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Why did Moshe change Hashem (ה׳)'s words from "at midnight" (baChatzos) to "around midnight" (kaChatzos) when warning Pharaoh about the tenth plague? Rashi (רש"י) says Moshe feared being called a liar. The shiur develops the Maharal's deeper reading: "badoy" doesn't mean liar—it means delusional. Egypt's scientists would claim midnight is a mathematical impossibility (no moment exists between two halves). A leader perceived as delusional, living in his own invented reality, forfeits all credibility—even when telling the truth.
The shiur opens with a foundational question on Parshas Bo. When Hashem (ה׳) tells Moshe to warn Pharaoh about the final plague, the Torah (תורה) says Hashem will strike Egypt's firstborns "baChatzos halaila"—at midnight. Yet when Moshe delivers the message to Pharaoh, he says "kaChatzos"—around midnight. Rashi (רש"י), citing a Gemara (גמרא), explains that Moshe changed the wording because Pharaoh's astrologers (itstagnina) might miscalculate the exact moment of midnight and then accuse Moshe of being a "badoy"—a liar. Hashem knows the precise time, but to avoid this accusation, Moshe spoke approximately. Rabbi Zweig raises a series of powerful questions. First, the Maharal asks: there are many other instances in the Torah where Moshe could have been accused of lying—when he specified the exact line on the wall where the sun would trigger the removal of a plague, or when Pharaoh could choose any precise time for a plague to end. Why is the concern about being called a "badoy" raised only here, regarding midnight? Second, why should Moshe care what the Egyptians say? What difference does it make if pagans accuse him of falsehood? Third, the Gemara itself is difficult: how do we know Moshe changed Hashem's words? Perhaps Hashem Himself said "kaChatzos" to teach Moshe the lesson of not speaking in absolute terms that can be challenged.
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Parshas Bo, Shemos 11:4
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