Egyptian Cataracts

The תורה תמימה has a very novel explanation of the plague of darkness. He finds it difficult to follow Rashi’s explanation that there was darkness for three consecutive days. There was a promise given to Noach after the Flood, that days and nights would not cease. The סדרי בראשית, the order of creation, was not to be shaken. Therefore, the Torah Temima prefaces his words that he is afraid to invent a new commentary. Nevertheless, he describes the darkness as מתוח תבלול על אישון העין, which means that Hashem stretched a cataract on the pupil’s of the eyes of the Egyptians. This cataract was so thick that all they could “see” was intense darkness that could even be felt. This also explains why there was light for the Jews wherever they went. They simply were not smitten with the Egyptian cataract! This certainly is a very novel explanation of the plague of חושך.