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Ex. 10:1-13:16
Précis: God sends additional plagues (locusts and darkness) and alerts Moses that the 10th and final plague will follow. God instructs Moses on the institution of the Passover. Then, the final plague, the death of first born, is wrecked upon Egypt. The Israelites, accompanied by the “mixed multitudes,” leave Egypt, carrying with them the “spoils of Egypt” given to them by the Egyptians. The parasha ends with a repetition of the laws regarding Passover.
Ex. 12:29 “In the middle of the night the Lord struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat upon the thrown to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle.”
This verse raises the matter of collective punishment. We can understand the deaths of the Pharaoh’s first-born, perhaps even of his courtiers. But prisoners in the dungeon? What guilt did they have in enslaving the Israelites or in refusing to let them go? Abraham argued that Sodom could not be destroyed for the sake of 10 righteous people. Were there not ten righteous among the first-born of Egypt?
One part of our tradition suggests that collective punishment comes when we fail collectively to seek justice. Our tradition also teaches us that while we are not responsible for the actions of others, we are responsible to speak out against evil.
Silence in the face of evil abets future evil. Where were the “good Germans” when Hitler rose to power? In this week’s reading, where were the “good Egyptians?” Their silence damned them all. As Edmund Burke has been quoted, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” When we are silent in the face of evil, we are implicated in the evil itself.
We may lack the ability to quash what is wrong in our society, but we certainly do not have the ability to remain silent.
