Darkness

n this week's Torah portion, among other topics, we have the Ninth Plague; the plague of Darkness.(Exodus 10:21-23). We read that the darkness was actually palpable, and "No man saw his brother, and no man could rise from where he was sitting for three days". Rabbi Yitzchak Meir of Gur interpreted as follows "No man could see his brother, "see" in the sense of understand and respect. Each had his own "truth", which made no allowances for acceptance of another viewpoint. Therefore, no one could arise. No one could function and go about his day in a meaningful way, let alone see the light of G-d,, because his negativity simply doesn't allow him to process the message of G-d. But for the Children of Israel, "there was light in all their habitations". The events leading up to the Exodus produced a feeling of unity and mutual respect, that lit the way for discovering who they are, and where they are going." He gives the example of some people who scrupulously avoid getting into conversations before morning prayers, as they fear that it would be difficult to pray with devotion after engaging in mundane talk. When such people see others who DO engage in such talk, they have a choice. They could either think that the other person is woefully lacking in the desire and appreciation of the seriousness of prayer, or that the other person is on a higher spiritual level, and unaffected by pre-prayer conversation. If they takes the first route, they will be spending their time reading the prayer book, but filled with a sense of superiority that doesn't allow room for G-d. If they take the second route, they can arise. If they take the first route of "not seeing" their brothers, they will remain stationary, enveloped in darkness.