The Plague the Tzaddik Decides • Parshat Bo from the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi

Parshat Bo reveals to us an additional depth in Hashem's (God's) leadership of His people – for the first time, Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our teacher) receives a free hand to choose the plague himself. Why specifically here does Hashem not determine in advance which plague will come upon Pharaoh? These words of Torah from the lesson of the Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a (may he live long and good days) explain how a person's name hints at their destiny and how the plague of Arbeh (locusts) is hinted at within the letters of Pharaoh's own name.

Before you are words of Torah for the weekly Torah portion from the words of our teacher, the Holy Gaon and Tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a, specifically for Parshat Bo:

The Kol Simcha (Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa) asks: Why here did Hashem not tell Moshe which plague to give? He says to him, "Go to Pharaoh," but He does not tell him which plague? Regarding the plagues of Blood, Frogs, Lice, Wild Animals, Pestilence, Boils, and Hail—for every plague He tells him: "Now there will be Blood, now there will be Frogs, now there will be Lice, now there will be Wild Animals, now there will be Boils, Pestilence, Hail..." But here He does not tell him which plague. "And Hashem said to Moshe, 'Go to Pharaoh,'" but He doesn't say which plague, only "for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these My signs in his midst, and that you may tell in the ears of your son... how I have made a mockery of Egypt." Why doesn't He tell him which plague? He is going to give it to him, so indeed the Kol Simcha—Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa—says here: that Hashem wanted the Tzaddik (righteous leader) himself to choose one plague! One plague was the choice of the Tzaddik, that Moshe himself should choose. Hashem said to Moshe: "You yourself decide which plague to give him; you search for which plague is most fitting to give him." Whatever plague he wanted, you shall choose which plague.

Regarding this, the Yitav Lev (Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Teitelbaum zt"l)—the grandfather of the previous Satmar Rebbe who passed away—brings here in Parshat Bo from Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli: It is written, "Go to Pharaoh... that I may place these signs of Mine in his midst (bekirbo)"—He says to him "in his midst" because within a person's name is hinted everything they must go through. Hashem said to Moshe: "You will find within Pharaoh, in his midst, within Pharaoh himself, you will find the plague he needs to receive." For everything that happens to a person during their life is hinted at in their name. Therefore, when a person ascends to the Heavenly Court, they ask him what his name is. And they tell him: "You did not use your name; you should have followed your name, and you would have reached everything in the world." A person's name hints at everything they must go through, everything they must do, everything they must study—everything is hinted at in the person's name.

So Hashem, may He be blessed, says to Moshe: "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I might show these My signs in his midst (bekirbo)." So Rabbi Shimshon of Ostropoli says: "These My signs in his midst"—literally in his midst, in his name! There, in the letters of his name, the plague of Arbeh (locusts) is hinted. How is the plague of Arbeh hinted within the letters of Pharaoh (פ-ר-ע-ה)? "That I might show these My signs in his midst"—within the letters of Pharaoh, the plague he needs to receive is hinted. The Yitav Lev asks: "That I have placed within these letters their hidden words, which through the power of the story, these two matters will reach Emunah (faith), and they will know with a knowledge that is not [merely] physical that I am Hashem, the Hidden and Concealed, I am the Hidden and Concealed."

"That I might show these My signs in his midst"—within the word Pharaoh (פ-ר-ע-ה)—insert the word "Bo" (ב-א). Instead of the "Peh" (פ)—replace the "Peh" with a "Beis" (ב) and replace the "Ayin" (ע) with an "Aleph" (א), and then "Arbeh" (א-ר-ב-ה, locusts) comes out. The main point of the plague is that the Tzaddik chooses. The true plague that Pharaoh received was the plague that Moshe chose based on the hints Hashem gave him. Hashem said: "I will not tell you which plague." "Go to Pharaoh... that you may tell in the ears of your son and your son's son how I have made a mockery of Egypt."

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