Rabbi Josh Fixler explores the Torah’s description of the “thick darkness” of the ninth plague and the question it raises for every generation: Will you be paralyzed by the darkness, or will you be the light? Drawing on classical commentators, Midrash Tanchuma, and rabbinic teachings, we consider how spiritual blindness keeps us from seeing our neighbor’s suffering and from growing ourselves.

If the darkness of this moment feels pervasive, you are not alone; yet the message of our tradition is that “our light is more powerful.” How will we choose to shine it, and where is it needed most in our world, our community, and our lives?