarcasm, he says (Yiddish intonation, please): “Look who thinks he’s nothing!”
וַיָּבֹ֨א מֹשֶׁ֣ה וְאַהֲרֹן֮ אֶל־פַּרְעֹה֒ וַיֹּאמְר֣וּ אֵלָ֗יו כֹּֽה־אָמַ֤ר ה' אֱלֹקֵ֣י הָֽעִבְרִ֔ים עַד־מָתַ֣י מֵאַ֔נְתָּ לֵעָנֹ֖ת מִפָּנָ֑י שַׁלַּ֥ח עַמִּ֖י וְיַֽעַבְדֻֽנִי׃
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says ה', the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go that they may worship Me.
עד מתי מענת, [God through Moses and Aaron is saying to Pharaoh]: seeing that in the meantime I have demonstrated to you My dominance - even in the atmosphere! - how much longer will you refuse to humble yourself seeing that I control the very air you need to breathe?
Seeing that you were not impressed, there is no sense in hoping that you will be impressed by the overwhelming show of strength represented by the plagues.
However, perhaps if the impact of the miracle itself did not make an impression on you, perhaps the drawn out duration of the effect of the plagues may finally have the desired effect.
This is why the question “how long must a plague continue before it will have the desired effect?” is not out of place.
What are Moses and Aaron asking Pharaoh in this verse?
Moses and Aaron are asking Pharaoh how many plagues he wants to endure or even can endure before he realizes that his arrogance and pride are what is bring all of this about on his land and his people. If he were to set aside his pride and arrogance, and have any sense of humility, he would let us go.
Humility is is key to read leadership.
Humility is the key to redemption.
Humility is the key to serving God.
עד מתי מאנת לענות מפני, “how long will you still refuse to be humble before Me?” All that God asks of humanity is that they be humble and modest. Isaiah spells it out (Isaiah 66:2) when he said: “Yet to such a one I look; to the poor and brokenhearted, who is concerned about My word.” The same prophet also said (66:1): “the heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool...what place could serve as My abode?” Solomon confirmed this thought at the dedication of the Holy Temple in Kings I 8:27 when he said: “The heavens cannot contain You; how much less the house which I have built for You.”
In view of all this “what house could possibly be big enough to accommodate Me, what place to serve as a resting-place for Me?” In spite of God’s being so far above anything remotely available on earth, God looks out for the brokenhearted on earth and for those who are concerned about God's word. The brokenhearted one, עני, is identical with the נכנע, the humbled one. This is why Onkelos translates the words אל עני as לאתכנעא. We know the effect of humility on God from King Achav (Kings I 21,27-29) who humbled himself but once when admitting that he had sinned in allowing his wife to have Navot framed and executed. God used Achav’s repentance and humility to demonstrate to Elijah how much God valued such sentiments. God suspended the decree of death against him.
The word is "anavah/humility" and its various levels. The world anavah is from the root relating to ani/impoverished, and inui/affliction, and the intent is submission, because the word ani is understood as submission, and thus (Exodus 10:3) You refuse to be humbled before Me - translated as submissive. And thus ini and ta'anit come from his, as it says, (I Kings 2:26) For the ta'anit for all that my father humbled himself, and many others like this, they all have the meaning of submission.
הקב"ה הניח כל הרים וגבעות והשרה שכינתו על הר סיני ולא גבה הר סיני למעלה
The Holy Blessed One disregarded all of the mountains and hills, and rested the Divine Presence on the lowly Mount Sinai. God did not choose to raise Mount Sinai up toward God. God chose to give the Torah on Mount Sinai, since it was a symbol of humility due to its lack of height...
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Satanov
Always seek to learn wisdom from everyone, to recognize your failings and correct them. In doing so you will learn to stop thinking about your virtues and you will take your mind off your friend's faults.
Rabbenu Bahya ibn Paquda, Chovot HaLevavot (1040 CE)
Pride over spiritual attainments can be of two types, one disgraceful and the other praiseworthy. It is disgraceful if a person is proud of his wisdom or the righteous man of his deeds, if this makes whatever he already has of them to be much in his eyes, and makes him think that the good name and high opinion which he has among men is enough for him, and makes him belittle and despise others and speak ill of them, and causes the wise and great of his generation to be unworthy in his eyes, and causes him to gloat over the faults and folly of his comrades. This is what our Sages of blessed memory called “honoring oneself through the disgrace of one’s fellow man.” A person such as we have described is neither meek nor humble.
But the praiseworthy type is when a person is proud of his wisdom or the righteous man of his deeds, and considers them a great favor of the Creator for which to be thankful and joyous, and this causes him to try to add on to them, to be humble with his near ones and enjoy his friends, and to be considerate of their honor, to conceal their folly and speak their praise . . . and all his good deeds are few in his eyes, and he constantly works to increase them, and is humble because of his inability to do as much as he would like. . . . This pride does no harm to humility and does not keep it distant. Of this pride Scripture says in connection with Yehoshafat, “His heart was high in the ways of God.” This pride assists humility, and adds to it, as it is written, “humility brings about fear of God.”
Rabbi Abraham Twerski, Let Us Make Man
Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, Midot ha-Re’iya
Genuine humility and lowliness increase health and vitality, whereas the imaginary [humility] causes illness and melancholy. Therefore, one ought to choose for oneself the traits of humility and lowliness in their clear form, and thus become strong and valiant.
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Whenever humility brings about melancholy, it is invalid. But when it is worthy, it engenders joy, courage, and inner glory.
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At times we should not be afraid of the feeling of greatness, which elevates man to do great things. And all humility is based on such a holy feeling of greatness.
Praiseworthy humility is quite different from a demeanor of degradation and lowliness. Listlessness, degradation, lowliness, and baseness are not signs of humility. Rather, while a humble person will not be conceited, he will also not be undignified.
Dam/Blood - Reminds us of our dependence on water for life, and of the miracle of our circulatory systems, which are like rivers and creeks in our body, flowing throughout our body.
Tzfardea/Frogs - Reminds us of our dependence on our delicate ecosystems; when they are out of balance, our lives are impacted.
Kinim/Lice - Reminds us of the joy and pleasure of physical comfort, and when we take that physical comfort for granted.
Arov.Beasts - Arov is often understood to be wild animals, which attack with claws, teeth and talons. This plague reminds us how vulnerable our bodies can be to injury.
Dever/Cattle Disease - In the Torah, cattle is often a signifier of financial wealth. This plague reminds us of how we depend on complex economic systems in order to meet our basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.
Sh'chin.Boils - Reminds us of how vulnerable our bodies are to illness and disease.
Barad/Hail - Reminds us of how we are dependent on the weather and our climate for comfortable living, and how powerful and destructive hail, hurricanes, blizzards and tornadoes can be.
Arbeh/Locust - Reminds us how we depend on our agricultural systems for the ground to grow healthy and nourishing food.
Choshech/Darkness - Darkness is sometimes understood as debilitating depression. This plague reminds us of how we depends on the gift of sight, on our minds being able to process our physical surroundings, and on our mental well being which enables us to go about the normal actions of daily living.
Makat Bechorot/Death of the Firstborn - Reminds us how we dependent we are on other human beings, family, friends, community, and even though death is a natural part of life, it can have huge impacts on our lives.
- It would have been the sign of a leader with a healthy sense of self, no more than his space, no less than his place.
- It would have been a truly redemptive moment not only for all of B'nai Yisrael, but also for Mitzrayim, who could have become a beacon of justice and human rights in the ancient world.
- It would have been a moment of true service to God, to free the enslaved, the see the dignity inherent in every human being, and an acknowledgement that every human being, including Pharaoh, is made in the image of God.