In Parashat Bo, we come across the continuation and climax of the story of the 10 Makkot, resulting in the Jewish people’s salvation by the hand of God. At the beginning of the Makkot in Parashat Va’Era, we face a puzzling scenario seemingly antithetical to our beliefs. Let us begin by looking at the very first Pasuk in Parashat Bo: “ וַיֹּ֤אמֶר ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֔ה בֹּ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כִּֽי־אֲנִ֞י הִכְבַּ֤דְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ֙ וְאֶת־לֵ֣ב עֲבָדָ֔יו לְמַ֗עַן שִׁתִ֛י אֹתֹתַ֥י אֵ֖לֶּה בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ׃,” “Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Go to Paroh, for I have made his heart and the hearts of his servants heavy, so that I may place these signs in his midst’” (Shemot 10:1). Hashem explains to Moshe that He has “made his heart and the hearts of his servants heavy,” acknowledging the fact that it has been Hashem who has made Paroh so stubborn and resistant to freeing the people. This is consistent with the previous two Makkot in Parashat Va’Era: “וַיְחַזֵּ֤ק ה אֶת־לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֔ה וְלֹ֥א שָׁמַ֖ע אֲלֵהֶ֑ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר דִּבֶּ֥ר ה אֶל־מֹשֶֽׁה׃,” “But Hashem stiffened the heart of Paroh, and he would not heed them, just as Hashem had told Moshe,” (ibid. 9:12) and, “וַֽיֶּחֱזַק֙ לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֔ה וְלֹ֥א שִׁלַּ֖ח אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל כַּאֲשֶׁ֛ר דִּבֶּ֥ר ה בְּיַד־מֹשֶֽׁה,” “So Paroh’s heart stiffened, and he would not let Bnei Yisrael go, just as Hashem had foretold through Moshe,” (ibid. 35).In all these cases, and continuing for the remainder of the Makkot, the Torah frames the hardening of Paroh’s heart as an action that Hashem did to him, as opposed to an action that he himself did, as it was framed in Makkot 1-5. For example: “וַיַּ֣רְא פַּרְעֹ֗ה כִּ֤י הָֽיְתָה֙ הָֽרְוָחָ֔ה וְהַכְבֵּד֙ אֶת־לִבּ֔וֹ וְלֹ֥א שָׁמַ֖ע אֲלֵהֶ֑ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר ה,” “But when Paroh saw that there was a relief, he became stubborn and would not heed them, as Hashem had spoken” (ibid. 8:11). Here, Paroh made himself stubborn! Without Hashem taking action, he ignored Hashem’s mighty signs and acted stubbornly, as he was entitled to do, due to his free will. While for the remaining Makkot, Hashem overrides Paroh’s free will in order to “Place these signs in his midst and so that you shall recount to your son and your son's son how I toyed with Egypt, and the signs that I set among them, and you shall know that I am Hashem” (ibid. 10:1-2). Clearly, this was the intention all along, as we see from Shemot 7:3: “וַאֲנִ֥י אַקְשֶׁ֖ה אֶת־לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְהִרְבֵּיתִ֧י אֶת־אֹתֹתַ֛י וְאֶת־מוֹפְתַ֖י בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם,” “But I will harden Paroh’s heart, that I may multiply My signs and marvels in the land of Egypt.” From a first reading, it appears that Hashem somehow rescinded Paroh’s free will by hardening his heart. Rabi Yochanan lays out the importance of this question in Shemot Rabbah: “This provides an opening for the heretics to say: ‘He (Paroh) was not allowed by Him (Hashem) to repent.’” Reish Lakish responded to Rabi Yochanan, explaining that Hashem waits for man three times, but no more. In Paroh’s case, Hashem gave him five chances, but he ignored them. Hashem, therefore, said to him, “You stiffened your neck and hardened your heart. Behold, I shall add more defilement onto your own defilement.” Rambam, in the eighth Perek of the Shemonah Perakim, follows this line of thinking: “וכבר ביאר השם על ידי ישעיה הנביא שהוא ית' יעש קצת המורים כשימנע מהם התשובה ולא יניח להם הבחירה.” Hashem, he explains, can make it impossible for some sinners to repent by rescinding their free will. Did Hashem actually remove Paroh’s free will? To try to answer this question, we must look at the way the story of the Makkot is organized. Before the Makkot began, Hashem instructed Moshe and Aharon to go up to Paroh and for Aharon to cast down his staff in front of Paroh and his courtiers. Aharon does this, and it turns into a serpent. But Paroh, unimpressed, summons his sorcerers to do the same, and they do, each casting down their staffs and turning them into snakes. Thus, “וַיֶּחֱזַק֙ לֵ֣ב פַּרְעֹ֔ה וְלֹ֥א שָׁמַ֖ע אֲלֵהֶ֑ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר ה,” “Yet Pharaoh’s heart stiffened, and he did not heed them, as Hashem had said” (ibid. 7:13). And can you blame him? From his perspective, there was no reason to take the threat of divine retribution against him and his people seriously if his own sorcerers could replicate such miracles. The exact process repeats in the first Makkah, in which Aharon turns Egypt’s waters into blood, and Paroh’s sorcerers do the same. Paroh hardens his heart due to the sorcerers’ actions, as evident in the Pasuk: “וַיַּֽעֲשׂוּ־כֵ֛ן חַרְטֻמֵּ֥י מִצְרַ֖יִם בְּלָטֵיהֶ֑ם וַיֶּחֱזַ֤ק לֵב־פַּרְעֹה֙ וְלֹא־שָׁמַ֣ע אֲלֵהֶ֔ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר ה” “But when the Egyptian magician-priests did the same with their spells, Pharaoh’s heart stiffened, and he did not heed them—as Hashem had spoken” (ibid. 22). Clearly, the staff-serpent incident and the first Makkah were less serious than the Makkot to come, and the Makkot gradually increased in severity. This is further proven by the fact that regarding the second Makkah, the sorcerers could replicate Moshe and Aharon’s feat. Yet, Paroh still had to beg Hashem to stop, unlike the previous Makkah. And by the third, the sorcerers themselves could not replicate it, causing them to exclaim: “אֶצְבַּ֥ע אֱלֹקים הִ֑וא,” “This is the finger of God!” (ibid. 8:15). By Hashem gradually increasing the severity of the Makkot and having the first few be replicable by man, He desensitized Paroh to the harshness of the Makkot to come. Psychologists today note similar ideas. For example, counselors have been able to systematically desensitize Junior High students to test anxiety (Deffenbacher, J. L., & Kemper, C. C., 1974). They have noted that watching violent media or playing violent video games can desensitize someone from noticing the severity of a violent scenario and, thereby, take longer to help someone in need. In fact, playing a violent video game for twenty minutes and then watching real scenes of violence “decreased skin conductance and heart rate” (Carnagy, Anderson, & Bushman, 2007). It is clear from these studies and many others that it is possible to desensitize someone from the severity of a situation. Perhaps, as we now know, magic is impossible (following the Rambam), Hashem made another ‘hidden’ miracle, such as letting the sorcerers replicate His divine miracles to desensitize Paroh. This idea is not limited to psychology; our Sages recognized this centuries ago: “אָמַר רַב הוּנָא: כֵּיוָן שֶׁעָבַר אָדָם עֲבֵירָה וְשָׁנָה בָּהּ — הוּתְּרָה לוֹ. הוּתְּרָה לוֹ סָלְקָא דַּעְתָּךְ?! אֶלָּא אֵימָא: נַעֲשֵׂית לוֹ כְּהֶיתֵּר.”, “Rav Huna said: Once a person commits a transgression and repeats it, it becomes permitted to him. Is it actually permitted? Rather, it becomes as though it were permitted” (Bava Metzi’a 27b). By a person doing an action multiple times, they habituate themselves to it and begin to see it as less bad than it actually is. The same can be said about Paroh. By his refusal to recognize the severity of the situation - whether Hashem influenced that from the start or not - throughout multiple Makkot, he habituated himself to that response, and it, therefore, became his natural response to the last five Makkot. We can say that Paroh did have free will, even during the last five Makkot! He could have chosen to let Bnei Yisrael go at any time, yet he didn’t because he habituated himself not to. Perhaps this is why Hashem receives the credit in the final five Makkot for hardening Paroh’s heart. As Shadal put it, “Know that all acts are ascribed to God since He is their ultimate cause…In the sense that He is the author of all acts, He hardened Paroh’s heart.” Hashem created man in a way that allows him to trap himself in his own actions and, like Paroh, to deteriorate from level-headed thought and free will to automation. Thus, Hashem receives credit just at the point where Paroh slips from his own choices to habituation and automation. Through Hashem’s subtle nudges and his own sheer stubbornness, Paroh lost the ability to change until it was too late. The same can be true for us. When we sin or even do something technically permitted, but we know isn’t good for us, we desensitize ourselves to the severity of our action and integrate it into our lives, like Paroh. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can recognize our faults and strive to do better, and that is what makes us human; that is our free will. We can change our actions and character and habituate ourselves to good rather than bad. The Sefer HaChinuch writes, “לפי הפעולות נמשכים הלבבות,” that the heart is drawn after our actions. The Ramchal similarly writes, “Our external actions affect our inner feelings. We have more control over our actions than our emotions, and if we utilize what is in our power, we will eventually acquire what is not as much in our power.” Be’Ezrat Hashem, we can recognize some of the negative ruts we may have dug for ourselves and learn to habituate ourselves to good.