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Torah portion: The Jewish Black Swan

Parashat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16)\n
[additional-authors]
January 13, 2016

“Come to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart and the heart of his servants stubborn so that I can put these signs of Mine in his midst; and so that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son’s son … how I displayed My signs among them — that you may know that I am HaShem” (Exodus 10:1).

For centuries, there was a belief among zoologists that all swans were white. This all changed in 1697, when the Dutch explorer Willem de Vlamingh discovered black swans in Australia. His discovery shocked the world, and from it came the phrase “black swan event”: an unprecedented, unexpected event in human history that changes traditional understanding of the world and forms a new reality. 

This week’s Torah portion, Bo, describes the theological black swan event not only for the Jewish people, but also for the world. 

The parsha details the last plagues sent against Pharaoh, ending with the killing of the firstborn — a story we all know from our yearly Passover celebration. But the question that is constantly asked at seders and in classes is, “Why?” Why did God rain down these plagues, making so many people suffer and die? If God could harden Pharaoh’s heart, why didn’t He just soften it and avoid all the suffering? Why did the plagues, especially the last one, have to take place at all?

The answer is found in the first lines of our reading: “… so that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son’s son.” Up until the moment of these plagues, the Egyptian pantheon of gods went unchallenged in the Middle East. The Hebrew concept of one God was unique and unaccepted outside of the Children of Israel. But the plagues, especially the killing of the firstborn, changed that reality in an unexpected, unprecedented way that reverberated through the rest of history.

If God had simply softened Pharaoh’s heart and had him release the Hebrews from their two centuries of slavery, it would have gone unnoticed. At most, historians would have pointed out that the Egyptian ruler of the time was kind and disapproving of slavery. It would not have been the monumental black swan event that our portion describes.

If we are willing to look at them honestly, we find Parashat Bo’s opening lines are deep in implications. The plagues are not for Pharaoh; they are for the Hebrews and their descendants. 

The Hebrews of the time, like many Jews today, had assimilated. They had taken on many local customs; many of them even worshipped Egyptian gods. The plagues reinvigorated the Hebrews’ belief in HaShem, in one God. Each plague reminded them of HaShem’s power as opposed to the false idols of Egyptian gods. 

For example, the first plague of turning the Nile into blood demonstrated clearly that Hapi and Anuket (god and goddess of the river) were impotent. This continued all the way through the killing of the firstborn on Passover eve, which showed Anubis and Osiris (gods of the dead and afterlife) to be false idols. The plagues were an event like nothing that had ever happened, and the Hebrews renewed their commitment to the monotheistic tradition of their ancestors.

The challenge of assimilation is still a problem today for Jews around the world, especially in America. All too often, we forget our traditional beliefs and practices in favor of taking on the customs of our neighbors. We easily forget the roots of our religion and become slaves to the false idols and values we see around us: wealth, power, fame, etc. This week’s Torah portion reminds us of that seminal moment in which God demonstrates the importance of being true to our deeper values and beliefs, and bids us to remember the miracle of the plagues — so that we may relate them to our descendants.

Perhaps if we remember the Jewish black swan event detailed in this parsha (to be followed up in a few weeks with Matan Torah, the giving of Torah at Mount Sinai), we will be more inclined to stay true to our faith, core values and religious practices. And in so doing, maybe we can avoid true slavery of the soul, as well as evade any number of the “plagues” out there in the modern world.

May we all be blessed to remember the miracles that are constantly in our lives, to stay committed to our beliefs, and to bring peace and freedom into the world as a result. 

Rabbi Michael Barclay is the spiritual leader of Temple Ner Simcha (nersimcha.org) in Westlake Village, and the author of “Sacred Relationships: Biblical Wisdom for Deepening Our Lives Together.” He can be reached at rabbibarclay@aol.com.

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