פירוש על שמות 10:23

THEY SAW NOT ONE ANOTHER, NEITHER ROSE ANY FROM HIS PLACE. The meaning thereof is that this darkness was not a mere absence of sunlight where the sun set and it was like night. Rather, it was a thick darkness.⁵⁶Verse 22. That is to say, it was a very thick cloud that came down from heaven. It is for this reason that He said, “Stretch out thy hand toward heaven⁵⁷Verse 21. to bring down from there a great darkness which would descend upon them⁵⁸See Genesis 15:12. and which would extinguish every light, just as in all deep caverns and in all extremely dark places where light cannot last [as it is swallowed up in the density of the thick darkness].” Similarly, people who pass through the Mountains of Darkness⁵⁹The name is found in the Talmud (Tamid 32a) in connection with Alexander the Great, who told the Sages of the south: “I wish to go to the country of Africa,” whereupon they answered him, “you cannot go, for the Mountains of Darkness intercede.” It would seem then that these were mountains somewhere in the heart of Africa, a dim knowledge of which reached the outer world. Considering the fact that the heart of central Africa was not penetrated by European explorers till the end of the nineteenth century, it is no wonder that not much was known in Medieval Europe about this region. find that no candle or fire can continue to burn at all. It is for this reason that they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place, for otherwise they would have used the light of fire. This is the intent of the verse, He sent darkness, and it became dark.⁶⁰Psalms 105:28. It was not the usual absence of daylight above but an extraordinary darkness as well. It is possible that it was such a very thick cloud that there was something tangible in it, as our Rabbis have said,⁶¹Shemoth Rabbah 14:1. and as indeed it happens on the Atlantic Ocean, as Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra testified.⁶²“It often happens on the Atlantic Ocean that it is impossible to distinguish day from night, and this sometimes lasts for five days. I have personally experienced it many times” (Ibn Ezra). A native of Spain, Ibn Ezra was born in the city of Tudela in the year 1093. In search of knowledge, he journeyed throughout the European countries and the Near East, where he made the acquaintance of the greatest luminaries of his time. Sometime after 1150, he visited London, where in the course of his journey he most likely experienced the density of fog he describes.

מתחתיו, according to the plain meaning: “from his house.” The reason was that they did not know where they would be headed.

ולכל בני ישראל היה אור, all the Israelites had light, etc. The Torah makes a point of writing ולכל, "and for every Israelite," to tell us that whenever a Jew went to the house of an Egyptian he had light even within the dwellings of the Egyptians.

לא ראו איש את אחיו, for even a lit up flare would not be able to make a “dent” in that darkness.

היה אור במושבותם, “there was light in their dwellings.” It is noteworthy that the Torah here does not refer to the province of Goshen as it had done during other plagues, but implies that Israelites living in other parts of Egypt were also not affected by this plague. Our sages claim that when an Israelite entered the house of an Egyptian he was able to see normally in that house also. (Sh’mot Rabbah 14,3)

היה אור במושבותם, even if he lived right next to an Egyptian.

Another possible meaning of that line could be in answer to the question "where did this light emanate from?" The answer is that it was light originating in the Egyptians' homes. The absence of the word אשר is not especially significant as we have many examples when the Torah omits the word אשר. The meaning of the verse is analogous to our sages telling us that the wicked envelop themselves in darkness. Accordingly, we may understand the darkness as being something subjective; the Egyptians who were evil experienced darkness whereas the Jews who were good experienced light in the very places the Egyptians experienced darkness. The Torah alludes to this idea by writing: במושבותם, within their dwellings.