Moshe was told to “come to Pharoah” in order to bring upon him the final three plagues [1]. It has been pointed out that the word “bo” (meaning “come”) alludes to the final three plagues [2]: locusts, darkness and the plague of the firstborn. Interestingly though, and of course non-coincidentally, “bo” is made up of the letters ‘beis’ and ‘aleph’ which are abbreviations for ‘bechoros’ (plague of the firstborn) and ‘arbeh’ (locusts), which are two of the final three plagues [3]. But what about the plague of darkness; why is this not alluded to in the word “bo”?
About a year ago, after helping a friend, I stopped briefly on a red-white line in order to let him out, so that he could get back to his kids quickly. At that exact moment an unmarked police car pulled up next to me requesting to discuss something with me.
The reality is that he didn’t speak very much, but simply announced that he was writing me out a ticket. Assuming that a ‘discussion’ goes both ways, my friend and I attempted to explain ourselves: “the red-white lines are hardly visible”; “we just stopped for a moment”; “it is not dangerous at all”; “we didn’t interfere with the traffic flow” and so on. But he clearly didn’t listen to a word we said. In short it was plainly clear to all of us that this was a case of ‘technicality’ rather than true ‘law and order’. The fact of the matter was that he caused a far worse breach of ‘law and order’ in the process of writing out a ticket than my parking did!
The only response we did manage to generate by our ‘discussion’ was “oh yes – do you have something to say?” seemingly remembering that he was required by law to ask us.
Taking him up on the offer my friend pleaded “is there anything to talk about with regards to the fine?”
But the Police officer didn’t even look up!
The intensity of the plague of darkness is described that “no man could see his brother and no person arose from his place” [4]. This is the greatest ‘plague of darkness’ of all: when a person ceases to ‘arise from his place’ to ‘see’ his fellow.
Perhaps this also explains why there is no allusion to the plague of darkness in the word “bo” instructing Moshe to bring the plagues upon the Egyptians “because I have hardened their hearts” [1]. There was no need to harden the hearts of the Egyptians in the plague of darkness – they failed to “see” others, essentially hardening their own hearts!
Indeed the word ‘choshech’ (darkness) is similar to the word ‘chasach’ [5] meaning to withhold. The worst darkness is not seeing one’s brother, and subsequently ‘withholding’ goodness from him.
Accordingly the plague of darkness is ‘withheld’ from the word “bo” and not alluded to explicitly. Nonetheless it is alluded to in a ‘dark’, or ‘hidden’ or indirect manner:
“Bo” is spelt ‘beis’, ‘aleph’ which stands for two of the final three plagues as mentioned above. The plague of darkness is not alluded to in this manner, but it is alluded to by analysing the ‘hidden’ aspects of the letters ‘beis’ and ‘aleph’. The word ‘beis’ is spelt out in full: ‘beis’, ‘yud’, ‘tav’ – the ‘hidden’ letters being the letters ‘yud’ and ‘tav’. ‘Aleph’ is spelt: ‘aleph’, ‘lamed’, ‘peh’ – the ‘hidden’ letters being the letters ‘lamed’ and ‘peh’. The ‘hidden’ letters of the words ‘beis’ and ‘aleph’ can be combined and rearranged to spell the word ‘psil’ meaning thread or wick.
‘Psil’ describes the threads of the tzitzis garment worn in order to recall the coming out of Egypt and all of the commandments ultimately ‘withholding’ our eyes from straying [6] and ‘not seeing one’s brother’.*
A wick by itself cannot produce light; it is essentially ‘dark’. Only when it is ignited can it produce light. “No Egyptian could see his brother… (but) for all of the Children of Israel there was light” [1]. Only when a person recognises that he is part of the Children of Israel, will he be able to ignite the ‘wick’ and “see his brother”
Have a good wickend this Shabbos,
Dan.
Additional sources and comments:
[1] Shemos 10:1 [2] Baal haTurim, Shemos 10:1 [3] Pesach Hagadah [4] Shemos 10:23 [5] Maharal; see also Eicha 5:17 [6] Bamidbar 15:38-40* A further and deeper connection is that during the plague of darkness, “for the Children of Israel there was light in all of their dwelling places” [Shemos 10:23] and we have been commanded to wear tzitzis “l’dorosam (for generation)” [Bamidbar 15:38] which has been expounded (elsewhere) to be a language of ‘dira’ or dwelling [e.g. Zohar – Raya Mehemna 238b; see also Zohar – tosafos 300b]. This corresponds to the above message how we should (constantly) live or dwell in ‘light’ rather than ‘darkness’.
