What does it take to change our habits? Those of us who have ever taken on a commitment to behave differently will know only too well how difficult it can be to establish new ways of living. It takes patience, commitment and courage to establish new patterns.

Our sidrah opens with the final three plagues: plagues of darkness, each progressively more terrifying. Locusts darken the land hiding it from view. The plague of darkness is so thick it can be felt and the final plague brings the ultimate darkness, death. 

Pharaoh’s plea that God remove “this death from me” foreshadows the catastrophe to come. Pharaoh seems only too aware of what the ultimate consequences will be should he continue his path of obduracy, and yet as soon as relief is granted, he cannot bring himself to change course. 

One might be forgiven for thinking that the increasing severity of God’s might leaves little room for return. The plagues are indeed terrible. Drinking water becomes polluted, animals diseased. All become victim to boils and inflammation. Hail so severe rains down that to be outside courts certain disaster. What follows is more terrifying still; the darkening of the future itself.

The increasingly severe darkness threatens life itself, cutting off the last vestiges of light and changing the very nature of air itself. If one were standing up when darkness descended, it was impossible to sit down, and if one were sitting down impossible to stand up, so paralysing were its effects. 

Yet this disaster could have been averted at any time. God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was not preventing repentance but rather allowing Pharaoh’s old habits to take full reign. Pharaoh’s refusal to act justly leads to his own demise. His inability to balance rights and responsibilities brings catastrophe on the land. 

And yet God does not destroy completely. The locusts blown from the land are driven away before they eat the roots of the plants in the fields. Hidden beneath the earth there remain small green shots. Shots that with love and nurture will break forth and bud once more.