Listening to the rabbi's drasha about G-d hardening Pharaoh's heart yesterday I started wondering if perhaps Pharaoh has been reincarnated as an ayatollah.
Pharaoh in the beginning simply wanted to keep his slaves, and, after all, his magicians matched Aaron's staff-into-snake trick. According to biktav, after the snakes, Pharaoh hardened his heart ( וחיק לב פרעה); after the bloody waters, which his magicians also matched, Pharaoh's heart was hardened and we read the same expression ( וחיק לב פרעה ).
The frogs got Pharaoh's attention and even though his magicians were able to duplicate the feat, Pharaoh for the first time acknowledges that HaShem is behind all his woes, telling Moses and Aaron to "entreat HaShem that he take away the frogs from me (Hertz humash) ( העתירו אל '' ויסר הצפרדעים ממני ). As an aside, it's interesting to note that Pharaoh only thinks about himself - take the frogs away from "me."
OK.
We see that it took HaShem several attempts to get Pharaoh's attention.
And still Pharaoh only thinks of himself and not his people. Biktav never mentions - at least to this point - that "the natives are getting restless."
Now, lets jump ahead to today - a mighty leap to be sure, but then some things never change.
Pharaoh's garb may be a little less flashing today, the man's absolute rule is the same; only the name has been changed to protect the - in this case - guilty.
Modern Pharaoh's nom de jour is Ayatollah.
Like his predecessor, the ayatollahs enslave their own people - believe as I believe or else - and while they acknowledge HaShem (Allah), they want an end to the Jewish people. Pharaoh wanted to either integrate them into Egyptian society or, like the Germans centuries later, wanted to eliminate them from the case of the earth.
The ayatollahs follow the German mold.
Despite some set backs in the ayatollahs' plans to nuke Israel - and, given prevailing winds and fall out, some of Israel's neighbors as well - to wipe Israel off the map.
Granted, so far the set backs appear to be man made, but consider the success ratio.
The ayatollahs are blaming everyone - the Great Satan (US), the Little Satan (Israel) and now I read the UN - an "apprentice Satan" perhaps.
In the "good ol' days" of the so-called Cold War between the then superpowers - the USA and USSR - the underlying reason nuclear war was avoided was a theory called MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction.
With the ayatollahs' mentality, death is desired, leaving MAD with no balance on the non-Moslem side.
Like Pharaoh, the ayatollahs apparently care nothing for the people who might not be quite so willing to die for a religious-political idea - Moslem world domination even if domination is only of the dead and dying.
Like the Chinese and Koreans, death is not a deterrent. A few million sacrificed for the benefit of the thought rulers is small price to pay, providing, of course, that said thought rulers survive.
Assume for a moment that Israel has "The Bomb" and means to deliver it. Does anyone - even the most fanatical ayatollah, really believe Israel won't use the weapon if any attack is launched from Iran - or an Iranian ship?
Blowing a missile out of the air may be a half-measure . . . if the warhead's contents are released . . . you do the math based on prevailing winds.
HaShem has caused or allowed natural events to occur at "convenient" times. There are several fault lines (notably Carmel and Dead Sea) that might have influenced events such as the walls of Jericho fell as Joshua and thousands of people marched around the city. (Most of HaShem's "miracles" are natural events - the "miracle" is the timing.)
According to Iran Daily, "Close to 90 percent of Iranians are living near major fault lines. Mohammad Reza Qasemi, the deputy head of Iran’s Geological and Mining Organization, also told Iran Daily that the Iranian plateau is one of the seismically active areas of the world and frequently suffers destructive and catastrophic earthquakes that cause heavy loss of human life and widespread damage"
Perhaps, G-d will see fit to allow a quake to eliminate the nuclear facilities and smash the ayatollahs' dreams of a new, Iranian-dominated caliphate. Since most of the facilities are hidden underground, radiation might be sufficiently restricted to the sites, spearing the Iranian population. The problem, however, remains. Remember that even after Pharaoh allowed the Israelites - and not a few others as well - leave Egypt, he had a change of heart and with chariots and horsemen chased after us until all but one was drowned in Yam Suf. I would expect that the ayatollahs would act similarly until they, too, were eliminated "all but one."
It's unfortunate that earthquakes and other natural events can't discriminate between those who promote evil and those people who simply lack the will to rise up against it.
