וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה נְטֵ֤ה יָֽדְךָ֙ עַל־הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וִ֥יהִי חֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְיָמֵ֖שׁ חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃
Then YHVH said to Moses, “Hold out your arm toward the sky that there may be darkness upon the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be touched.”
וַיֵּ֥ט מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת־יָד֖וֹ עַל־הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וַיְהִ֧י חֹֽשֶׁךְ־אֲפֵלָ֛ה בְּכָל־אֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת יָמִֽים׃
Moses held out his arm toward the sky and thick darkness descended upon all the land of Egypt for three days.
לֹֽא־רָא֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־אָחִ֗יו וְלֹא־קָ֛מוּ אִ֥ישׁ מִתַּחְתָּ֖יו שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים וּֽלְכָל־בְּנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל הָ֥יָה א֖וֹר בְּמוֹשְׁבֹתָֽם׃
People could not see one another, and for three days no one could get up from where he was; but all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings. [Exodus 10:21-23]
- The Hebrew וְיָמֵ֖שׁ חֹֽשֶׁךְ / va-yameysh choshekh – rendered here as “a darkness that can be touched” – is of uncertain meaning.
- In Anchor Bible Exodus I (p. 340), William H.C. Propp offers:
The three attested [Hebrew] roots that might produce the verb yamesh…mean 1) ‘draw (from the water)’ [mem-shin-yod] ; 2) ‘depart’ [mem-vav-shin]; and 3) ‘grope, feel’[mem-shin-shin]. Propp translates ‘A darkness of gloom.’
Other translations offer:
- “…and the dark will [subsequently] depart” (Targum Onkelos)
- “The darkness will be felt [tangible, tactile] (Septuagint)
- “[God will] let the dark grow dark” (Syriac)
- “[God] will remove the natural dark of night” (Seforno)
- “One will feel the darkness” (Buber)
- “Darkness will cause the Egyptians to grope” (Luzzato)
- “A darkness more dark than the [normal] dark of night; the darkness was so thick that it was doubled and redoubled, until it became a tangible darkness” (Rashi)
- “A darkness that will grow intensely dark (deeper and gloomier)” (Rashbam)
The contemporary Jewish Publication Society translation is “a darkness that can be touched” and in his JPS Exodus Commentary (p. 50), Nahum Sarna writes:
“This affliction can be explained in terms of the khamsin…this scorching sirocco wind blows in each spring from Saharan Africa or from Arabia, enveloping the land in thick sand and dust.”
In contrast, Robert Alter translates “a darkness one can feel” and writes:
“The force of this hyperbole, which beautifully conveys the claustrophobic palpability of absolute darkness, is diminished by those who try to provide a naturalistic explanation for this plague (or indeed, for any of the others) – i.e., a desert wind bearing particles of sand and dust darkens the land and makes the darkness palpable. Nor would solar eclipse work as an explanation, since the darkness persists for three days.” (The Five Books of Moses, p. 370)
1. (Adapted from Midrash Bereshit Rabbah 12:6)
After having committed the first sin, Adam saw his first sunset and it filled him with dread. The midrash teaches that after having committed the first sin, Adam saw his first sunset on the eve of Shabbat; he was alarmed, afraid that the world was blacking out, running down, and that he had caused it to happen. The cosmic darkness, he thought, not only reflected his own inner darkness, but perhaps resulted from it. At sunrise, Adam realized it was the way of the world, and that he would have to cope with it and confront the darkness. After Shabbat, God gave Adam two flints, which Adam struck together and created fire, blessing God, “Blessed are You, who creates the lights of fire.”
2. Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav (18th Century)
The evil inclination (yetzer hara) is more interested in the depression following a sin than in the act of sinning itself, for nothing is as spiritually and even physically debilitating as depression. The Exodus from Egypt, nationally and personally, entailed confronting the darkness and returning to the light. They held on to the light and hope of salvation.
Just as the plague of darkness immediately preceded the redemption from Egypt, so too, the darkest hour always comes right before the dawn. Knowing this secret and deciding never to give up are the greatest antidotes against the evil inclination's ultimate secret weapon of depression.
3. Rabbi Yeshayahu ben Avraham Horowitz
The night is darkest immediately before dawn. Before the sun sets in the evening, we observe the sun assuming a reddish color in preparation for evening and night; the same process happens in reverse prior to sunrise. All this proves the basic unity of night and day. God is eternal, without beginning or end, without limitation of His powers… When God created the universe, God created "limits," as distinct from Godself who is limitless. In order to do this God imposed some restrictions, צמצום, upon Godself. The universe itself represents an act of God's self-restriction.
[Commentary Shney Luchot Ha Brit/Two Tables of the Covenant – Rabbi Yeshayahu ben Avraham Horowitz, Prague & Safed, d. 1630]
5. Miriam Greenspan: Healing Through the Dark Emotions
The dark emotions are [hard]. Fear, grief, and despair are uncomfortable and are seen as signs of personal failure. In our culture, we call them “negative” and think of them as “bad.” I prefer to call these emotions “dark,” because I like the image of a rich, fertile, dark soil from which something unexpected can bloom. Also we keep them “in the dark” and tend not to speak about them. We privatize them and don’t see the ways in which they are connected to the world. But the dark emotions are inevitable. They are part of the universal human experience and are certainly worthy of our attention. They bring us important information about ourselves and the world and can be vehicles of profound transformation.
Surrendering to suffering is usually the last thing we want to do, but surrender is what brings the unexpected gifts of wisdom, compassion, and courage. Surrendering is about saying ‘yes’ when we want to say ‘no’ — the ‘yes’ of acceptance. This is what really allows the [emotional] alchemy to happen. We don’t ‘let go’ of emotions; we let go of ego, and the emotions then let go themselves. This is ‘emotional flow.’ When we let the dark emotions flow, something unexpected and unpredictable often occurs. Consciously experienced, the energy of these emotions flows toward healing and harmony. I have found that unimpeded grief transforms itself into heightened gratitude; that consciously experiencing fear expands our ability to feel joy; and that being mindful of despair — really entering into the dark night of the soul with the light of awareness — renews and deepens our faith. [https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/385/through-a-glass-darkly]
6. Bertolt Brecht, motto to Svendborg Poems, 1939
In the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing
About the dark times.
לֹֽא־רָא֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־אָחִ֗יו וְלֹא־קָ֛מוּ אִ֥ישׁ מִתַּחְתָּ֖יו שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים וּֽלְכָל־בְּנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל הָ֥יָה א֖וֹר בְּמוֹשְׁבֹתָֽם׃
People could not see one another, and for three days no one gets up from their place; but all the Israelites enjoyed light in their dwellings.
7. Israel Yitzhak Kalish of Vurka (1779–1848) was the first hasidic rebbe of Vurka:
There is no darkness or gloom greater in the world than this: that people do not see, and do not want to see, others, their neighbors – they each worry only about themselves. When no one sees the Other, and worries only about themselves, then “no one could gets up from their place,” for there is no hope…
“There is no such thing as darkness; only a failure to see.” (Malcolm Muggeridge)
8. Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We've braved the belly of the beast
We've learned that quiet isn't always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn't always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we've weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn't broken
but simply unfinished…
…When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we're brave enough to see it
If only we're brave enough to be it