Hello!
Well, the Fall 2010 semester is complete, which means I have some free time. But I have become a working machine during the semester, so I can't just sit and do nothing. Whatever, I'll be all right.
In this week's parasha, Parashat Bo, the last three of the ten makkot occur, including the death of the firstborns.
When it comes time for the last plague, Moshe stares at Pharaoh square in the eye (Rashi) and says, "At about midnight, the firstborns will die." The Gemara is Berachot (4a) asks, why is Moshe estimating the time? Why is he telling Pharaoh an approximate time, give or take a few minutes. At like 12-ish. Could it be that Moshe didn't know when it would be exactly 12 midnight? I mean, it's possible. It's not like he had 10-10 Wins to make sure his watch was accurate. There was no way for him to tell at exactly what time midnight would be. So maybe Moshe simply didn't know when midnight would be exactly.
But that's not what the Gemara says. Before I share what the Gemara writes, I'll write what I think might be a practical answer, that I heard years ago. The passuk says, "At around midnight, I shall go out in the midst of Egypt." Why does Hashem say that He will go in the midst of Egypt? Let's pretend that something was going to happen in America. This would happen at one instant, across the entire nation. For example, let's say there's a Super Bowl, and the entire nation would like to watch it. Would it be sufficient to say that the game begins at 6:00 pm? Well, if you're a New Yorker, you'll answer, "Of course! That's perfect. What? Are there any other timezones in America? What? Really? There are? Oh, well they probably don't have televisions yet. Those out-of-towners." But, for anyone else, saying 6:00 pm will not suffice. You have to say 6:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time, or Central, or Mountain, or Pacific. If something is going to happen nationally at one moment, you have to define where exactly is your frame of reference. When Hashem says that He will smite the firstborns at midnight, he tells us which location He refers to - in the midst of Egypt - also known as, Central Standard Time (for Egypt). However, Egypt isn't so large. They don't have different time zones. They're all within a few minutes of each other. So people living to the east would have it at 12:02 am, and people to the west would have it at 11:58 pm. But they will all have it at approximately midnight, in their own respective locations.
The Gemara answers something else. Moshe didn't say "around" midnight because of the geographic factors. He said it because he knew that many of the Egyptians don't know how to calculate the exact time. Their watches are a little ahead, a little behind. Some had Verizon, some had Sprint, and some even had Cingular. So, what happens if it strikes 12, and the firstborns are still alive? Well, the entire nation will be ecstatic that Moshe was wrong. Moshe said midnight - here were are at midnight, and we're still alive. I'm sure the party was ruined when they died a minute later. But it doesn't matter that every firstborn died, because Moshe was wrong. We don't know why the firstborns died, but it couldn't have had anything to do with the Jews, because Moshe was wrong. He didn't want them to be able to claim that he was wrong, even though he would be correct. So he said, "At around midnight..."
The Gemara says, "A person should always say, 'I don't know,' lest he be proven wrong. The Gemara teaches us an important lesson. We shouldn't sound too confident in ourselves. Even if we know, it doesn't matter. We don't have to say, "I know." It's all right to say, "I think," or, "I'm not sure, but my gut is telling me..." By saying I'm not sure, even if you are sure, you give yourself room. If you turn out to be right, and the other guy realizes that, great. If you turn out to be right, and the other guy doesn't realize that because his watch is ahead, also great, because you gave yourself some room. And if you turn out to be wrong, also great, because you stated that you aren't so sure.
May we all have the humility to say that we aren't sure of something, even if we are. [Obviously, if someone is asking you a halachic question that needs to be answered immediately, if you know the answer, don't say that you don't know. But if it isn't a pressing issue, better to say you don't know.]
Yours truly,
Avraham Adam Sabzevari
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