 | | In this week’s parsha, Parshat Bo, the physical process of the Exodus begins. Following the tenth and final plague of Makat Bechorot, the Slaying of the First Born, Pharaoh agrees to send out the Jewish people once and for all. Not only is Pharaoh eager to see the Jews leave his land, but the Egyptian people are keen as well, as it says, “Egypt imposed itself strongly upon the people to hasten to send them out of the land, for they said, ‘We are all dying!’” (Shemot 12:33). Based on the clear desire to be rid of the Jewish people, it is rather odd that as they prepare to leave, the Torah tells us that Bnei Yisrael “requested from the Egyptians silver vessels, gold vessels and garments. The Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and they granted their request –so they emptied Egypt” (Ibid., 35-6). After having endured the devastating effects of ten plagues, how could it be that the Jewish people found favor in the eyes of the Egyptians? How could it be that the Egyptians, a destroyed, humiliated and embittered people, would now give of their precious possessions to the living embodiments of their demise?
To help answer this question, we must turn back to the ninth plague: Darkness. According to Rashi, based on the Midrash, there are two primary reasons for the Plague of Darkness. First, “there were among Israel of that generation wicked individuals who did not wish to depart [from Egypt], and they perished during the three days of gloom. [This happened] so that the Egyptians should not witness their downfall and say, ‘they, too, are being smitten as we are!’” (Rashi on Shemot 10:22). Second, during those days of darkness, “the Israelites sought out and saw [the Egyptians’] vessels” (Ibid., 10:22). In other words, while all of Egypt was enveloped by the shadows of a fearsome, immobilizing darkness, the Jewish people, who were free to move about and could see wherever they went, entered into the homes of the Egyptians and located all of their gold and silver. According to the Mechilta 12:36, the very fact that the Jewish people entered the homes of the Egyptians, located all of their gold and silver, could have looted and plundered with ease and yet did not take anything, is the precise reason why the Jewish people found favor in their eyes and were given everything they requested upon their departure. That is to say, when the Egyptians realized that the Jews could have taken advantage of them in their hour of weakness, in their hour of blindness, but chose not to, they came to truly respect Jewish morality, Jewish honesty and Jewish self-restraint. Indeed, the plague of Darkness taught the Egyptians that the Jewish people are a people of great moral stature and uncompromising integrity. Although the Jews entered Egypt as refugees and sojourned there as slaves, they left as giants in the eyes of their former masters.
This Shabbat, let us learn from the example set by our ancestors – that greatness does not come from taking advantage of another’s weakness, and that respectability does not come from wielding power over those who have none. Rather, being esteemed in the eyes of others comes from our ability to exercise restraint, to have patience, and to serve as living examples of Godliness on earth.
Shabbat Shalom!
-Rabbi Dan
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