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Harav Hagaon Elimelech Reznick Shlita

True Light and Darkness

Parashas Bo

Harav Hagaon Elimelech Reznick Shlita

 

The Chasam Sofer, in his Drashos, brings an interesting insight from the Manos Halevi commentary on Megillas Esther (authored by Rav Shlomo Alkabetz, who composed Lecha Dodi). Haman was happy when his lottery fell in Adar, because Moshe Rabbeinu passed away during that month. Then, when the second lottery fell on the thirteenth day, he was happy again, because Makkas Choshech began on the thirteenth day of Adar. Makkas Bechoros, we know, occurred during Nissan, just before the geulah, and so Makkas Choshech had to have occurred a month earlier. The three days of deep darkness, he says, were the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth days of Adar, and during that time four-fifths of Klal Yisrael perished. Haman therefore viewed the thirteenth of Adar as a highly auspicious time for annihilating the Yidden.

In the end, of course, Hakadosh Baruch Hu overturned Haman’s plot. The darkness that Haman sought to tap into, says the Chasam Sofer, was transformed into light:לַיְּהוּדִים הָיְתָה אוֹרָה. In commemoration, we celebrate Purim on the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar, the light supplanting the darkness of Makkas Choshech that occurred at that very time.

Rav Moshe Shapiro zt”l cited this Chasam Sofer and extended this line of reasoning further. If Makkas Choshech was in the middle of Adar, then Makkas Arbeh was in the middle of Shvat, including the day of Tu B’Shvat. Corresponding to the Arbeh that plagued the Egyptians, destroying all the vegetation, we commemorate the Rosh Hashanah for the trees on Tu B’Shvat.

Rav Dovid Cohen, the rosh yeshiva of Chevron, repeated this insight with Rav Moshe Shapiro’s addition, and he added his own extension. Continuing the calculation, we find that Makkas Arov occurred in the middle of Tishrei. In that Makkah, the Torah stresses that there will be a distinction made between Klal Yisrael and the Egyptians: וְהִפְלֵיתִי. That happened at the time of 15 Tishrei, and corresponding to that have Succos, commemorating the Ananei Hakavod, which were also a form of וְהִפְלֵיתִי, distinguishing between Klal Yisrael and the other nations.

What is Darkness?

There’s a machlokes Rishonim regarding what darkness is. Some Rishonim are of the opinion that darkness is a creation unto itself, not merely a lack of light. The Gaon, on his commentary to tefillah, brings support for this opinion from the words of the brachah: יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חֹשֶׁךְ, in which the lashon of briah is applied to darkness. If darkness would be just a lack of light, the lashon of briah would not be appropriate.

If darkness has an existence independent of light, why is it that when you turn on the light the darkness is dispelled? The Gaon explains that it’s because there’s a rule built into nature that darkness flees from light.

The Ramban, however, holds that darkness is not an entity unto itself. Light, he says, is a creation, and when you take away the light, you end up with darkness. According to this opinion, how would we explain the words יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חֹשֶׁךְ? In Parashas Shemos, on the passuk: מִי שָׂם פֶּה לָאָדָם אוֹ מִי יָשׂוּם אִלֵּם, the Ramban wonders what is the meaning of מִי יָשׂוּם אִלֵּם. A mute person is one who lacks the ability to speak, so why does the Torah attribute active creation to muteness, which is simply a lack? To explain this, the Ramban cites the words יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חֹשֶׁךְ, showing that the act of creation can indeed be attributed to something that is essentially a lack.

Considering this machlokes, what was the nature of Makkas Choshech?

Rashi and other Rishonim seem to say that it was merely a continuation and a strengthening of the regular darkness of night. Apparently, Rashi holds that darkness is a creation unto itself, one that usually flees from light, except that that condition of nature was canceled during Makkas Choshech. This is the opinion of the Gaon as well.

The Ramban, who considers darkness merely a lack of light, cites the Ibn Ezra’s opinion that Makkas Choshech was like a thick fog that descended and made everything dark. The Ibn Ezra notes that sometimes, the fog was so thick that you couldn’t even move in it, and he adds that this is a phenomenon that happens in the Mediterranean Sea, which he experienced personally: a thick, dark fog descends and makes it impossible to move.

The Light of Torah

The passuk tells us that while it was dark for the Egyptians, Bnei Yisrael had light:וּלְכָל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הָיָה אוֹר בְּמוֹשְׁבֹתָם. The Midrash Rabbah notes that the passuk doesn’t say that Bnei Yisrael had light in Goshen, but rather that they had light wherever they went:

במושבותם שכל מקום שהיה יהודי נכנס היה אור נכנס ומאיר לו מה שבחביות ובתיבות ובמטמוניות.

The Yidden were even able to see what was inside barrels, cupboards and hiding places, says the Midrash. But then the Midrash concludes with a puzzling statement: ועליהם נאמר (תהלים קיט) נֵר לְרַגְלִי דְבָרֶךָ וְאוֹר לִנְתִיבָתִי. What does this passuk have to do with Bnei Yisrael having light while the Egyptians didn’t? This passuk is saying that Hashem’s mitzvos light up the way for us. How does that relate to Makkas Choshech?

The Eitz Yosef explains that what brought Bnei Yisrael light during Makkas Choshech was Hashem’s promise of: וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן יֵצְאוּ בִּרְכֻשׁ גָּדוֹל. According to some Rishonim, Bnei Yisrael actually had a mitzvah to ask the Egyptians for their belongings, in order to fulfill this promise. Therefore, when it was dark for the Egyptians, the mitzvah brought a great light to Bnei Yisrael, enabling them to fulfill Hashem’s words. Since light was needed in order for Bnei Yisrael to detect the gold and silver of the Egyptians, the mitzvah brought along the necessary light.

The passuk: נֵר לְרַגְלִי דְבָרֶךָ וְאוֹר לִנְתִיבָתִי means that the Torah and mitzvos bring light. Even in this dark world, the mitzvos bring with them the strength for us to perform them, just as the mitzvah of taking the Egyptians’ belongings brought light in the darkness of Makkas Choshech. When a person accepts upon himself to do a mitzvah, or to learn Torah, then even though seemingly the person doesn’t have the strength to carry out the task, the mitzvah itself brings the strength and capabilities to carry it out.

Rabbeinu Bachaye, in his sefer Kad Hakemach (400) on the Torah, discusses Kapittel 19 of Tehillim, which we say in Pesukei D’Zimra of Shabbos. The kapittel begins by discussing the heavenly bodies: הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד קֵל וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו מַגִּיד הָרָקִיע, and goes on to describe the splendor and power of the sun. But then, the kapittel veers into a discussion of the Torah and mitzvos:

תּוֹרַת ה’ תְּמִימָה מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ. עֵדוּת ה’ נֶאֱמָנָה מַחְכִּימַת פֶּתִי. פִּקּוּדֵי ה’ יְשָׁרִים מְשַׂמְּחֵי לֵב. מִצְוַת ה’ בָּרָה מְאִירַת עֵינָיִם.

What’s the connection between the first half of the kapittel and the second half?

Rabbeinu Bachaye says something that’s worth seeing inside. Dovid Hamelech is telling us, he says, that even though the sun brings us tremendous benefit – it gives us light, it gives us warmth, it lifts our moods and makes us happy after gloomy rainy days – there’s an even greater source of light and benefit than the sun, and that’s the Torah. Although the sun and the heavenly bodies tell of Hashem’s existence and glory, Torah does much more than that. The sun, for all its benefits, can do harm as well. Someone who sits out in the sun too long will suffer damage, and may even faint. Yonah Hanavi, for instance, suffered mightily from the sun. Too much sun exposure can even cause someone to go out of his mind or fall into depression, says Rabbeinu Bachaye. Furthermore, looking at the sun can cause a person to go blind.

Torah, on the other hand, is purely a source of benefit. No one suffers from an “overdose” of Torah. On the contrary, the Torah and mitzvos are מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ, מַחְכִּימַת פֶּתִי, מְשַׂמְּחֵי לֵב , מְאִירַת עֵינָיִם – they revive us, make us wise, bring us joy, light up our eyes. Their light eclipses that of the sun in every way.

This light is what Klal Yisrael merited in the days of darkness, through their performance of the mitzvah they were given, and the same light of Torah and mitzvos illuminates for us as well.

This idea is illustrated in the following story with the Chazon Ish. The Chazon Ish, we know, was very careful not to use electricity on Shabbos, for he held that it was not possible to have electricity without chillul Shabbos by Yidden. Instead, he and his followers used candles, or generators.

One Shabbos night, the Chazon Ish attended a sheva berachos in his neighborhood, and when he entered, he saw that the lights were on. When he asked why they were using electricity, he was told that the generator wasn’t working, and in order to fulfill the mitzvah of simchas chosson v’kallah, they had decided to be lenient and keep the lights on.

“Rabbosai,” the Chazon Ish responded, “this is light? This is darkness!”

For him, the possibility of transgressing a Torah prohibition was true darkness, much darker than sitting without lights. The true light is the light of Torah and mitzvos, and when a person is careful to fulfill the mitzvos properly and delve into the Torah, everything is illuminated and joyful.

We should all be zocheh to the gevaldigeh light of Torah.

Gut Shabbos.

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