What is the difference between being “heavy (or hard) of heart,” kevad lev, as Pharaoh is, and being “heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue,” kevad peh vekevad lashon, as Moshe is? Both heavy, one in a harmful way, one in a successful way – what’s the difference?
My son Medad says that the heart has to do with what is inside, whereas the mouth or tongue represents one’s presentation to the world. If one’s presentation to the world is clumsy and awkward, that is not a problem, as long as one’s heart is light and open.
Maybe it isn’t just that hardness of lips is okay, acceptable, but also that such hardness is actually beneficial in the seeking of truth, an aid or a tool, just as the hardness of heart is an impediment.
Some truths can only be discovered when one stops caring about appearance, the presentation, stops caring what it will look like to others and just allows some truths to emerge, seemingly clumsy and uncivilized. The Piasetzner Rebbe says that in seeking God’s Truth in the world, it is necessary to remove all artifice from one’s speech, to speak like a child, with simple-hearted honesty.
On the flip side, what really gets in the way of truth is a heavy or hard heart — a heart like Pharaoh’s, fixated on protecting the ego from assault, and therefore closed to the awakening truths around us. Pharaoh was wrong and could not admit it, backing himself farther and farther into problems in order to save face, and refusing to admit the truths staring him in the face because of the heavy layers of ego protection blocking his view.
Moshe, on the other hand, speaks the word of God. Over time, he becomes less and less concerned with how others view him : “But they won’t believe me!” he argues with God at first but later learns to just speak, perhaps not eloquently, but truthfully, the word of God, without concern for how it will be received or perceived.
It was perhaps this lack of concern with self and appearance – his renowned humility – that allowed him to be the conduit for the written word of Truth – the Torah – and allowed him the greatest level of intimacy with God ever granted a human being.
What heaviness of heart stops us from seeing, and what heaviness of appearance – if we learned to embrace it –might actually open us up to truth?
