RABBI ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL, “RELIGION AND RACE” (14 JANUARY 1963)
[1] At the first conference on religion and race, the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses. Moses’ words were: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me.” While Pharaoh retorted: “Who is the Lord, that I should heed this voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה נְטֵ֤ה יָֽדְךָ֙ עַל־הַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וִ֥יהִי חֹ֖שֶׁךְ עַל־אֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וְיָמֵ֖שׁ חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃ וַיֵּ֥ט מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת־יָד֖וֹ עַל־הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וַיְהִ֧י חֹֽשֶׁךְ־אֲפֵלָ֛ה בְּכָל־אֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת יָמִֽים׃ לֹֽא־רָא֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶת־אָחִ֗יו וְלֹא־קָ֛מוּ אִ֥ישׁ מִתַּחְתָּ֖יו שְׁלֹ֣שֶׁת יָמִ֑ים וּֽלְכָל־בְּנֵ֧י יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל הָ֥יָה א֖וֹר בְּמוֹשְׁבֹתָֽם׃
Ramban: וְלֹא קָמוּ אִישׁ מִתַּחְתָּיו
No man could see his brother nor could anyone rise from his place.
Ramban asks: Why could the Egyptians not move just because it was dark?
Ramban describes the darkness as something physically thick and tangible.
He writes: This darkness was not just that there was no sunlight. It was more than a nighttime darkness. It was “thick darkness” meaning that a very thick midst came down from the sky. This is why God said to Moses: “Stretch forth your hand to the heavens” - Moses had to bring down this darkness.
Seforno: וְיָמֵשׁ חֹשֶׁךְ.
Even darkness which may be felt
This will remove the normal darkness called “night”. The reason this was necessary was that the night consists of air ready and capable to absorb light in the morning. The darkness that would occur now was something unable to interact with light at all. The reason for this inability to interact with light was the density of the texture of this darkness. As a result of this totally different kind of darkness even a lit up flare would not be able to make a “dent” in the darkness.
Bereshit Rabbah 12:6
After having committed the first sin, Adam saw his first sunset and it filled him with dread. The midrash teaches that after having committed the first sin, Adam saw his first sunset on the eve of Shabbat; he was alarmed, afraid that the world was blacking out, running down, and that he had caused it to happen. The cosmic darkness, he thought, not only reflected his own inner darkness, but perhaps resulted from it. At sunrise, Adam realized it was the way of the world, and that he would have to cope with it and confront the darkness. After Shabbat, God gave Adam two flints, which Adam struck together and created fire, blessing God, “Blessed are You, who creates the lights of fire.”
Reb Hanoch of Alexander (19th Century Hassidic Rebbe; see Parpera’ot La-Torah p. 43)
לֹא רָאוּ אִישׁ אֶת אָחִיו
A person did not see his brother
That is to say, each individual only worried about himself and only looked to save himself and the members of his household – and, thus, “did not rise from under the darkness for three days.” Not a single one of them succeeded in rising above the degraded spiritual level that they were caught in.
The Egyptians were responsible for their own darkness because of their selfishness and self-centeredness. It was not the symptom of darkness--it was the cause. Their darkness was spiritual.
Or Hachayim - Rabbi Chayim Ben Attar:
The darkness of the Egyptians is described in individual terms:
לֹא רָאוּ אִישׁ אֶת אָחִיו
A person did not see his brother
What is the definition of human trafficking?
The United Nations defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by improper means (such as force, abduction, fraud, or coercion) for an improper purpose including forced labor or sexual exploitation. It takes on many forms today. Explore them below.
There are an estimated 20.9 Million people trapped in some form of slavery today. It’s sometimes called “Modern-Day Slavery” and sometimes “Human Trafficking." At all times it is slavery at its core.
Domestic Servitude
Employees working in private homes are forced or coerced into serving and/or fraudulently convinced that they have no option to leave.
Sex Trafficking
Women, men or children that are forced into the commercial sex industry and held against their will by force, fraud or coercion.
Forced Labor
Human beings are forced to work under the threat of violence and for no pay. These slaves are treated as property and exploited to create a product for commercial sale.
Bonded Labor
Individuals that are compelled to work in order to repay a debt and unable to leave until the debt is repaid. It is the most common form of enslavement in the world.
Child Labor
Any enslavement — whether forced labor, domestic servitude, bonded labor or sex trafficking — of a child.
Forced Marriage
Women and children who are forced to marry another without their consent or against their will
https://www.endslaverynow.org/learn/slavery-today
(ח) בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם. שֶׁלּא עָשנִי עָבֶד:
Morning Blessings
Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a slave.
What Can we Do?
1. Recognize that Fighting Human Trafficking is a Jewish Calling!
2. Buy Righteously (Fair Trade, Equal Exchange, Made in a Free World...)
3. Connect to an Anti Trafficking Organization (Not On My Watch, Department of
4. Listen to the words of survivors