Pharaoh
The Pharaoh we read about in the Exodus story is a tyrant who is anchored to a specific time, place, and set of events. But the Pharaoh our ancestors pictured each year, century after century, as the read the Haggadah was more than one person. Pharaoh was for them symbolic of all the cruel and heartless tyrants who had enslaved others, represented themselves as gods, or forced their wills on those they ruled.
And that is why the story of Passover is more than just the story of the emancipation the Israelites won from Pharaoh. It is the story of the emancipation the peoples of the world have won from tyrants and oppressors throughout the ages and across the globe. The first emancipation was thus only a foreshadowing of all the emancipations that were to follow and that will yet follow in the days to come. The victory over the first Pharaoh reminds us that the time will come when all the Pharaohs of the world will be vanquished, when God alone will rule over humanity, and all peoples will live in peace.
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Passover Guide
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