Musar zu Bereschit 15:12

I have explained this elsewhere and especially on Genesis 15,12, that "a great darkness and fear overcame Abraham." Rabbi Yitzchak Luria (Ari zal) writes that the word אימה, fear, in that verse refers to the generation of Enosh during which the ocean flooded one third of the earth's surface. The word חשכה, darkness, refers to the generation of the deluge which represented a failure of the sun and moon to perform normally. The word גדולה refers to the tower of Babel, Moses' stammer and speech impediment being equivalent to the confusion of language which occurred at that time. His being placed in the basket smeared with clay is reminiscent of the clay used to make the bricks for the tower of Babel. His being cooped up without seeing anything in the basket amid the reeds of the Nile river is comparable to the blindness the men of Sodom had been smitten with. The word נופלת, was falling, refers to the destruction of Sodom. By being exposed to water Moses and the Jewish people atoned for the generation of Enosh part of whom were drowned whereas part survived. Every difficulty Moses experienced was in some way a means of atoning for other past generations' shortcomings. Moses' experience in Egypt paralleled that of mankind up to that point; i.e. he suffered to achieve mankind's rehabilitation.

The principle אין מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה, that the Torah is not bound by a rule to report events in chronological order, also enables us to explain the question how Genesis 15,12 can speak about the "sun being about to set," when the Torah had reported previously that G–d asked Abraham to try to count the stars in the sky, clear proof that it must have been night at that time (15,5).

We now understand why the promise of the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants is repeated three times in our פרשה, each time including a dimension not previously revealed. The first promise was made at the ברית בין הבתרים. At the beginning of the story of creation the eventual four exiles of the Jewish people had been hinted at according to the view of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish in Bereshit Rabbah 2,4. He understands the words והארץ היתה תהו as a reference to the Babylonian exile; the word בהו refers to the exile of the Medes; the word חשך refers to the exile under the Greeks, and the words על פני תהום refer to an exile that has no limit, whereas the words ורוח אלוקים מרחפת, refer to G–d's spirit, i.e. the era of the Messiah. In our portion, too, G–d hinted to Abraham during the covenant of the pieces that his descendants would undergo four periods of exile, as indicated by the words: אימה, חשיכה גדולה נופלת עליו "fear, great darkness, descending upon him"(15,12). The word אימה refers to Babylonia, the word חשיכה to the exile under the Medes; the word גדולה refers to the exile under the Greeks, and the word נופלת refers to the exile under the Romans, all according to Bereshit Rabbah 44,17.

The subject matter this Midrash concentrated on is the קליפה, peel, that was created by Adam's sin, which caused the brilliant light prevailing at the time of Creation to be withdrawn, and which can only be regained through efforts to refine oneself and to repair the damage done by Adam. The means to achieve such refinement is the series of exiles. Once having lived through these exiles, Israel's sins will be expiated, the Messiah will arrive and the world will once again be bathed in the brilliant light that prevailed when Adam and Eve wore clothes woven of light. The experience of the Jewish people in Egypt was of a similar nature. Israel, which still suffered from a degree of pollutants absorbed through the serpent, was cleansed and left Egypt with its head held high. All the judgments visited upon the Egyptians were in the nature of what our sages call חידוש העולם, a renewal of universal dimensions. The phenomena displayed testified to the fact that it was G–d who had created the universe and who could work His will upon it. We have explained all this in its appropriate place. G–d had already alluded to the other exiles at the time he concluded the original covenant with Abraham reported in לך לך chapter 15. The operative words at the time were: אימה, חשיכה גדולה נופלת עליו.