Among the small inconveniences that I endure as a New York/ New Jersey guy is that I have to read the New York newspapers including the Times and the Post on line. While there is nothing like holding the newspaper in your hand and folding it just so, I have learned to make to do. Last week on January 20th in the op. ed. section an editorial appeared entitled: Lechery Immodesty and the Talmud by Rabbi Dov Linzer. The editorial, citing Talmudic opinion about women and the public domain, was Rabbi Linzer’s opinion on the events that occurred in Beit Shemesh a few weeks ago. Then, a young girl walking to school with her mother, dressed in modest typically orthodox looking clothing was spat upon by fundamentalist Chareidi Jews who felt that this 8 year old girl wasn’t dressed modestly enough. Rabbi Linzer points out that this fundamentalist perspective of Jewish Women, the public domain and how to deal with it if at all was based upon the same Dark Age mentality that grips the fundamentalist Muslim world. That is to say, from this fundamentalist perspective, women have no place and no role in the public domain.
This week's Parsha is Bo. The ten plagues culminate with locusts, darkness and finally the killing of the first born. On the night of the last plague, God instructs Moshe to tell B'nai Yisroel to slaughter a lamb for each family. The blood should be painted onto the door- post. The sacrificed lamb must be completely eaten that night with no leftovers. The command continues with God instructing Moshe to reiterate this story to the children of each family. The Parsha concludes with the command to sanctify the first born, remember this night, remember what God did for B'nai Yisroel, and how B'nai Yisroel eventually returned to the land.
Parts of the Parsha are read on Pesach. Those parts dealing with the Paschal sacrifice, as well as the Mitzvah of "Telling" the child about the impending redemption, are read. However there is one phrase that is particularly interesting and revealing. The second to last plague is Choshech, darkness. Vayomer Adonai el Moshe N'Teih Yadchah al Hashamayim - And God said to Moshe "Stretch forth your hand toward the heavens, Va'Yehi Choshech al Eretz Mitzrayim- "And there will be a darkness upon the land of Egypt , Vayameish Choshech - and the darkness will be felt (Ex. 10:21). What does it mean that the darkness will be felt? What will it feel like? Will it be hot or cold, wet or dry? Maybe it will thick like some type of fog. Maybe it will be the horrible emptiness as if one is falling through an abyss with nothing all around. Whatever kind of darkness it is, it can be felt. It is noticeable and therefore extraordinarily different than the standard night -time or even an eclipse. Bnai Yisroel still had light in their dwellings while the plague occurred. Pharaoh could not stand it anymore and told Moshe to take everyone including the children and leave. It must have been some darkness.
After reading following the story in Beit Shemesh, the response by the non chareidi orthodox world, the secular Israelis and Rabbi Linzer editorial, I finally realized what the plague of darkness must have felt like. It is a plague that continues to permeate in the fundamentalist Chareidi world where a culture of exclusion permeates society, where women not only raise children but support husbands who spend their days in the kollel studying instead of working and help raise children. For such women, one should never be seen and certainly their male counterparts don’t want to hear from them. Instead they are invisible and without hope. Imagine being a young women a society where going to school is filled with the fear of being spat upon because some narrow minded ignorant man views an 8 year old girl as a sexual being that needs to be covered even more than she is?. Imagine young person separated from the world of ideas. Imagine being a young person without any care for the future. This must be what slavery is like: an existence void of hopes, void of prospects for a future, and void ideas and thought. To be a slave means being stuck with no healthy form of recourse. Those Jewish fundamentalist that follow the soulless and ugly version of Judaism are living in Darkness. It is a darkness that is incredibly tangible. That kind of darkness weighs heavily upon the soul. That kind of darkness kills a soul. It is the kind of Darkness that permits a man to spit upon a child because he thinks she is dressed immodestly. This young girl and her mother and those like them represent B'nai Yisroel who had light in their homes during that plague. The Young girl and her mother, like B'nai Yisroel, embody the warmth and the light that should always be the best of Judaism.
On this Shabbat, may we all peer into the dark corners of our souls. Those corners darkened by ignorance, closed mindedness and fear. May we see its coldness, its emptiness, its narrowness, its fundamentalism void of faith and hope. Then we should shudder from such darkness. After peering into that darkness may we look around and appreciate and celebrate the opportunity for the light we can allow in our lives. We have been blessed with a wonderful opportunity to bring in the light of Shabbat, the warmth of family, and a life filled with hope, faith, education and wisdom.
Peace,
Rav Yitz
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