HaRav Dov Begon is Head of Yeshivat Machon Meir.
Regarding the Plague of Darkness the Torah informs us: “And there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days. A man did not see his fellow, and no one rose from his place for three days; but for all the Children of Israel there was light in their dwellings" (Exodus 10:22-23).
Rashi explains:
“Thick darkness-a deepening darkness, such that a man did not see his fellow for three days; and then three additional days of darkness doubled upon this, during which no one rose from his place. One who was sitting could not stand, and one who was standing could not sit."
Just as there are degrees of light, so too there are degrees of darkness.
Light and darkness allude to the psychological and spiritual condition in which an individual and a society find themselves. When people do not see one another, do not sense the other, but are enclosed within themselves, they dwell in darkness. There is an even lower level still: when a person does not move himself at all - one who is sitting cannot stand, and one who is standing cannot sit. He lacks the inner strength to change his situation, and thus he dwells in a doubled darkness, as Rashi describes.
At present, our generation, the generation of the ingathering of the exiles and of national revival, has emerged from two thousand years of exile, which are in the category of darkness and night. We are in a transitional stage, in a period in which lights and shadows function together. We must go forth from darkness to light, to increase light in Israel by seeing and sensing one another, by loving one another, and by doing good to one another.
All the more so, we must not reconcile ourselves to a state of paralysis and inaction that descends into depression. Rather, we must strengthen faith in our ability to change for the better and to renew ourselves, on the level of the individual, the family, and the nation. To accomplish this we need to be active participants in the nation’s revival in our beloved and eternal Homeland.
We are called upon to learn more Torah, to pray with more enthusiasm, to perform more acts of kindness, to help new olim adjust to life in Israel, to enlist in the war against our enemies - on the ground of battle and on the home front, in every way we can.
Through this, the verse will be fulfilled in us: “And for all the Children of Israel there was light in their dwellings."
Awaiting our complete Redemption.