Bo: The dangers of physical and emotional darkness

Rav Johnny's original thoughts on the weekly parsha

When the plague of darkness was meted out over Egypt, we are told that:

‘No man could see his fellow man, nor could anyone rise from their place’ (Shemot 10:23),

According to Rashi (quoting the Midrash), these two statements refer to two stages of the plague of darkness: first, the darkness caused night-blindness (‘no man could see his fellow man’), and later, as the darkness became thicker, it caused immobilization (‘nor could anyone rise from their place’). On the basis of this commentary, the plague of darkness was primarily about creating physical confusion and physical limitations.

However, as Rabbi Shmuel Alter explains in his ‘Likutei Batar Likutei’, this plague also brought emotional confusion and limitations. This is because, “If members of a people cannot see the challenges which are faced by their fellow man, then they will be unable to rise together to oppose their enemies. However, when there is unity within the Jewish people, then no other nation is able to overcome them.”

What Rabbi Alter seems to be saying is that the plague of darkness impeded the Egyptians from physically seeing and thereby emotionally empathizing with the challenges experienced by their fellow men and women, and that it was due to this lack of emotional connection between the Egyptians which meant that they were then unable to stop Bnei Yisrael from leaving Egypt.

Until now we have addressed a divinely ordained physical darkness. But just as there is such a thing as Other-inflicted physical darkness, there is also such a thing as self-inflicted emotional darkness where someone is unable or unwilling to see the challenges faced by their fellow man. And as Rabbi Alter explains, this form of emotional darkness carries significant consequences.

If you suffer from emotional darkness as a people or a society, and if you can’t or won’t see the anguish of your fellow men or women, then as a result, you will not be united as a nation, and you won’t be able to stand up to your enemy. What this means is that the strength of a nation stems from the ability to physically and emotionally see the challenges, anguish and distress of others.

And where, you may ask, is this message found in the story of the Exodus? Right at the beginning when Moshe sees an Israelite being beaten by an Egyptian where we are told (see Rashi on Shemot 2:11) that Moshe, ‘focused his eyes and heart to be distressed over them’.

What this means is that the process of the redemption of the Israelites began because Moshe modelled to the people how we should look out for the challenges of our fellow man and woman, while the downfall of the Egyptians derived from their ability to look out for the challenges of their fellow man and woman.

What we learn from here is that if we want to be united, and if we want to overcome our enemies, then we need to be both physically and emotionally cognizant of what our fellow men and women are experiencing.

Shabbat Shalom!

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