“‘And there shall be a loud cry in all the land of Egypt, such as has never been or never will be again’ (Exodus 11:6)

Whose grief do we hear? Since October 2023, Israelis and Palestinians have suffered profoundly, though differently. Yet Jewish pain has left far too little room for the cries from Gaza. Those who focus on Palestinian loss are often demonized as disloyal or indifferent to Jewish needs. Some Jewish leaders even dismiss empathy as a moral failure or psychological impossibility. Can we hear both cries at once?

This week’s portion, Bo, confronts us with the same challenge. As the text describes the last of the 10 plagues, the one that will finally free the enslaved Hebrews, we encounter the most terrible: the death of the Egyptian firstborn. This ultimate punishment strikes not only the guilty but the innocent. Every Egyptian parent loses a child, from Pharaoh on down to the lowliest maidservant. The Torah registers this horrific loss with a remarkable line:

‘And there shall be a loud cry in all the land of Egypt, such as has never been and never will be again’ (Exodus 11:6)

This verse startles. The loudest, most anguished cry in the Exodus story-perhaps in all of history-belongs to the oppressors, mourning their own innocent children…”

Read the full D’var Torah from James Loeffler on ReformJudaism.org