LIGHT AND DARKNESS

Each year at the Passover Seder we enumerate the Ten Plagues that were visited upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh gave in and permitted the Israelites to leave. As we do so, we remove a drop of wine from our wine cup to symbolize that our cup of joy cannot be full since our liberation did bring suffering to the Egyptians.

The plagues are an intriguing aspect of the Passover story. Was there no other way for God to have redeemed Israel from slavery? Why did God choose these particular plagues to inflict upon the Egyptians? Our Sages suggested that each plague was an indictment of the values and practices of Egyptian society.

Perhaps the one plague above all others that characterized ancient Egypt was the plague of darkness. Although most historians picture ancient Egypt as a civilization of great light, it was in fact a place of darkness, a darkness that could be felt. (Exodus 10:21). Why? Because, as the Torah implies, the Egyptians didn’t regard their fellow human beings as their kin and no one stirred from his or her own selfish concerns. (Exodus 10:23). This explains not only why certain afflictions were chosen to be visited upon the Egyptians, but why, ultimately, Egypt had to be destroyed. The issue was not only the enslavement of the Israelites. It was the oppressive darkness of Egyptian society.

As our Sages read of the plague of darkness, they discussed the source of darkness. Where does such a thick darkness come from? Rabbi Yehuda was of the opinion that the darkness came from above. Rabbi Nehemia disagreed; he felt that it came from below.

What difference does the source of the darkness make? Our sages were looking for the reason why darkness engulfed Egypt and caused its destruction. How does a society become blind to human needs? How does it become selfish and uncaring? How does it become brutal and oppressive?

Rabbi Nehemia was convinced that the problem stemmed from the lower elements in society — the masses, the poor, the uneducated. Surely it is they who live in physical and spiritual darkness who are unable to see beyond themselves. It is they who fail to understand the real cause of their problems and look to blame a scapegoat. And so they blamed the Jews and rejoiced at their enslavement. Rabbi Nehemia is expressing the commonly held view that ignorance breeds prejudice and discrimination. If we can eliminate ignorance by education, we can eliminate prejudice and oppression.

Rabbi Yehuda could not accept this view. The darkness, he maintained, emanates from above, from the highest strata of society. Who enslaved the Israelites? It was not the peasants, not the average Egyptian. It was Pharaoh and his advisors. It came from the top. Those who occupied the highest positions in Egyptian life — the priests, the teachers, the philosophers — instead of protesting the enslavement of a people condoned it and endorsed it. Who justified Hitler’s theories of racial superiority and inferiority? Intellectuals, college professors, men of learning and erudition. Who performed the scientific experiments in the camps that mutilated and maimed fellow human beings? Doctors and dentists — those who were trained and committed to the alleviation of pain and suffering and the saving of human life. The evidence seems irrefutable that darkness stems from above.

Throughout history those societies that have been the most oppressive have been the ones that officially condone and encourage discrimination and oppression. Remember the Soviet Union? Its anti-Semitic campaign was the product of government action. So were the pogroms of Tsarist Russia planned and coordinated by the government although the peasants were used to execute the action. In the Middle East today it is the repressive Arab governments and the Palestinian Authority that spew forth hate and propaganda against Israel and thus indoctrinate the masses to believe the falsehoods that they want them to. The darkness that curses human life comes from the highest echelons of society.

If hate and evil and oppression comes from above, so does love and light. Thus the Torah goes on to tell us that while the Egyptians were afflicted by darkness the Israelites had light in their dwellings. (Exodus 10:23). The description is more than physical. The implication here is that Jewish values and Jewish ideals brought enlightenment. Throughout history Judaism and the Jewish people have been the light of protest against all forms of darkness and oppression. In no small measure this accounts for the universal anti-Semitism of tyrannical government wants is light — to be exposed, to be uncovered. In whatever land we Jews have lived we have brought light and love and compassion and moral values. This is precisely why Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites and refused to let them go. He knew the danger of light to an oppressive society such as his. He could foresee the result if the light of Israel penetrated into the life of Egyptian people. And this is precisely why repressive regimes have always repressed the Jews.

In a real sense it is not God who inflicts plagues but the oppressors themselves who are responsible for the calamities that befall them. The plagues visited upon the Egyptians teach us that ultimately bloodshed breeds bloodshed and darkness breeds darkness. The plagues were simply a culmination of the negative forces that were characteristic of the darkness of Egyptian civilization.

As we enumerate the Ten Plagues at our Seders this year, let us remember the words of the Psalmist: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; of whom shall I fear?” (Psalms 27:1). As long as the light of God’s teachings illuminates our lives, we shall triumph over every enemy, over every force of evil and darkness.