The last three plagues befall Egypt before the people of Israel leave their slavery. The ninth plague, darkness, is described in this week's Torah portion in these words: "No man saw his brother, neither did anyone rise from his place."1 With this description, an event in history becomes current and contemporary. The plague of darkness becomes part of the timeless history of man, symbolic of analogous afflictions that admit no immunity. Simple physical darkness of the night becomes a malady of the individual, of the soul. There is no blindness like the selfishness that blots other men from one's vision...