Admitting Mistakes: The Psychology of Denying Our Own Stupidity

This profound mussar shiur examines the universal human inability to admit mistakes, using Parshas Beshalach as a window into self-destructive patterns we all repeat. Rabbi Zweig opens with a powerful question: Why did Pharaoh and the Egyptians chase the Jews just three days after Makkas Bechoros, when every house had lost a firstborn? Logic dictates they should have cut their losses—the Jewish slave workforce was gone, but at least the killing had stopped. What could possibly motivate them to pursue the Jews and risk further divine retribution? Rashi (רש"י) explains that Pharaoh rallied the Egyptians by focusing on the silver and gold the Jews had borrowed. But this answer deepens the puzzle: surely the loss of an entire slave workforce—a renewable, generational asset—was far more significant than mere money? Rabbi Zweig proposes a psychological insight: the Egyptians couldn't admit they had been foolish. When the Jews asked to borrow valuables for a three-day journey, the Egyptians voluntarily gave more than requested—silver when gold was offered, one vessel when two were provided. Once it became clear the Jews weren't returning, the Egyptians faced an unbearable truth: "We were stupid." And there is no amount of risk a person won't take to avoid admitting he was stupid.