Community Torah Corner, Jan. 27, 2023

My teacher, the late Rabbi Sidney Greenberg, shared the following anecdote in a sermon: A 10-year-old yeshivah student asked his teacher, the Rebbe, a question while they were studying this week’s Torah portion, Bo. They were reading about the ninth plague, darkness (choshech), and the student asked, “What kind of plague is that? If you are in darkness, all you need to do is light a fire and then you can see!” The Rabbi smiled and patted the boy on his head, liking his question. He responded, “Dear student, you ask a good question, but you see, the darkness that the Egyptians suffered was a special kind of darkness – it was not a darkness that affected the eyes; it was a darkness that affected the heart. Physically, they were able to see, but they didn’t feel any empathy toward the Israelites or themselves; they did not care for the other. That is what the Torah means when it teaches, 'They saw not one another.'”

 

The Torah teaches us an important lesson here. As much as God cares about and wants the people of Israel to observe commandments of ritual and spirituality, helping us to elevate ourselves and our lives into a life of holiness, God also wants us to care for ourselves and for each human being – “bein adam l’havero.” 

 

Once a child was trying to get her mother's attention. “Mommy." "Mommy.”  The parent did not look up from her cell phone. “Mommy.”  “I hear you, my daughter.”  “Mommy, you may be listening with your ears, but you are not looking at me with your eyes.” How many times I have seen this at a mall or a restaurant, a beach or a park. Life does not only ask of us to listen with our ears, but also to listen with our eyes.

 

Rabbi Greenberg concluded his d’var torah with these words: "The Torah tells us that during the darkness in Egypt, ‘all of the people Israel had light in all their dwellings.’ This is the basic challenge that confronts each of us – to keep aglow the light of understanding and caring which enables us to truly see each other. For it is only when we see the humanity in another that we can preserve it within ourselves.”

 

Thank you Rabbi Greenberg, z”l, for reminding us what truly matters in life. 

 

Shabbat Shalom!