Dvar Torah on Parshas Shemos By: Sima Levine
In perek ה pasuk ט it says
“כבד העבודה על האנשים ויעשו בה ואל ישעו בדברי שקר”
This means “let the work be heavier upon the men and let them engage in it and let them not pay attention to false words”
What did Pharaoh refer to when he said their request was דברי שקר/false words? What was the falsehood in their request?
דברי שקר , the Meforshim explain means senseless and meaningless words.
Pharaoh was so insensitive to the Jews’ needs that he didn’t even see substance in their reasonable request for a break. Even for a tough employer, this was very unreasonable.
All they asked for was a 3 day break from their backbreaking work and instead of giving them a short break, Pharaoh told Mitzrim to increase their work! Not only that, he also says that their request is nonsense! This shows us just one more way that Pharaoh was so evil.
There is another reason why Pharaoh didn’t want to give the Jews a break. This was because he knew that if he gave them 3 days off, they would rest and have time to think about what they were doing. Now that he didn’t like. He didn’t like them to think.
From here, the Mesilas Yesharim learns how the Yetzer Hara works with us. The Yetzer Hara wants us to work and be busy non-stop so that we don’t have time to think about what we are doing and improve.
Now we know how to start improving ourselves. The first step is to simply stop and think. Think about what you are doing and what you want to be doing. Once you have done that, you can act on those ideas and then you will be successful.