BO.
In this portion, we are told about the plagues that struck Egypt. But there is something particular we must know. One of the plagues that did affect Pharaoh was the plague of Makat Bechoroth: the plague of the death of the firstborn. Of the nine major plagues—the plague of blood, of frogs, of lice, of boils, of wild animals, of hail—none of these had affected Pharaoh and his son. And it was for this reason that the Torah tells us that Pharaoh hardened his heart more and more. For he saw that nothing happened to him. He saw that his people were only afflicted, he “repented” only for a moment but returned to his stubbornness and did not have genuine repentance. What is the root of Pharaoh's stubbornness? Why did He command Aaron and Moses to go and speak to Pharaoh? Where is Pharaoh? Within Himself, the Yetzer Hara is Pharaoh… When the Torah tells us that He went to HaShem, the same HaShem who hardened Pharaoh's heart, was there no free will there? We must understand that when behaviors are repeated over and over again, free will is lost, because by constantly repeating those behaviors, what is initially forbidden, you first abstain from doing, but then, once you begin to do it, you find pleasure in it. So, what happens there?
