Guest Post: "The Plague of Darkness" by Eliyokim Cohen

It was always hard for me to understand how 80% of Jews could have perished in the Plague of Darkness because they didn’t truly believe in HaShem and didn’t want to leave Egypt…until I witnessed the world the last three years.

Millions of Jews in Egypt saw plague after plague destroy the Egyptians, yet 4/5 of our people were still unmoved. Do you realize how powerful this is, do you realize what this says about human nature? I’m not sure why this aspect of the Torah isn’t discussed more, the crux of it literally happens in every generation - ours especially.

The last three years have proven that the overwhelming majority of humans and Jews in particular have absolutely no ability to critically think. The herd mentality is so prevalent that anything opposing it literally makes one a black sheep - hence the name. The most perfect and ingenious creation in world history is the brain of a human being, yet very few seem to want to use this ability given only to us.

The last three years have seen people walk into restaurants wearing a masquerade, yet take it off while eating. It’s seen people do aquatic exercises with flimsy plastic dividers between them. It’s seen people be fanatical about standing 6 feet apart but not 5. It’s seen families visit each other sitting in the front yard on chairs yards away from each other. It’s seen people literally scream at their neighbor for not wearing a face diaper. And sadly it’s seen the overwhelming majority of the people take a dangerous, deadly and untested medical experiment…just because they were told.

How could millions of Jews see the unequivocal Hand of G-d and still not be moved at all to change and want to follow Him…because HaShem created something even stronger and more powerful than the 10 Plagues. He created denial, and denial and just a river in Egypt that turned to blood. The human ability to ignore all logic, reason and common sense is a power that most don’t seem to grasp its potency. The ability to stick to a path no matter how ludicrous or absurd, no matter how many times one has been proven wrong, no matter how many facts contradict the reasoning is something hail, frogs and locusts couldn’t even dream about surpassing.

Jewish history is cyclical, everything repeats itself. King Solomon literally said “there is nothing new under the sun” for a reason. The overwhelming majority of people learned nothing from the last three years. They’re like Pharoah waiting for the next plague to strike using the same tactics that failed in the previous one. The last three years should’ve been such a monumental shift in who people admire and trust and listen to…but sadly, it’s not. People wanted to get back to normal so they could yet again turn their brains off - well congrats, you had your wish, now go back to the OFF position in your heads.

When you read this week’s Torah portion, please don’t think how naive and ignorant can people be to ignore all these warning signs of the Plagues. You literally just saw billions of people do the same exact thing since February of 2020. The same shocking ignorance of hail and pestilence is the same shocking ignorance of every fact, statistic and analysis showing people were duped by the ones they trusted the most. Think hard about what I’m saying, you’ll see the parallels.

Admitting you were wrong, or lied to or manipulated is the hardest thing for a human being to do. It seemingly shows frailty and ignorance to admit you were led astray. However, it’s just the opposite. Nothing is more powerful than just saying “you were right and I was wrong”. The spiritual weight that’s lifted when saying this is beyond comprehension - which is why it’s so tough to do.

Read my post with joy or anger I don’t care. After three years of sticking to my guns, doing true research and telling everyone I knew whether family or friends that they’re just plain WRONG and not thinking straight merits this post. Plague ZERO is cognitive dissonance, and if one person reads this and just says “yeah he’s right” then it’s worth this long diatribe.

HaShem’s Seal is TRUTH, which means to be like HaShem we have to get the truth out of every aspect of life. It is not going to be given to you by the media or a politician or a pharmaceutical company - you need to find it yourself. We’re supposed to seek HaShem, and He can always be found if you look hard enough.

Don’t be a Pharaoh your whole life. Don’t ignore reality to the point where you’re wearing a masque and rubber gloves and a plastic helmet shield in your own car while driving alone to your 8,765 boostie shawt. Use the most precious gift HaShem gave our species - a brain, a mechanism so powerful it makes a supercomputer look like a kids toy.

Gut Shabbes from Netanya…fyi if you’re offended by this post, GOOD, you absolutely deserve it - now get over it and use your anger as the first to positive growth!