Parasha Thoughts
By Rabbi Yosef Shemtov
There are three makot in In this week’s Torah portion. So far, Egypt was hit with seven makot and everything Moshe warned Pharaoh about had occurred.
Moshe Rabeinu starts rebuking Pharaoh by saying, “Until when will you refuse to be humble? Your problem is you are too haughty. Let my people go.â€
The Torah is teaching us a deep psychological insight into human nature. Everyone likes to be the winner and no one wants to be the loser. This is why people sometimes have a hard time admitting to their wrongdoings and sometimes refrain from apologizing even though they know they are at fault. Some people are even ready to lose money in order to be considered the winner. For example, a person may be ready to spend $5000 on a lawyer to win a $2000 case.
Moshe tells Pharaoh that the reason for his downfall is that he doesn’t want to feel like a loser. Let’s look at Pharaoh. He literally lost everything. His country was devastated,he lost all his treasures, and even his son died. All of this only occurred because he didn’t want to lose.
The important lesson we learn is sometimes if you choose to lose then you are the winner.