As a child, I remember being afraid of the dark. I used a night light (and, at one point, a lava lamp) to shed light throughout the night. What is it about the lack of light that makes us feel scared? Is it a vestige of evolution, where vigilance in the night increased chances of surviving? Is it about how many of us rely on visual inputs to make sense of our world, and without the input, we make up a story about what is happening? Or might it be that we are social creatures and we feel more alone in the dark?
This week, we recount the plague of darkness, among other plagues, in the story of the ancient Israelites. The Torah tells us (Exodus 10:23) that during the plague, people could not see each other, and no one could move about. The rabbis imagine this as not simply the absence of light, but a cloud of darkness. What makes the darkness so horrific is right there in the text: people could not see each other. This darkness prevented human connection and caused a deep loneliness.
We live in a time of darkness. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy diagnosed our society as suffering from a loneliness epidemic. In what ways are you feeling in the dark? How can you offer support to others amid their own plague of darkness?