Something struck me about this week's parsha, something I saw in a new light this year.
Pharaoh, over and over again, refuses to let the Yidden go. Plague after plague, he still refuses. Now, I'd like to think, if I were Pharaoh, I'd be smart enough to give up after no more than 2 or 3 plagues.
But, he keeps on doing it! Sort of like us, who keep on going to our addiction, even though we keep getting hurt by it.
WHY does Pharoah persist on this seeming stupidity?
I once heard an answer like this--Moshe kept going to Pharaoh, "Let my people go" Pharoah says, "Wait! I have some power more than Hashem! He NEEDS my permission to let his people go!"
He believed he had power. He believed he was in control! So, he couldn't SURRENDER. He had to be hit so many times, so hard, till he was ready to truly surrender to G-d that he was powerless.
I thought that fit in with our addiction very nicely.