The Sixth Step: Shechin-Boils Tough Love
Boils: Miracles
The plague of Boils was the first of the second half of plagues, and it was the first plague to actually afflict their bodies. One of the obvious miracles recorded in the Torah concerning this plague is that that the ashes that Moses threw upwards caused boils in all of Egyptian people.
Whereas one never sees the source of an epidemic, here it was clear that the source was miraculous. Furthermore, in the preceding plagues, there were living organisms that did the damage that proved G-d’s dominion over the animals. Here it was an inanimate object that caused the plague. The increased harshness and miraculous nature of this plague points to another more intense tier of therapy when we apply this to our own development.
Tough Love
In the context of self-development and emotional and spiritual growth, the most salient feature of this plague was that it was the first plague that actually struck the very bodies of the Egyptians. It disfigured their bodies and caused them incredible pain.
Their incapacitation as a result of this plague went so far that the Torah testifies, “[They] could not stand before Moses.”
Figuratively, this plague is about demolishing our “Egyptian” body, which is a metaphor for the entire thought structure and Weltanschauung that derives from our environment and that ultimately is what defines who we are.
If we were to ask ourselves, who are we, the answer would be, we are composite of our inborn faculties and talents, as well as our passions and thought processes. However, that would be an incomplete answer. We are actually a composite of all of the above plus all the influences to which we’ve been exposed. In other words, we are defined not by who we are at the time of our creation, but what we’ve developed into by virtue of our upbringing, our environment, our culture and, of course, the media.
Before we rebuild a new and healthy structure, we must divest ourselves of the “Egyptian” influence, which is systemic, and which defined the Israelite slaves, and which therefore threatens our very existence. And whereas the first two plagues destroyed their icon, this “second first” plague was directed against their entire thought structure.
This is alluded to in the aforementioned verse that describes the way the plague of boils affected the Egyptian magicians: “and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils.” This plague sought to deconstruct the Egyptian template.
According to the Midrash, this plague was a punishment for the Egyptians for forcing the Jews to heat bathing water for them.
Bathing was a way of pampering their bodies. The term body here, as mentioned, is a metaphor for the person’s entire thought structure and way of life. The Egyptians sought to have the Israelites contribute to the advancement and enhancement of their way of life. It was therefore a fitting punishment for their bodies to be disfigured. Their way of life had undergone a complete reorientation and restructuring.
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Divine Attribute: Gevurah
This process of tough love—of ripping down our existing structure with the intention of reconstruction—is clearly a function of the attribute and faculty of gevurah, which is associated with, and is the source of judgment and severity, However, even G-d’s attribute of judgment is ultimately for the purpose of kindness and growth.
Parallels Sixth Commandment
This plague is therefore the parallel of the Sixth Commandment “Do not murder” because like murder that destroys the entire person, the individual who is afflicted with the Egyptian mindset has effectively allowed it to destroy his entire system. And as it is forbidden to murder someone it is forbidden to break those elements that structure their life, unless, of course, it is in the context of the Ten Plague therapy administered in the proper way.
On a deeper level, the very existence of an Egyptian Weltanschauung is an act of spiritual murder. Murder is described in the Book of Genesis as the “shedding of blood of a person in a person,” which Chassidic sources interprets to mean draining the energy from the “G-dly image” of the G-dly soul into the “other” soul.
The plague of boils removed the life from the “other” soul, thereby restoring the life back to its rightful place—the G- dly soul.
For this plague-therapy to be effective, however, it had to be preceded by the previous five. One should never “demolish” someone else’s structure, even if their structure was deleterious to them, without first shoring them up so that they can take absorb the blows to their system. In addition, before administering tough love one has to put in place a back-up, replacement system that provides positive reinforcement and a sense of value.
Therefore, only after the individual appreciates the value of their small contributions and the uniqueness of their G-dly soul and the great potential of even their animal soul, will they be ready for the “tough love” that will disfigure and reshape their “body,” the makeup of their personality that was shaped and molded by alien influences.
This too is the message in the sixth commandment not to commit murder. Destroying someone’s being for its own sake is never warranyed. Even when one must destroy the other’s structure it can only be done when there is a new structure that will take its place.
Connection to the Messianic Age
In general terms, all of exile can be likened to the plague of boils that, as Kabbalists have taught us, is a process that refines us by removing the Egyptian body from our Jewish souls and makes us receptive for the revelation of G-dliness that will accompany the future Redemption.
And just as the plague of boils occurred through Moses (exemplified by the statement in the Torah that describes how “they were unable to stand before Moses”), so too, the process of destroying the body of exile must come about through Moshiach, who is imbued with the soul of Moses.
Only one who is filled with love for his people—as Moses and Moshiach are—can use tough love. Only Moses and Moshiach—and the spark of Moses and Moshiach within our soul—can successfully deconstruct the Egyptian/exile mindset and replace it with a Geulah/Redemption mindset.
Therapy: Boils that deformed their bodies suggests that we must alter the structure of our personalities. Whereas in the first five plagues, only token, and external changes were called for, the second set of plagues demand drastic changes that totally alter one’s personality. One can no longer stand before Moses with their original structure.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Voeira by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
