Weekly Shmuess - 017 Bo | Free Will & Your Inner Voice

“For I Have Hardened The Heart of Pharoah” - Pharoah Loses His Free Will

In Parashas Bo, Hashem said to Moshe, "בא אל פרעה, כי אני הכבדתי את לב פרעה", - “Come to to Pharoah, for I have made His heart and the heart of His servants stubborn.”

Hashem “hardened” the heart of Pharoah. Chazal state that sometimes if Hashem gives a person bechirah (free will) and the person chooses not to utilize his bechirah, Hashem causes the person’s heart to become hardened. Furthermore, Chazal explain that in the original plagues, it was Pharoah himself who was choosing to harden his heart, and in the final set of plagues, it was Hashem Himself who hardened the heart of Pharoah, because his bechirah was taken away from him.

A Deep Look At The Root of Bechirah (Free Will)

The root of the concept of bechirah is the fact that Hashem “chose” to create the world and all the beings that He create in it. Hashem had a ratzon (will) to create the world, and this is the deep root of bechirah. There were two “options”, so to speak, which Hashem made Himself choose from: either to create the world, or not to create the world. Chazal teach that Hashem first consulted with the angels. Some of the angels said to create the world, and some argued that the world should not be created. Hashem decided to create the world, and this is the root of all bechirah, found by Hashem Himself, when Hashem chose between two options, so to speak.

Ever since then, the power of bechirah has been carved into the design of Creation. In terms of our Sages, this is known as “koach poel b’nifal”, “the power of the Performer is retained in the handiwork”. Just as Hashem “chose” to create the world, so too did He give the power to His creations to “choose” between one option and another.

All creations can choose. We can’t see it clearly amongst non-living objects and plants, but animals have somewhat of a power to choose and control what they want to do. Free will is mostly apparent in human beings, who can clearly choose. It is not only the Jewish people who were given bechirah; the gentile nations as well were given bechirah. The seven Noachide laws were accepted by all of mankind, and although most of the gentiles do not keep them[1], they still have bechirah. As explained above, it is because the nature of bechirah has been implanted by Hashem into His creations.

But the main use of bechirah has been given to Klal Yisrael. When Hashem chose us from amongst the nations to receive the Torah, not only did He choose us to be His people, He gave us a power of bechirah, which is unique only to the Jewish people.

It is not to be understood in the simple sense that the Jews were given the choice to accept the 613 mitzvos of the Torah and the gentile nations were given the choice to accept the 7 Noachide laws. Rather, the Jewish people received a deeper use of bechirah, which the other nations did not receive. It was an entirely different kind of bechirah than what the gentiles received.

Since the Jewish people are attached with Hashem, they are in a different class than all other creations; they are apart even from other human beings, the gentiles, for the gentiles have a lower use of free will, which has been implanted into all creations, whereas the Jewish people are “one” with Hashem, and therefore their power of bechirah is reminiscent of Hashem’s own bechirah, so to speak. This higher bechirah is one of the unique qualities in the Jewish people.

In clearer terms, what is bechirah about? Generally speaking, bechirah means to choose between two sides; to choose between good and evil. But there is a deeper understanding, as follows. 

At first, Hashem created worlds and destroyed them, until He created our world, where He put an Eitz HaDaas Tov V’Ra in, and He commanded Adam and Chavah not to eat from the tree; the concept of “evil” (also called “the world of disparity”) began with the destruction of these worlds, and this is what paved the roots for bechirah.

When man chooses between good and evil, if he chooses good, he is connecting himself to the original plan, and if he chooses evil, he is connecting himself to the “world of disparity”; to a shaky foundation, “raua” (shaky), from the word “ra”, evil. Therefore, every time that a person chooses, he is choosing either connection (good) or destruction (evil). Either he chooses chibbur (connection) or cherev (destruction), which are an opposite arrangement of the same letters. This is the depth of bechirah given to man.

The inner essence of this bechirah is rooted in Hashem’s own bechirah, Who is constantly choosing, each moment, to sustain Creation. Hashem renews the Creation each day in His goodness; He keeps renewing His free will, on a constant basis, that there be a Creation. This is His constant bechirah, so to speak. The Nefesh HaChaim explains that there are 1,080 moments in every hour; in each of these moments, Hashem is renewing Creation, renewing His bechirah.

Thus, the inner bechirah taking place every moment in Creation is the fact that Hashem keeps choosing to renew the universe, and we find that this deep kind of bechirah is also given to us. The Nefesh HaChaim says that if there would even be one moment where a Jew is not learning Torah, the entire creation would collapse and return to nothingness. So the depth of our bechirah is that we are given a choice: either to take a sword (also called “cherev”) and destroy the world with it, or to choose connection (chibbur) to Hashem. Just as Hashem is choosing every moment to sustain Creation, so does a Jew have bechirah to sustain the world, by choosing to connect himself to Hashem, and on a deeper note, to Hashem’s bechirah.

This is the depths of bechirah which are given uniquely to the Jewish people. Only the nation of Yisrael is called “adam” (man), whereas the rest of the world is not given the title of “adam”. Our unique bechirah is to choose to connect ourselves to the bechirah of Hashem, or chas v’shalom to choose the opposite, to choose destruction. This is the deep bechirah that each and every Jew possesses.

If a Jew chooses evil\destruction, not only is he causing destruction to come upon himself as an individual, but he is causing destruction to come to the whole Creation. Chazal state, “hevay domeh lo” – “you shall resemble Him” – just as Hashem is merciful, so should you be merciful. As we have explained here, the depth of our bechirah is to choose to “resemble” Hashem, by connecting our choices with Hashem’s own bechirah. It is clear that if a Jew chooses to do evil, he is not connected to Hashem’s bechirah, for there is a rule that “From the mouth of the Supreme One, evil cannot come forth.” Evil has no reality in that deeper dimension.

The Three Points of Free Will

We have so far explained that the depths of bechirah were given only to the Jewish people, who have the unique bechirah to choose either between connection to Hashem, or destruction, chas v’shalom. But the power of bechirah is explained more clearly by Rav Dessler, who explained that there are “three points of bechirah” in each person, without exception. Each person has his own “point of free will”, as well as a point “above” his free will, and a point “below” his free will.

Any person, in whatever situation he is, has his own point of free will, according to his unique situation. This is his “point of free will”, and he has bechirah in those areas.

The point “below” the free will is not within the range of one’s bechirah. For example, if a person grew up in a Torah observantenvironment, it is not within his bechirah to deliberately profane Shabbos, and it is not within his bechirah to commit murder or idol worship. These are all “below” the point of his free will.

There is also the point “above” his free will; these are areas which are too hard for the person to do at this point. For example, almost no one has the bechirah to learn Torah with the diligence of the Vilna Gaon, day and night, without interruption. It is above one’s current level of capability.

This is a general description of the three points of free will: the point of free will itself, the point below free will, and the point above free will. A person needs much wisdom and Heavenly assistance to know himself well and to know which parts of his life are within the range of his bechirah, which parts of his life are below his bechirah and which parts of his life are beyond his bechirah.

Understandably, a person knows well that there are certain acts which would fall under the category of above his free will and below his free will; something which is nearly impossible for him to do falls under the category of above his free will, and something which is unthinkable for him to do falls under the category of below free will. But it is hard to determine one’s actual point of free will, where his free will begins and where it ends. It is almost impossible for a person to know it precisely.

But a person can get somewhere near it with the more he sanctifies and purifies himself and when he works to understand his soul. Then Hashem will enlighten him and he will be shown which areas are within his range of free will.

We Pray Not To Have Difficulties: Avoiding The Tests Above Our Free Will

A person should not attempt to deliberately access the area above his free will. We daven every day that we should not be brought into nisyonos (difficult tests), in spite of the fact that all of our life is spent in nisyonos. The nisyonos which we are given are all within the range of our bechirah, which we can overcome. But the nisyonos which are above our point of bechirah are too hard for us to overcome, and it is these nisyonos that we pray not to be brought to.

However, there are times where a person will need to access the point above his free will. Sometimes Hashem places a person in a situation in which it is really above his bechirah to choose the right decision. If he’s not able to pull through and rectify what needs to be rectified in such a situation, that is understandable, and he is not to be blamed for it; it’s not within his bechirah to go above his free will. But the problem is such a situation is that he might choose to go in the opposite direction and go below his point of free will, chas v’shalom.

Here is an example. The Gemara says that one must give away all his money rather than commit a sin of the Torah. If a person is not on such a level, and he knows that he is not capable of withstanding such a test, what should he do? He must daven to Hashem that he should not be brought to such a nisayon. What will happen if he is now tested to give away all his money or commit a sin?

If he would know for sure that it is within his free will to be able to give away all his money rather than commit the sin, then he is indeed obligated to give away all his money, and not commit the sin. But if he knows that he is not on this level, what should he do? Either he will do one of two things. If he acts based on his current level, he will surely fail the test. It is not within his actual level right now to withstand the test, so if he tries to withstand the test, he will not succeed. Or, he can try to act above his current level, by persevering with mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice), and if he can do this, this is wonderful and praiseworthy.

But as a first course of action, instead of trying to act above his free will, what must a person try to do, to begin with? He must daven to Hashem that he not be brought to such nisyonos.

The Higher Free Will

We have explained that a Jew’s power of bechirah stems from Hashem’s bechirah, but we must understand that it is only an offshoot of Hashem’s bechirah, so it is not the full level. Hashem’s bechirah is perfect and complete, whereas a human being’s bechirah is a constricted version of this, so it is only used on a partial level.

When Hashem first placed Adam in Gan Eden, He requested of him, “Make sure that you do not ruin and destroy My world”. Hashem can “destroy” worlds, and so did Hashem give a person the bechirah to build or “destroy”, and this is reminiscent of Hashem’s power to destroy worlds; however, man’s bechirah is only a resemblance of Hashem’s bechirah, and it is not the actual bechirah of Hashem.

Man’s bechirah has been made constricted and limited to the level where he stands. A person’s bechirah is being enabled by the light of Hashem, and that is why man always has bechirah, on whatever level he is at.

The Gemara brings the story of Elazar ben Dordaya, who repented after a lifetime of sin, whereupon the Sage Rebbi exclaimed, “There are those who acquire their World (To Come) in one moment.”[2] There is a wonderful and deep understanding of this: Elazar ben Dordaya used his bechirah to acquire all that there is to acquire, which was reminiscent of Hashem’s bechirah, and that was how he was able to acquire his entire World To Come in one moment.

When someone feels very near Hashem, as Elazar ben Dordaya did, he is able to groan and cry about his situation, feeling remorse. A person who is close to Hashem has an increase of bechirah; his bechirah is more of a resemblance to Hashem’s bechirah, and therefore he becomes capable of anything. There is no need for him at that point to daven to Hashem that to be spared from nisyonos, because when one is at a level of great closeness to Hashem, his bechirah resembles Hashem’s bechirah, and he is only able to choose good.

Practically Speaking

However, it is forbidden for a person to try to begin with this level. A person first has to daven to Hashem to be spared from nisyonos. There are only rare individuals who merit to raise their bechirah to a level that resembles Hashem’s bechirah. And we should also understand that even those who merit to attain this higher level of bechirah are not using Hashem’s actual bechirah, but an offshoot of it, which is enabled by Hashem’s light.

Most people usually do not reach the higher level of bechirah. That being the case, a person needs to first daven to Hashem to be spared from nisyonos which he won’t be able to handle.

Prayer is half of a person’s avodah; a person also needs to actually avoid nisyonos. The Gemara says that if one is able to run away from sin, he must do so, rather than try to face the temptation and try to overcome it. The word “bechirah” is rooted in the word bachar  (בחר)to “choose”, which alludes to the word “barach” (ברח)  to “run away”, because a person’s bechirah requires him to run away from sin if he can. It is forbidden for one to place himself into a situation that tests him and which will require him to go above his bechirah in order to overcome it. Instead, he must run away from such situations.

So one must daven to avoid nisyonos, and he must also do his other half of the job, which is to actually run away from nisyonos and to avoid them. A person is always able to utilize his bechirah. When a person lives superficially, he acts by rote, and he goes through life like a horse. But if he does not live by rote, he is always using his bechirah.

Teshuvah – Returning To One’s Previous Level of Bechirah

Now let’s understand the following. Whenever a person uses his bechirah, two things are happening. First of all, he is choosing between either good or evil; either he is doing a mitzvah or he is committing a sin, chas v’shalom. But there is also a deeper aspect. Every time a person uses his bechirah, he is also changing his bechirah level. Every time he makes even a small decision to do something good, he is slowly increasing his level of bechirah.

It can be compared to water dripping on a rock; there will not be any recognizable changes to his level, but inside his soul, he is changing. Only Heaven can see it. The more a person attains self-purification, the more he will be able to feel that when he chooses correctly, the changes are causing changes to his level.

Therefore, if a person chooses to sin, chas v’shalom, not only does he need to do teshuvah from the sin (which includes confession, regret, and resolution not to sin again, and all other principles of teshuvah which Rabbeinu Yonah writes about in Shaarei Teshuvah), but he also needs to return to his previous level of bechirah which he had before he committed the sin. In choosing evil, he has fallen from his bechirah level, and the inner part of his teshuvah lies in returning to the level of bechirah that he had been on before.

This is the depth behind the statement of Chazal, “If you see a Torah scholar commit a sin at night, do not think (negatively) of him the next day, for he surely repented.” What does it mean that the Torah scholar who sinned surely did teshuvah? It can be explained from the following interpretation. There is a verse, “A righteous person falls seven times, then rises.” The simple meaning of this verse is that even though the tzaddik falls seven times, he still rises afterwards. But it can also mean that every time he falls, he rises. And now we can see an even deeper meaning, according to what we have been explaining: When a tzaddik falls to a sin, not only is he pained by the fact that he has fallen to the sin (which Rabbeinu Yonah describes as “yagon”, to feel pain over the sin, which leads to regretting the sin), but he has also a deeper pain: by sinning, he has now placed himself on a path that is not good, and his level of bechirah has descended.

Thus, “if you see a Torah sin at night, do not think (negatively) about him the next day, for he surely repented” – he surely will do teshuvah, because “a righteous person falls seven times and rises”, and when he falls, he immediately wants to return to his previous level of bechirah which he had been on before he sinned. If he falls again to the sin, he will not be falling from the same place he had previously fallen from, because he has returned to his previous level since the last fall, and when he falls again, he is falling from a higher place than before.

When a person is unaware of this perspective and he hasn’t taken it to heart, he will simply live by rote and take life as it comes, following his natural behavior patterns, and when he sins, he might feel pained over the fact that he has done something improper, but he is not aware of the fact that his bechirah level has also descended. The result will be that he will become further entangled in his sins, as Chazal say about continuing to sin, that it is like a thick rope that keeps being tightened with more and more thick ropes. Slowly as times goes on, the ‘rope’ will keep getting thicker and harder to undo, causing his bechirah level to descend.

How Pharoah’s Heart Became Hardened

If we have understood the above, we can now proceed to understand the depth behind how Pharoah’s heart became hardened.

Hashem brought ten plagues upon Egypt, upon Pharoah and all his servants, and with each plague, they were given bechirah. By the time they already received their second plague, the frogs, their bechirah level was already not the same level as when they received the plague of blood. And when they received the third plague, lice, their bechirah level had gone down since the plague of the frogs. It was not the same level of bechirah each time; it kept descending [so their free will was decreasing each time].

Why did this happen? It all started from the first plague. Pharoah could have chosen to free the Jewish people after the first plague, but he chose not to. As a result, his bechirah level descended, and now he had a little less bechirah to free them. This process of weakened bechirah continued to worsen throughout all of the plagues, where his bechirah level kept descending and he did not want to do teshuvah; with each plague, he had a little less bechirah than before, because his bechirah level kept going down.

Now we can have a deeper understanding of how Hashem hardened the heart of Pharoah. There is a rule, “In the way a person wants to go, he is led.”[3] Let us understand clearly that there are two kinds of bechirah a person can have. The basic level of bechirah is when a person chooses to utilize his power of bechirah. There is also another kind of bechirah, a higher kind of bechirah, which is explained by Reb Yeruchem Levovitz: when a person decides that he has no other alternative than to do the will of Hashem. That is the deep use of bechirah.

What is an example of this deeper kind of bechirah, how can he do it? One example of it is when a person makes an oath, where he commits himself to something by means of an oath; this is discussed in the Talmud, in the tractate Nedarim. From this we can learn that there is a kind of bechirah where a person can choose to make himself obligated in something, and he will then see no other alternative. This level is reached by tzaddikim (as explained earlier).

Pharoah, though, reached the exact opposite of this. He lost his bechirah, slowly throughout the plagues, and it is really because he chose to be in a situation where Hashem will take away his bechirah. He wanted to be evil, and he had chosen to act this way from the very onset of the plagues.

There are many reasons explained in Chazal of why Hashem “hardened” the heart of Pharoah. There is one very well-known reason: The more that Pharoah kept seeing the miracles, the more he should have repented. Since he did not take the messages of the plagues to heart, he was punished each time with more and more hardening of his heart. He still remained with bechirah, but it was becoming smaller and smaller with each plague.

But it can also be explained in different terms, based upon what we have been explaining here. Whenever a person has bechirah, he can either choose to utilize his bechirah and “choose” to be a chooser, or, there is an alternative, deeper path: he can choose not to have bechirah. Within this second path, he can either use this power for holiness or for evil. Either he can choose to submit his will to Hashem’s will - the holy use of this ability; or he will choose to follow his physical passions and to feel helpless to them - the evil use of this ability.

These are two different deep abilities of our soul. When it comes to using one’s bechirah for holiness, Either a person can use his bechirah to choose to resemble Hashem’s bechirah (the first path), or a person can use his bechirah to nullify himself to the Creator’s will. (This is called the bittul (nullification) of bechirah\free will to the level of yediah\higher knowledge).

When You Feel Helpless To Your Evil Inclination

In this week’s parshah, we see the evil use of bechirah. It is not only Pharoah who used his bechirah incorrectly, as we simply understand. It is the very same fallen use of bechirah which anyone can relate to, when we are faced with a conflict of choosing between what’s comfortable and with what we know is correct.

A person is tempted to do a certain act which will be a sin to do, and whenever he faces this conflict, he is filled with doubts about what to do, and the doubts feel painful to him. There are clashing forces within him. As a way to escape this pain that takes place inside him, he might feel a wish to go free from all of this tension, and deep down, he is requesting of Hashem to remove the Heavenly voice (the bas kol) that tells him not to sin, otherwise known as the yetzer hora (good inclination) – he wishes he wouldn’t have a yetzer tov (good inclination) right then, and this way he’ll able to enjoy committing the sin without feeling guilty.

This is what it means that Hashem hardened the heart of Pharoah! Pharoah wasn’t being punished. His heart became hardened, because that is the outcome of what happens when a person takes the path of Pharoah, and he continues to descend from his level of bechirah, because he keeps refusing to choose what’s right over what’s comfortable.

We can simply understand it as an example of “In the way that a person wants to go in, he is led”, and that is why a person will keep falling further and further into sin, away from his initial bechirah level, and that he is to be blamed for his sins even after he continues to fall into more sin; we can understand that that is what happened to Pharoah. But the deeper way of understanding it is that Pharoah really wanted to listen to his own passions, and he didn’t want to feel the guilt of his conscience, which is painful to ignore; and that way he’ll be able to do whatever he pleases without having to feel guilty about it. That is what Pharoah really desired.

“In the way a person wants to go in, he is led” – when a person desires to fulfill his natural passions and he doesn’t want to have the guilt of knowing that he did not use his free will correctly, Hashem will deal with him like how Pharoah was dealt with; his heart will become hardened. Pharoah himself wanted this! Pharoah didn’t want to have his bechirah, because he did not want to have to feel the guilt over choosing incorrectly. “Pharoah” is from the words “peh ra”, “evil mouth”, as is well-known; the hint of this is that all that he requested was to be evil, and to abandon good.

This was what Pharoah had been “requesting” of Hashem all along, throughout all of the plagues. He did not want his bechirah, because that would get in the way of his passions. The Rambam famously said that “Pharoah is the yetzer hora” (the evil inclination), and this is logical to anyone who understands. As we are explaining here, it is not only Pharoah who wanted to keep ignoring the truth so that he could choose what’s comfortable over what’s right. Every person, on some level, must traverse this point.

When a person is facing a conflict between his yetzer tov and his yetzer hora, and he knows that he must now utilize his bechirah to choose right over wrong, he faces two different inner voices of evil. He is not sure if he should decide between the voice of his yetzer tov and the voice of his yetzer hora, and that is one part of his conflict. But another part of his conflict is that his yetzer hora is also telling him not to have a sense of right or wrong at all.

The yetzer hora tells him, “Why have a guilty conscience? It’s painful and it is suffering, to have to fight me so much and to try to choose what’s right. Just do whatever you want to do, and don’t even bother thinking about ‘good’ and ‘evil’. All of this self-talk is making you crazy, because it’s causing you to have so much doubts about what you’re doing. Just follow your heart’s desire.” The voice of the yetzer hora convinces a person to choose evil over good, and as Chazal say, “The wicked are controlled by their hearts.”

As long as a person still wants to have bechirah, he will be able to control himself from listening to his yetzer hora. Of this Chazal say “The wicked are full of regrets”. There is always a voice of good in a person that screams out from inside him and it makes a person feel pained and guilty over choosing evil. But when a person chooses to follow his passions and ignore the truth, he is really forming a belief that he wants to live his life with such an attitude; he wants to silence the inner voice that begs him to listen to his conscience, so that he can live a painless and guilt-free life.

We should understand that every person, on some level, experiences a “hardening of the heart” like Pharoah. What causes a person’s heart to become hardened? It is when he keeps ignoring the voice of truth inside him, which tells him to choose what is correct. Just as Hashem hardened the heart of Pharoah after Pharoah persisted with this attitude, so does every person experience this on some degree.

Avoiding Pharoah’s Mentality

If we want to avoid the “hardening of the heart” that happened to Pharoah, we must know the following. There is no one who doesn’t have nisyonos (difficult situations), and there is no person who doesn’t have spiritual failures. But in order to avoid becoming like Pharoah, we need to take the upper road.

Earlier we brought the words of the Gemara that “If you see a Torah scholar commit a sin at night, do not think (negatively) about him the next day, for he surely repented”, and we explained that every time a tzaddik falls, he does teshuvah. But even if a person is not on the level where he is doing teshuvah after every time he falls, he must make sure not to stifle his inner voice of good, which is telling him not to do certain things that are bad. If one can do this, he is “erasing” the “Pharoah” within.

As long as a person can sense the inner voice in him telling him to choose right over wrong - which can be felt either as a feeling or as a thought – when a person will then be tempted with something improper, he will at least be aware that it is not good. Even if he succumbs to the sin, he can still be fixed, and his heart hasn’t been hardened yet like Pharoah. But if he is tempted with the evil act and it feels not only forbidden to him, but “permissible” to him, and he does not think or feel that there is anything wrong with what he is doing, and he believes deep down that his life should be lived guilt-free – it means that his heart has become hardened!

If a person has fallen very low and he wants to come out of the situation, as soon as he falls to the sin, he must not let himself feel any despair or helplessness. Rather, he needs to let himself feel the pain of listening to the inner voice of good inside him, the voice of his yetzer hora, which is telling him that he has just done something wrong and that he has gone against the will of Hashem. If a person feels ready to deal with the truth and not to run away from that inner voice of good, he will never become hardened like Pharoah.

We must know that this is a part of life which most people have to deal with; we are not speaking here about something that doesn’t happen often.

Most people, at a certain point in their life, have silenced their inner voice of good. They continue to follow their passions and to do whatever they wish, having long ago silenced their inner conscious, so that they don’t have to feel the pain, of what it’s saying to them. They have let themselves become completely captured by evil.

But if a person makes sure to keep listening to his inner voice – even if he falls many times to a sin, even if he falls 10 times or 100 times to the sin, or more – he is at least aware of his situation. The pain that accompanies this awareness is part of the rectification process, and it will be a guarantee that his heart will not become hardened like Pharoah’s.

In Conclusion

We can now understand better the verses that this parshah begin with: “Come to Pharoah, for I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn, so that I can put these signs of Mine in his midst. And so that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son’s son that I made mockery of Egypt and My signs that I placed among them – that you may know that I am Hashem.” Hashem not only wants us to tell over the story of what He did to Pharoah, but to tell over the attitude of Pharoah which led to his downfall - and how we need to live our lives very differently than he did.

The more that a person perseveres in this path, and he is willing to go through the pain of listening to his inner voice of good, which keeps telling him not to sin and to feel remorse over sin, which doesn’t stop harassing him, even over his deeply rooted negative patterns that are very hard for him to overcome – the more he continues to listen to this inner voice and he doesn’t ignore it, he is closer to becoming “one who comes to be purified, is assisted.”[4]

This was the root of the redemption from Egypt.