There is a lot of reference to Pharaoh’s heart in this current Shabbat reading
Hashem said to Moshe: “Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order that I may place these signs of Mine in his midst.
Similarly over the last two weeks we read expressions relating to Pharaoh’s wickedness stemming, not from his brain, but rather from his heart :
We read :
4.21 But I will strengthen his heart, and he will not send out the people.
7.3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will increase My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.
7.13 But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, and he did not listen to them, as G-d had predicted
7.14 G-d said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is heavy; he has refused to let the people out.
So is it the heart or the brain?
It was generally accepted that the heart is a very sophisticated organ, but that decisions of any nature are made purely in our brain.
Over the last few decades,(See below !) Science has paid much more attention to the possibility that the heart takes an active part in our emotional processing system, and therefore has influence over the way we act, and interact.
And so, The Torah’s numerous references to the heart – may be not just “symbolic” – but quite real…
I am writing this not only in the context of current Shabbat Torah reading. But also as this Friday marks the 26th Yahrzeit of my father and mentor – Rav Pinchas Biberfeld ZT”L. – who was the best example I knew of a person with a very sharp, intellectual mind and colossal Torah & worldly knowledge – as well as an unusual warm, good heart – which, on many occasions overruled his brain….
Good Shabbos
Chaim Michael Biberfeld
The Brain in the Heart:
After extensive research, (The author, pioneer neurocardiologist/researcher Dr. J. Andrew Armour) Armour (1994) introduced the concept of
functional ‘heart brain’. His work revealed that the heart has a complex intrinsic
nervous system that is sufficiently sophisticated to qualify as a ‘little brain’ in its
own right…..The heart’s brain is an intricate network of several types of neurons,
neurotransmitters, proteins and support cells similar to those found in the brain
proper. Its elaborate circuitry enables it to act independently of the cranial brain –
to learn, remember, and even feel and sense. The heart’s nervous system
contains around 40,000 neurons, called sensory neurites (Armour, 1991).
Information from the heart – including feeling sensations – is sent to the brain
through several afferents. These afferent nerve pathways enter the brain at the
area of the medulla, and cascade up into the higher centres of the brain, where
they may influence perception, decision making and other cognitive processes
(Armour, 2004).
Thus, it was revealed that the heart has its own intrinsic nervous system
that operates and processes information independently of the brain or nervous
system. This is what allows a heart transplant to work. Normally, the heart
communicates with the brain via nerve fibres running through the vagus nerve
and the spinal column. In a heart transplant, these nerve connections do not
reconnect for an extended period of time; in the meantime, the transplanted heart
is able to function in its new host only through the capacity of its intact, intrinsic
nervous system (Murphy, et al, 2000)
