The Ninth Step: Choshech-Darkness – The Last Prerequisite
Out of Order
The plague of darkness is by far the most enigmatic plague. It appears not be in order, for it did not cause more harm than the preceding ones.
Unless the darkness caused paralysis and psychological damage that was far more debilitating than the boils, it did not wreak much havoc. This begs for an explanation, why did G-d leave this relatively moderate plague for the end?
Rashi seems to have been troubled by this question. His explanation of this plague is that it facilitated the burial of the Jews who didn’t want to leave Egypt. There were a large number of Israelites who refused to leave Egypt. Tragically, they all perished then and were buried during the plague of darkness so that the Egyptians would not be aware of this tragedy.
In addition, our Sages tell us, while the Egyptians were stuck in their homes oblivious to their surroundings; the Israelites surveyed their homes and discovered the whereabouts of all their valuables. When the Israelites, upon G-d’s request, asked the Egyptians for clothing and valuables (“reparations” for centuries of oppression and slavery) the Egyptians denied that they had them, whereupon the Israelites identified the hiding places of their treasures.
What in this plague—including the two functions of the plague mentioned by Rashi—could teach us anything about our emotional and spiritual development?
We will understand this in the context of the eighth plague, the plague of Locust. Locust, which devoured the crops to the extent that one could not “see the eye of the earth,” represents the complete change of one’s perspective. To accomplish this, it was discussed, one must have an insatiable hunger for the knowledge of Torah, inasmuch as Torah study has the capacity to alter one’s exile mentality into a liberated spiritual one.
It is at this point, when the Israelites were ready for the moment of Redemption, that the ninth plague of darkness occurred. It served as the last prerequisite to achieving spiritual freedom.
Arresting the Egyptian Mindset
What does all this mean in a spiritual context?
In terms of spiritual development, the plague of darkness represents the total arresting of the Egyptian mindset that follows the complete saturation of one’s mind in the wisdom of Torah. The plague of darkness caused total paralysis of the Egyptian mindset.
Even when instilled with a Torah perspective that sees things from the inside out, we may still be vulnerable. Once we exit the inner precincts of Torah study to spread the light to the world—the theme of the eighth plague— we must secure ourselves so that we will not be affected by the outside. Any contact with a negative force can have a deleterious, albeit subtle, effect. The plague of darkness renders every Egyptian “outside” influence null and void.
Finding the Hidden Treasures
Moreover, even the most spiritually sophisticated individual can still have some “outside” negative influences that are embedded deeply in their soul. Conversely, there may be some positive energy that one has not accessed because it is rooted so deeply in one’s psyche.
This plague of darkness represents the need and the ability to “excavate” and find all the hidden negativity (represented by those who refused to leave the exile) and the hidden positive energy (represented by the hidden treasures they discovered).
Two Mistakes
This plague also guaranteed that we do not make two fatal mistakes in our spiritual liberation experience.
The first thing that happens when we leave Egypt, the prototype of all exile experiences, is to not want to part with what has become part of us. And as much as we are intellectually convinced of the limiting and even degrading nature of exile, we loath to give it up, much like a baby is reluctant to give up the filth that it created.
During the plague of darkness, the Jews buried all of those who had a love affair with their exile experience and do not want to part with it. In doing so, they were able to leave Egypt and experience true freedom.
Taking the Treasures of Exile with us
Conversely, there are those who revert to the opposite extreme by so repudiating the exile experience that they leave behind the treasures that they gained from it.
While exile is a negative experience, there are hidden treasures that were planted there. These are the lessons we learn from adversity. These are the areas of growth that comes from the unique challenges that exist only in exile. Indeed, whenever we rise above the constraints of the exile experience, we discover an incredible treasure. And upon leaving exile we must take these treasures along with us.
Kabbalah and Chassidut teach us that exile is actually a time when the most sublime energies are generated, but cannot be accessed until the Messianic Age. Going out of exile is complete when we realize what treasures are embedded in it.
Tragically, there are those who reverse the process, while they take along the galut/slave/exile mentality with them, they leave the treasures behind. The plague of darkness was thus directed to all those who are at the final stage of redemption to know what to take along with them and what to leave behind.
The ninth plague, according to the Midrash, was a punishment for the Egyptians because they darkened the lives of the Jews.
Their design was to completely eradicate the Jewish person’s ability to see spirituality, and to have even a glimmer of hope to get out of exile. The glimmer of hope might have made their plight somewhat tolerable. Even that trace of light the Egyptians sought to extinguish.
In spiritual terms, the Egyptian form of assimilation and exile seeks to completely extinguish the G-dly light of our souls.
In the end, it was the Egyptian culture that was darkened and their influence has long ceased to exist. The Jewish people have survived and will endure and continued to spread the untarnished light of G-d throughout the world until such time that they will leave the darkness of exile completely—taking along with them the treasures generated in exile..
Parallel to the Ninth Commandment
This plague of darkness can be said to parallel the ninth commandment not to bear false testimony. A Jew, even in exile, exists to serve as a testimony to G-d’s presence in this world, through the way we express His presence in our lives.
When a Jew, as a result of exile conditions allows this perception to be clouded and considers himself or herself a part of exile, he or she is in effect bearing false testimony against G-d and against himself or herself.
With the plague of darkness, and the burial of the exile tainted mindset, we become valid witnesses.
Divine Attribute: Binah
The attribute of binah, translated as understanding, is actually the intellectual process where we take a seminal idea and give it form. It represents the development of an idea, giving it breadth and depth.
When one has a fleeting, superficial or partial understanding of a concept they cannot experience the full measure of joy the idea generates. Only when one has a fully developed understanding of a concept can one’s joy be complete. The faculty of binah is alluded to in the verse: “The mother of the children rejoices.” Binah is the “mother” and source of the emotions that lead to a sense of satisfaction and joy.
The ninth plague represents our ability to penetrate the darkness that shrouds a given subject and see the light. This is a function of binah, and this is what happened to the Israelites during the plague of darkness. They were able to see though the darkness and find the hidden treasures.
Connection to Moshiach
The Messianic Age is when we will be guaranteed that we will no longer be vulnerable to the Egyptian/exile mentality.
It is also the time when all the hidden evil will be expunged and the hidden good and treasures will be fully revealed— the two effects of the plague of darkness.
Therapy: The next to the last step in the therapy of destroying the negativity that inhibits us and enslaves us is to recognize that utter darkness and futility of conventional knowledge. One must seek to find the hidden negative and positive traits embedded within our psyche and deal with them accordingly. This penultimate step also involves burying, once and for all, all of our constraining weaknesses, and discovering the treasures that exist in our negative past; taking it along with us on our Journey to spiritual perfection.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeira by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
