The Seventh Step: Barad-Hail – Bringing It All Inside
Fire and Water
The plagues are getting more destructive. This seventh plague of hail put an even greater dent in the economy of Egypt as it destroyed many of the crops and livestock. Furthermore it also killed people who stayed outside. It also was more miraculous than any previous plague because it combined fire and water.
To understand the significance of the seventh plague of hail in terms of its therapeutic value, a brief summary of the last six plagues is in order.
One must first destroy all the icons (first two plagues of blood and frogs). One must then recognize the need to make small and incremental changes (the third plague of lice), while appreciating how special they are, both their G- dly soul and even their animal soul (the fourth and fifth plagues of the mixture of animals and pestilence, respectively). At that point we are ready to destroy the Egyptian Weltanschauung that has come to define us (the sixth plague of boils).
The seventh plague of barad-hail, which consisted on both fire and water, symbolizes the twin forces of destruction: fiery passion and icy indifference. The Torah relates that those people and animals that were outside were all destroyed. Those who went inside and brought their animals with them were spared.
One Overarching Goal
Translated into terms of human growth and development (thereby saving one’s G-dly and animal souls) this means that it is crucial that we go “inside.” In Talmudic parlance the “outside” is referred to as reshut harabim, “the domain of the many” while the “inside” is characterized as reshut hayachid, “the exclusive domain.”
To rebuild ones personality in the proper mold, one must take all of his or her ideas, goals and life’s experience and bring them “inside,” into a world that is dominated by one overarching, G-dly objective.
This does not mean that we cannot be multifaceted. On the contrary, this seventh step for self-improvement and spiritual development urges us to take all of our multifaceted talents and ideas etc., and have them reflect a unified purpose.
Staying outside leaves us with two problems. First, we are vulnerable to the fiery passions that run loose in the outside world. There are no walls or barriers that can restrain us. In the street, everything goes. Insofar as the positive aspects of life, the outside can sometimes be cold and indifferent to those efforts.
Going inside in this context entails having a cozy place to serve as a shelter from the hostile and harmful influences of the outside world. Having a warm Jewish home or retreating to a synagogue or a House of Study can provide us with security and fortify us with strength.
Second, staying outside with all of its confusion and fragmentation will leave us frustrated and conflicted.
As long as we are scattered in all directions, pursuing multiple interests and goals, we cannot fully enjoy any of these tasks. Each task and direction will conflict with the other. When engaged in one area, we might be distracted by our concerns for the other goal. When we split ourselves into so many pieces and spread ourselves thin—a staple of modern life—we seem to be nowhere.
How can we be diversified and happy? Or to put it in terms of our emotional and spiritual development, how can we grow when we cannot anchor ourselves in any one area?
The answer is that we have to direct our multifaceted energies towards one overarching goal—bringing everything into the domain of the one G-d.
Contrary to the popular misconception that “religious” people are very narrow, this lesson actually teaches us that the reverse is true. Without the unity of purpose provided for by religion, we cannot fully experience and enjoy all of our diverse pursuits. If one is scattered in every direction, they are nowhere. Their multiple interests amount to nothing.
By contrast, the person who is focused on one higher goal, by bringing all of his efforts into the “private domain,” will be able to savor each of these experiences.
A simple analogy could help explain the difference between the secular and religious approach:
A person who wishes to travel to a certain place can take many routes to reach his or her destination. Indeed, the person who knows where he or she wants to go will frequently take different routes to the same location. And whenever they discover a new route or a more scenic route, it could generate pleasure and excitement. “Getting there is half the fun,” as the saying goes. Since they are secure in their objectives, every part of the way towards that goal is rewarding. It acquires some of the meaning that the goal possesses.
On the other hand, each direction or route that a person travels without a specific goal in mind is a burden. Travel becomes a frustrating experience for one who either has no goal or is uncertain about it, and does not know precisely where he or she wants to go.
We can now understand why our Sages in the Midrash state that this plague was a punishment for the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to plant crops and orchards for Egyptians.
On the surface this does not seem to be a serious crime on their part. Compared to back-breaking slave labor in building cities and pyramids planting crops is not so bad.
Perhaps, the evil inherent in their behavior was the fact that they forced the Israelites into diverse areas of labor, without having any goal. It was diversification for the sake of not letting them get into one area; never feel comfortable and at home and not have any specific unifying goal.
Parallels the Seventh Commandment
This plague thus parallels the seventh commandment, “Do not commit adultery.”
Committing adultery in the spiritual realm is to be wed to more than one ideal. The plague of hail that forces us to take ourselves and our animals inside an exclusive domain prevents us from being wed to different ideologies and ideals that proliferate “outside,”
To bring everything in to the exclusive domain of G-d is the parallel of a monogamous relationship.
Divine Attribute: Chesed
The attribute of chesed translated as kindness is also associated with the emotion of love and passion. The prohibition against adultery was directed against those whose faculty of chesed could lead to relationships that take the notion of love to forbidden extremes. In fact, the Torah uses the word chesed to describe incest and other immoral acts.
The individual who is “outside” in the “public domain” and suffers from attachments to multiple experiences and engagements suffers from an overactive and misguided sense of chesed in the figurative sense, as well as in the practical sense, not having or knowing where to go.
Rather than extending love to multiple partners as we go through the plethora of experiences and causes in our lives, we should experience a much more powerful expression of love to the one G-d and to the Divine in all that we do. When our marriage to G-d is exclusive, then all of our other relationships and commitments are more wholesome and positive—manifestations of chesed.
Connection to Moshiach
In the Messianic Era, the world, in its entirety will become an “exclusive domain” for G-d. Numerous Biblical citations point to how, in the Messianic Age, the entire world will recognize the oneness of G-d.
Indeed, the Shema, Judaism’s most important declaration is interpreted by Rashi to mean that in the future Messianic Age all the nations will come around to the same belief in and understanding of G-d’s unity.
But the idea of convergence in the Messianic Age goes even further. Not only will there be a convergence of minds, but all of the universe will truly reflect the absolute exclusivity of G-d. Not only that there is no other G-d, but, moreover, that there is nothing besides G-d. All of existence is but a manifestation of G-d and His creative energy.
While we may be aware of this concept now, it will then become a manifest reality for all of Creation. The entire universe will be shown to be part of the exclusive domain of the one G-d.
Therapy: We must recognize that many of our problems and hindrances to further growth derive from exposure to the diffusion of outside influences. One must take oneself and one’s animal “inside” in a private domain, where there is a unity of purpose. Find a spiritual place where there is warmth and unified meaning.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeira by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
