We recently drove to New York City and returned to Toronto for New Years. Thankfully the portable DVD player kept our three children sufficiently entertained during the drive. Needless to say we got on the road a little and departed Toronto around 11am. We crossed the border and stopped for lunch in Rochester, NY. By the time we left; I realized that we would be driving at night. With the temperature dipping below freezing; any melting that occured during the day would now freeze on I81 south and become ice. So I decided to take the NYS Thruway 90 East to 87South - less mountains, more rest stops and better maintained. Somewhere east of Syracuse, around exit 32 it became dark very quickly. There was no moon; neither were there any stars. It was dark. On a stretch of Thruway for maybe about 3 miles, there were no cars or trucks on the road. My headlights were on and I found myself driving through one of those typical lake effect snow squalls. I slowed down. Our daughter looked up from the DVD player and, noticing that we had slowed down, asked why. When I told her to look out the window, she said, " I can't see anything, its too dark." I told her to look out the front window. She said, "Abba, I still can't see anything, its too snowy". A few minutes later, we had passed through the squall and saw some car tail lights. A few moments later the sky had cleared and the moon and the stars lit up the heavens.
This week Parsha is Bo. God will bring the final plagues upon Egypt, finally convincing Pharaoh to let Bnai Yisroel leave Egypt. Among the final plagues that God heaps upon the Egyptians is Choshech- Darkness. Va'Yomer HaShem El Moshe Netai Yadecha Al Ha'Shamayim V'Yehi CHoshech Al Eretz Mitrayim, VaYameish Choshech - And Hashem spoke to Moshe: "Stretch forth your hand to the heavens, and there shall be darkness upon the land of Egypt, and the darkness will be tangible." (Ex. 10:21). When Moshe does as he is told, the Torah describes the darkness as Choshech Afeilah - or "thick darkness" (Ex. 10:22). First the Darkness is "tangible" and then in the next verse the Darkness is described as "thick". What is tangible darkness? What is thick darkness? I have heard of thick fog, that is to say the "fog was as thick as pea soup." I haven't heard of darkness being thick except if the darkness in question was somehow connected to tension. Of course, "tension" is frequently described as thick -"The tension was so thick; you could cut it with a knife". But that moment of tension is not necessarily confined to darkness, there can be equally tense moments when there is light.
Normally, we describe darkness as the absence of light. However this plague of Choshech must be more than just the absence of light. There is a content to this darkness, a mass, a density to this darkness. Moses Maimonides, The Rambam (12th Century Spain) explains that this darkness was indeed an opaque fog like condition that extinguished all flames and blanketed light. Rashi (11th century France) explains that this darkness was so thick that one could not even move. It would seem that this darkness left people sticking their arms out feeling around and each step taken was filled with trepidation as one worried about putting his/her foot down. In order to feel the ground beneath one's feet, people would have dragged their feet because the darkness left one wondering where the ground was.
From a physical perspective, this darkness was not something that was particularly common. However from a spiritual perspective, it would seem to me that this darkness is something that some of us struggle with at one point or another. This is the darkness that envelops our soul. This is the darkness that envelops our minds and blankets our hearts. This is the darkness that leaves us feeling trapped in whatever situation we may find ourselves in. This is the darkness that leads us to think that there is no way out from what plagues us. This type of darkness can lead to depression and even suicide.
While the plague lasted only three days, and served as a pre-cursor to the final plague, Makat Bechorot - the Death of the First Born - this ninth plague of Choshech offered a glimpse as to what living in darkness, or a living with great loss must be like - a thick tangible emptiness that weighs down upon you that makes difficult to even move.
Yet, as one tries to continue to function, to wake up, to get through each minute, hour and day the chance of the darkness lifting increases. While at first it may not be noticeable, eventually the darkness will lift and hopefully one makes it through the other side of that darkness.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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