Being Human to Shine the Light - Parashat Bo - Week of Jan. 27, 2025

Shalom,

I have been thinking about darkness a lot lately.  It was just over a month ago that we gathered to bring light at the dark time of the year with Hannukah.  The long Sierra Shadows during winter cast a darker shade created by our tall evergreens.  The doom and gloom posted online, in media, and occupying the airspace about Israel-Hamas-Gaza, politics in America, wildfires (in January), and so much that has me trying to both find light and examine, to understand, the darkness.  Certainly a bright spot is the welcoming home of hostages from Gaza, may their journey of healing be full.  

Many of us, myself included, feel a dark shadow cast everywhere we look.  From the turmoil and tumult in our nation to the challenges to progressive and liberal Judaism, from the awfulness of war in Israel-Gaza to the concern of vulnerable neighbors and community members, it all has me thinking about darkness.

This week in Parashat Bo, we read about the plague of darkness upon Egypt (Ex. 10:21-23).  Rashi says the darkness was palpable.  Ramban claims this darkness was not just the absence of light, it was a thick darkness.  The Torah text, and our commentary, point out how one human could not see another.  Midrash Rabbah teaches by commenting on verse 23:  A man saw not his fellow, neither rose any from his place for three days (10:23),” and says:  There were six days of darkness... During the first three, "a man saw not his fellow"; during the last three days, he who sat could not stand up, he who stood could not sit down, and he who was lying down could not raise himself upright.  So we learn that there are two kinds of darkness in this plague.  The first removing from us the ability to see those beside us.  The Israelites and the Egyptians were struck with the inability to perceive through sight the world about them.  The Chassidic master, Chidushei HaRim comments on this by writing:  There is no greater darkness than one in which "a man saw not his fellow" -- in which a person becomes oblivious to the needs of his fellow man. When that happens, a person becomes stymied in his personal development as well -- "neither rose any from his place."(Chidushei HaRim)

Darkness comes when we fail to see each other.  In not seeing one another, we stymie our own development, growth, and humanity too.  We must oppose this kind of darkness.  When vulnerable neighbors and community members are not recognized as human, we must be light dispelling that darkness.  When causes, issues, even policies we know are crucial are covered by darkness threatening our human and national progress, we must shine lights to make sure the work to protect those interests can progress.  The plague of darkness upon Egypt is part of the story for us, as Am Yisrael, yet it is also part of the human story and experience.  Moments of darkness are real, night time is a taste perhaps, yet our resilience as a people, as humanity, is found in our ability to shine that light by being connected to one another…see each other…learn from each other.

May the week ahead motivate us to shine light into darkness.

Shavua Tov,
Rabbi Evon