Free and Rich

A Jew, from the time of the Exodus onward, says the Maharal (the great 16th century Talmudist, Kabbalist and leader), became an inherently free person. A Jew cannot be truly subservient to others. It goes against his or her very nature and essence. For a Jew to thrust himself into slavery once the dynamic energy of the Exodus began to be generated was a self- destructive act. Those Jews simply couldn’t survive as slaves.

The Two Functions of the Ninth Plague of Darkness

Of all the Ten Plagues, the most enigmatic is the ninth plague, the plague of darkness. If one is to assume that the plagues were getting progressively more painful, the ninth plague seems to be out of order. The eighth plague of locust destroyed their entire food supply, which would lead to mass starvation. Likewise many of the earlier plagues were life threatening or destructive to their infrastructure. The plague of darkness, by contrast, caused only fear and anxiety. Why then was this plague reserved for next to the last?

Rashi seemed to have anticipated this question. Rashi explains that this plague served two functions. First, during the plague of darkness the Israelites were able to survey all of the Egyptian’s possessions. When they asked the Egyptians to give them their gold, silver and clothing, as per G-d’s request to them that they do so, the Egyptians denied they had anything to give. Thereupon, the Israelites stated that they saw their possessions and knew where they were hidden.

The need for this plague thus was to help the Jews take the wealth of Egypt with them as they departed as had been promised by G-d to Abraham.

The second reason for the plague of darkness, Rashi explains, was to facilitate the burial of those Jews who refused to leave Egypt and died out in the plague of darkness, so as to conceal this tragedy from the Egyptians.

Both explanations raise some serious questions:

First, why did those Jews who refused to be liberated have to die? Why was their reluctance to leave so serious a crime as to deserve death? Why couldn’t they just be left behind to remain subservient to the Egyptians?

As for the first explanation, the question that can be raised is: why was it so important for the Israelites to see the treasures of Egypt during this plague of darkness? Surely, if G-d wanted them to leave with the wealth of Egypt they deserved as payment for their decades of slavery and torture, G-d could have found other ways of inducing the Egyptians to give then the wealth. Why did it have to come through the Israelites seeing this wealth during the plague of darkness?

Educating the Jews about their Role

The answer to both of these questions lies in the suggestion that with this plague of darkness G-d wanted not just to punish the Egyptians, but also to educate the Jewish people about their identity and role, and how they should view exile and liberation.

Punishment versus Consequence

The reason the Israelites that refused to be liberated died in the plague of darkness one may suggest was not a punishment but a consequence of who they were.

From the time of the Exodus onward, says the Maharal (the great 16th century Talmudist, Kabbalist and leader), a Jew became an inherently free person. A Jew, by his very constitution, cannot be truly subservient to others. It goes against the very nature and essence of a Jew. Freedom was programmed into the Jewish psyche at the time of the Exodus.

For a Jew to thrust himself into slavery once the dynamic energy of the Exodus was launched was a self-destructive act. Thus, the Jews who insisted on being slaves were engaged in acts of self-destruction.

Exile a Façade

This was the first message we were given at the time of our liberation. A Jew must know that he or she is essentially a free person whose existence is one that belongs to G-d alone. A Jew cannot tolerate any other master.

To be sure, Jews were subjected to many subsequent periods of exile and servitude. However, none of the Jews “masters” could exercise control over the inner spirit of the Jew.

And the message conveyed at the time of the Exodus was that a Jew should and could never make peace with being in exile. His or her essence is freedom. And we are given only one choice either to be free as Jews or to cease to exist.

Moshiach is Real!

To translate this message into practical terms: The Exodus instructs us as to what our attitude towards our being in exile must be. It also inspires us with hope for the imminent Redemption through Moshiach. Only then will the truth about our existence as free people will come to light for all to see.. A Jew has to realize that Moshiach and Redemption is real and is his or her true state, whereas exile is the façade and the temporary state.

Gathering the Treasures

But there is an even deeper message that the other explanation for the plague of darkness conveys. We were told to survey the Egyptian homes to find all of their treasures as a prelude to receiving them from the Egyptians. This means that even as we are still in exile and are eagerly anticipating the future liberation, we must know two things:

First, exile is not just a waiting game for the Redemption. Exile is when we sow the seeds that will blossom in the future. Exile is when we amass the treasures that will be in full view of the world in the Messianic Era.

Second, freedom is not just the absence of slavery and suffering.

Freedom, in the ultimate sense of the word, is when we gather the treasures—material and spiritual—that we generated in exile through our hard work, acts of Mitzvos, Torah study and heartfelt prayers and take it with us into the period of Redemption. Not only can we not stay behind; even these treasures we do not leave behind.

Not only is it important for us to know that we are inherently free people and that we have only one true Master, but that freedom is a patently positive and exciting experience that we must crave even when we enjoy the relative, provisional freedom of exile.

We yearn for Moshiach and Redemption because of the positive experience—the treasures—it will bring just as much as we yearn for the cessation of pain and suffering in exile.

From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Bo by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.