Bo -- Something Bigger

How do you save someone's soul? How do you help them find the right path in life? Is there a principle, a rule of thumb to help guide us? I think so.

Of all of the plagues that hit Egypt, the one that intrigues me most is the ninth one, darkness. The Torah describes a palpable darkness, and the commentaries explain that it was so thick that the Egyptians were paralyzed for three days. That always amazed me.

Some explain it in natural terms, that there was a catastrophic dust storm, for example. Others see this as a different sort of plague. No longer an extreme manifestation of nature, this plague was a completely supernatural one.

Simultaneously with the darkness that engulfed the Egyptians, came light that engulfed the Israelites. According to the commentary Kli Yakar, what God did was simply take the nighttime of the Israelites and the daytime of the Egyptians and exchange them. Therefore, the Egyptians had 24 hours of nighttime, while the Israelites had 24 hours of daytime.

What does this mean?

I believe that this plague delineate the difference between people who view the physical world as the be all and end all of their existence and people who know that there is something bigger. I also believe that the paralysis that engulfed the Egyptians in the darkness was self-imposed. It may be going too far, but I am tempted to suggest that darkness was the ultimate result of the previous plagues, and happened as a result of the Egyptians own doing. How so?

In the previous eight plagues, all that the Egyptians hoped and lived for was destroyed. Their deities, in the form of the Nile, their cattle and so forth were destroyed by some of the plagues. Their livestock and farm produce were destroyed by others. Their health and physical comfort were destroyed in the plagues of lice and boils. For a society dedicated to success in the physical world, these eight plagues marked their ultimate failure.

As a result, Egypt was plunged into deep depression. Darkness, the complete absence of the physical world, was all the Egyptians had left. If there was nothing bigger for them, then of what use is getting up and moving about? The deeply depressed person often finds himself bedridden.

But the person who knows that there is some bigger meaning in life, has the power to keep moving through the darkness. They don't see darkness as the end of the day, but rather the passage to a new, brighter day.

That is why I believe that these extremes -- 24-hour darkness for the Egyptians and 24-hour light for the Israelites -- are the most spiritual plagues. The rabbis comment that Israel merited redemption by not changing their names, their dress, and their language. Does merely maintaining a cultural heritage make such a difference?

The answer is no, unless the cultural heritage recognizes that there is something bigger. Even if a person sins, they can be redeemed if they never lose that perspective. To help someone find the right path in life, the best thing to do is to simply point their eyes towards the bigger things in life. That starts a chain of events that rebuild the spiritual power of every individual.

And the first person whose soul we should save is -- ourselves!