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Torah Commentaries on the Plague of Darkness Call for Moral Vision and Civic Renewal

Writers link the biblical darkness to modern social paralysis, with one laying out concrete religious, social, and enlistment steps for Israel’s renewal.

Overview

  • Exodus 10:22–23 describes three days of immobilizing darkness in Egypt while the Israelites had light in their homes.
  • Rashi’s commentary portrays a deepening, two-stage darkness that left people unable to see one another or even change posture.
  • The Jewish Journal piece frames the plague as moral blindness that dehumanizes, teaching that redemption begins by truly seeing others as brothers and sisters.
  • HaRav Dov Begon situates today’s challenges in a generational shift from exile to revival, urging a move from darkness to light in Israeli society.
  • Begon’s prescriptions include increased Torah study, more heartfelt prayer, expanded acts of kindness, helping new olim acclimate, and enlisting on the battlefield and the home front.