As part of our son’s gap year of study in Israel, he is currently spending the week in Poland. While there, he and his cohort, are studying Jewish life in Poland before The War and the destruction of that life during The Holocaust. His first full day happened to be on the first day of the Hebrew Month Shevat, known as Rosh Chodesh Shevat. It also happened to be the day that he and his cohort spent some time at the Treblinka death camp. There, in the Treblinka, our son and his classmates prayed the Morning Service (davened Shacharit) and read from the Torah because it was the first day of the month. How incredibly spiritually powerful! In the midst of a place that was synonymous with death, a place of darkness and evil, a place where so many souls were exterminated and then went up in ashes, sacred words of Torah were read, and for a brief moment that place became just a bit more holy. The light of the Torah words, for a brief moment, shined through the darkness and bleakness of death. Perhaps, those souls that were consumed by the fires of the crematorium knew just a bit of peace.
This week's Parsha is Bo. The ten plagues culminate with locusts, darkness, and finally the killing of the firstborn. On the night of the last plague, God instructs Moshe to tell B'nai Yisroel, to declare and sanctify the New Moon, and to slaughter a lamb for each family. Blood should be painted onto the door- post. The sacrificed lamb must be eaten entirely 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 commandment to sanctify the firstborn, remember this night, remember what God did for B'nai Yisroel, and remember that 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 ninth 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 be 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. B’nai Yisroel still had light in their dwellings while the plague occurred. Pharaoh could not stand the darkness anymore and told Moshe to take everyone including the children and leave if that would alleviate the darkness in Egypt. The Or HaChaim, (18th Century Morocco) reminds us that while there was complete darkness in Egypt, there was light where the Jewish slaves lived: Goshen. U’LeChol B’nai Yisroel Haya Or B’Mishvotam – but for all the Children of Israel there was light in their dwellings (Ex. 10:23). Egypt was already in a state of primordial Darkness, a spiritual darkness without the acknowledgment of God’s presence. As a result, Egypt had become a twisted, closed-minded, corrupt society whose enslavement of B’nai Yisroel was a function of ignorance and fear - a world devoid of the acknowledgment of HaShem. The plague of Choshech, of Darkness, was merely Egypt becoming aware of its darkness. As a result, Pharaoh all but pleaded with Moshe to take the slaves of Egypt. Eliminated the source of Egypt and Pharaoh’s fear, and then the light would return to Egypt. B’nai Yisroel was already in a state of primordial Light, a spiritual acknowledgment of God’s presence; U’LeChol B’nai Yisroel Haya Or B’Mishvotam – but for all the Children of Israel there was light in their dwellings. B’nai Yisroel already had a sense of their relationship with God, and a sense of purpose. Moshe had already told them that they would be freed, and they would return to the land that had been promised to their ancestors.
Each day our son has been in Poland has been a day in which they learned about the darkness that consumed Poland and Europe from 1939-1945. Each day our son has seen the light that existed in Poland prior to the war, the vibrancy of Jewish life, culture, and education prior to the war. With each day, our son and his fellow classmates have come to learn and appreciate how important it is for them to lead lives that bring light and goodness into the world, into the dark places of their respective communities.
Rav Yitz
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