The Freedom to Be Just
D’var Torah for Parashat Bo
By Rabbi Boaz D. Heilman
This week’s Torah portion (“Bo,” Exodus 10:1—13:16) contains several important stories and lessons. In this portion we read of the last three plagues which God inflicts on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Locust is not unknown in the Middle East. I remember as a young child in Israel seeing the swarms of a locust infestation. They were like enormous clouds that covered sky and earth. As told in this portion, the eighth plague describes this phenomenon well!
The plague of darkness is another story, however. This was no mere solar eclipse. The Torah tells that it was so dark that people couldn’t see each other. And even more amazing—the blinding darkness only affected the Egyptians. Wherever the Israelites dwelled, there was light!
And finally, the tenth and most terrible plague of all—the death of every Egyptian first-born, from animals to humans, from the lowliest slave to Pharaoh’s own first-born son!
The Ten Plagues have been subject to discussion and argument throughout the ages. Some have sought to explain them as natural phenomena. Some see them as symbolic allegories, while others take them quite literally. Regardless of how we try to explain them, one thing is certain: The Ten Plagues are meant as proof of God’s control over all nature. The Egyptians, like almost all other ancient civilizations, were polytheists. Various gods were thought to be in control of nature. In this Torah portion, however, it is God who is in charge. Light and dark, life and death, storms, diseases, even the mighty Nile River itself, thought by the Egyptians to be the source of all life, are but playthings in God’s hands.
No matter how we understand these events, the Exodus represents a turning point in human history and philosophy. It isn’t only a unique historical event—the emergence of the Jewish People as a civilization; it’s also a huge step toward our understanding of God and God’s role in history. From this point on, God will be seen not only as the one, all-powerful, source of all existence, but also as the ultimate source of morality and justice. In this portion, God and Moses command the Israelites to remember this lesson and to celebrate it annually every Passover. The Exodus isn’t only about freedom from physical slavery; it’s also about the freedom to think and to reason rationally. Our life and happiness no longer have to depend on the moods and emotions of the gods. The choice is ours—to follow God’s laws and live a purposeful and meaningful life, or alternatively, to give in to our baser instincts (as did Pharaoh and his people) and suffer the inevitable consequences: corruption and ultimate destruction.
It’s a powerful lesson, one we are commanded not only to remember ourselves, but also to teach to our children and children’s children. It’s the key to our survival.
© 2022 by Boaz D. Heilman
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