Parashat HaShavua - Bo

As we resume our reading of the plagues this week in parashat Bo, we encounter an apt metaphor in name and conduct for mass hysteria – arbeh (locusts) – followed by what can be considered a most extreme antidote to such hysteria, choshech (darkness).

Already in the book of Bereishit, the word arbeh has a meaning that connotes a ‘significant amount.’ After Adam and Chava eat from the Tree of Knowledge, God ominously says to Chava, therefore, “harbah arbeh / הַרְבָּ֤ה אַרְבֶּה֙ / I will surely increase” the difficulty of pregnancy. (Gen. 3:16) Later, in a fascinating parallel, that same phrase appears first in connection with Hagar (Gen. 16:10) and then with Avraham (Gen. 22:17), when each is separately reassured by God that “harbah arbeh / הַרְבָּ֤ה אַרְבֶּה֙ / I will surely increase your descendants.”

Thus one can see how the arbeh of plague fame got its name, as an insect that travels and does its greatest damage in swarms. Chanan Porat, in his book Me’at Min Ha’or, draws an analogy between the way locusts travel in swarms and the way people adopt a mob mentality. Specifically, he points to “the Egyptian nation that followed Pharaoh blindly, trampling Israel into submission, throwing their children into the river.” (p. 91) Those who didn’t were the exception to the rule. And so, he says, the plague of arbeh was an instance of midah keneged midah, a punishment that fit Egypt’s crimes, measure for measure.

Enter choshech, darkness: “People could not see one another, and for three days no one could move about; and all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings / לֹֽא־רָא֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־אָחִ֗יו וְלֹא־קָ֛מוּ אִ֥ישׁ מִתַּחְתָּ֖יו שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים וּֽלְכׇל־בְּנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל הָ֥יָה א֖וֹר בְּמוֹשְׁבֹתָֽם׃.” (Ex. 10:23) Thus we move from a plague about mob mentality to one about isolation, where individuals are unable to even move. After the proverbial darkness of following others blindly, now we encounter actual darkness so thick that the Torah says “va’yamesh / וְיָמֵ֖שׁ / it was palpable.” (Ex. 10:21) An extreme antidote, to say the least.

The theme of seeing and not seeing plays out in another meaningful way, both literally and figuratively, during the plagues of choshech and the final one, makkat bechorot, the killing of the firstborn. Following choshech, when Pharaoh refuses one last time to release Bnei Yisrael, he says to Moshe, “Go away from me! Beware; you shall no longer see my face, for on the day you see my face, you shall die / וַיֹּֽאמֶר־ל֥וֹ פַרְעֹ֖ה לֵ֣ךְ מֵֽעָלָ֑י הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֗ אַל־תֹּ֨סֶף֙ רְא֣וֹת פָּנַ֔י כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם רְאֹֽתְךָ֥ פָנַ֖י תָּמֽוּת.” Moshe responds: “You have spoken correctly; I will no longer see your face again / וַיֹּ֥אמֶר משֶׁ֖ה כֵּ֣ן דִּבַּ֑רְתָּ לֹֽא־אֹסִ֥ף ע֖וֹד רְא֥וֹת פָּנֶֽיךָ.” (Ex. 10:28-29) 

The problem with this, however, is that it seems they do see each other again! After the horror of makkat bechorot, Pharaoh “called for Moshe and Aharon at night, and he said, ‘Get up and get out from among my people’/וַיִּקְרָא֩ לְמשֶׁ֨ה וּלְאַֽהֲרֹ֜ן לַ֗יְלָה וַיֹּ֨אמֶר֙ ק֤וּמוּ צּאוּ֙ מִתּ֣וֹךְ עַמִּ֔י.” (Ex. 12:31) How is it that Moshe says he won’t see Pharaoh again, and then here it seems he does? Ramban offers several explanations for how this is not a contradiction: Moshe did not see Pharaoh’s face again because when Pharaoh “called” for Moshe and Aharon, he either sent someone else to them with a message, or went looking for them himself but didn’t speak directly with them face to face; or Moshe did see Pharaoh again but not in the palace, which is what Moshe specifically meant would not happen again.

Another explanation comes to mind in the context of the discussion about seeing and not seeing during arbeh and choshech. When Pharaoh says Moshe will see his face no longer, he uses the phrase “al tosef / אַל־תֹּ֨סֶף֙.” When Moshe responds, he echoes that same phrase, “lo osif / לֹֽא־אֹסִ֥ף.” However, Moshe then adds another word that seems superfluous: “od / again / ע֖וֹד,” or anymore. What does this word add to the notion that Moshe will not see Pharaoh again? I think Moshe knows that after makkat bechorot, Pharaoh will not see him in the same way again. In other words, when they do see each other again, Pharaoh will view him differently. Even more than that, after that last plague, arguably the entire Egyptian nation will see Israel differently. Tragically, it is only after suffering through eight collective plagues that Egypt is perhaps cured of their mob mentality, by the extreme isolation of choshech and the individual pain of makkat bechorot that was visited upon every household.

This is our challenge, humanity’s challenge, even when under tremendous pressure to the contrary: to somehow manage to see each other as individuals, created in the image of God, possessing a divine spark, and demand that we ourselves be seen that way as well. Of course, the larger the group, the more hysterical the masses and the worse the enmity among and between people, the harder that is.

This is our challenge.

Shabbat shalom,

Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head (Ivrit/Limudei Kodesh/Tefillah)
Rabbinic Advisor