Rabbi Horowitz plays on the word farekh, ruthless, which is commonly read as peh rakh, a soft tongue. He uses this as a means of looking at the inner and outer nature of Pharaoh and the power of circumcision which makes human beings just a bit lower than God. Using a series of literary associations and word plays he finds allusions to the power of the divine for good but also as a means of giving the demonic its own power. The demonic can only exist to the extent that it contains some of the divine sparks which animate the world. The Egyptians imposed labor upon the Israelites ruthlessly (b’farekh): There are two aspects to Pharaoh’s actions – he acts with a hard heart but he imposes his labor b‘farekh,** which the sages read as b‘feh rakh, a soft mouth. When the Torah says that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened⁸¹ it is referring to the inner and outer aspects of his persona. The middle letters of Pharaoh’s name are reish-ayin, ra, wicked*.* And the outer two letters pei-hei, or peh, mouth. When the sages said that Pharaoh imposed labor b‘farekh, ruthlessly, it means that he did so with a peh rakh, literally a soft mouth. His mouth contained a mixture of divine sparks as well as physical husks. Thus later, the mouth that enslaved the Israelites would be the same mouth that would eventually allow them to go free. Peh, “mouth” is a reference to dibbur, speech; it is the Shekhinah, the tenth and final Sephirah, the divine presence. As long as Israel was in exile, “speech” was in exile and it could be used to enslave the Israelites. Because God was , in exile Moses also suffered from a kaved peh, “a heavy tongue.” Like the word peh, mouth, milah (circumcision) has the gematriah of 85. Redemption should have begun with milah, circumcision. Originally, Joseph commanded the Egyptians to be circumcised so that they would all enter into the realm of holiness⁸²; this plan backfired and instead it gave Pharaoh the power to keep the Israelites in Egypt. Milah contains four of the five letters in the name, Elohim – the exception is aleph. It is through the power of the aleph in the name, Elohim, that Israel was redeemed from slavery. When aleph is added to letters of milah it becomes Elohim. Through the aleph, Elohim becomes the power through which Israel is able to go forth from Egypt and through which impurity is transformed into purity. The divine name that is usually associated with judgment becomes a source of compassion. The aleph is a mysterious letter; when spelled backwards is pele, wonder! Thus, the aleph has the power to change everything. Job said, “Who can take a pure thing out of an impure thing?”⁸³ It is the aleph of tamei that allows this transformation to take place from impurity to purity. The gematriah of the word tamei is fifty; it is a reference to the fifty gates of impurity in Egypt into which the people of Israel nearly fell in Egypt. By taking away the aleph from tamei, the gematriah of the word is only 49 – thus, the aleph has the power to remove impurity! The number 50 is associated with both purity and impurity. The letters mem and yud (with the gematriah of 50) are the final two letters of the name Elohim. These letters gave Pharaoh the power to enslave Israel. Mem-yud spells mi, who. Pharaoh says: “Who (mi) is the Lord that I should heed Him and let Israel go?”⁸⁴ On the other hand the forty nine days between the Exodus and the giving of the Torah culminate Shavuot, the fiftieth day. They represent the fifty gates of purity through which Israel became worthy of receiving the covenant at Sinai. Milah connects us to God. The Psalmist wrote, “You have made man little less than God.”⁸⁵ When a person is circumcised, he literally a little less than God (Elohim)⁸⁶ which means he is milah.; all he lacks is he alpeh of Elohim. Similarly, the verse, “You crowned him with glory and beauty,” is a reference to the revealing of the “crown” in circumcision. The word rakh in peh rakh is also 220. Together with the word mi, 50, has the gematriah 270, like the word ra, evil. Pharaoh, then, is a combination of mi and (peh) rakh, making him the embodiment of evil. But the aleph of Elohim, the one (echad), has the power to transform the impure into the purity! ⁸⁷ or knowledge which serves as the synthesis between Chochmah and Binah.

footnotes: ⁸¹ Exodus 7:14 ⁸² In the Sephirotic chart, Joseph is also the divine phallus and is therefore associated with circumcision. Each part of the chart is associated with part of the human anatomy; the final Sephirah is associated with the feminine component. As a result when they are united God is one and God’s name is one. Also each of the Sephirot is associated with biblical characters, colors, and pronouns. ⁸³ Job 14:4 ⁸⁴ Exodus 5:2 ⁸⁵ Psalms 8:6 ⁸⁶ He is lacking the aleph of elohim ⁸⁷ Note that in later Kabbalistic thought, an additional Sephirah is often added, Da’at