The Midrash tells us God sent
the darkness so that Jews who had thoroughly assimilated and entered Egyptian
society, who would never leave Egypt if given the chance, might die and be
given funerals by the Egyptians without them seeing -lest they come to believe
that the Plagues were no big deal since it might appear the Jews were being
struck down by them as well.
Today we might ask ourselves,
what transgressions are there that are so bad for a Jew to commit that she or
he is beyond the community, beyond saving?
Think about that.
To me, the Midrash suggests an
answer. Even for the “bad Jews” there
was consideration that their deaths not be “public” and that furthermore, they
were given “proper” funerals by the community.
My thinking is that for us
today, as it was then, it is ethical behavior more than anything else that ties
us together, makes us proud of each other, and scandalizes us when we hear how
some fellow Jew has acted immorally.
We don’t want others to “take it
out on us” or apply the mistakes of one to the whole community – just as in the
story, but more than that, we don’t want to be “that guy” who does the bad
things – we want to be the ones helping, bringing light, as it were.
Let us learn this lesson “hidden
in the darkness” of this week’s parshah!
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