BO 10:1-13:16
In this week’s Parsha, among other things:
- The last three of the Ten Plagues are visited on Egypt: locusts, darkness and the slaying of the first born.
- · We are given the commandment to establish a calendar.
- · We are instructed to bring and slaughter a lamb or kid as Passover offering, and its blood is to be sprinkled on the doorposts of our houses.
- · The roasted meat of the offering is to be eaten with matzah and bitter herbs.
- · The B'nai Yisrael hastily leave Egypt.
- · The commandment of the Passover holiday.
- · The special status of the first born.
- · The commandment to wear tefillin.
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Nostalgia
This week’s Torah portion is Parshat Bo.
In 2011 the Nahariya Anglo community learned about Parshat Bo from Rabbi Butman, z” l.
On the 9th of January,2011, Nahariya Anglo’s attended the first of what was to become and what is today our longest continuing Weekly Torah Shiur in English. Here is how at that time the event was described:
On Sunday evening at 7 PM we kicked off a men’s Torah shiur on the weekly parshah. Rabbi Butman presented the shiur, and hands-down he was great. The man knows his stuff; he was well prepared, articulate.
He engaged the attendees, some of whom were beginners and some of whom were more advanced. And there was one thoughtful soul who brought a six-pack of Goldstar, humming “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down”.
The shiur centered around that portion of Parshaht Bo where the Israelites leave Egypt with gold and silver given to them by their Egyptian neighbors. Rabbi Butman began with a story about a man who was blessed with the choice of either being the richest man in town or the smartest man in town.
After some deliberation the man announced to the assembled townspeople that he chose to be the smartest man in town. Everyone applauded. The man then announced that now being the smartest man in town, he realized that he had made a mistake in his choice.
Rabbi Butman brought
out that the declaration that the Jews would leave with great wealth occurs
three times in the Torah: way back, when G-d speaks to Abraham,
again when G-d speaks to Moses at the burning bush, and a third time when G-d
pleads with Moses to have the Jews ask their neighbors for gold and
silver. I was taken aback regarding G-d having to beseech Moses, but
there it was in 11:2 -
דַּבֶּר-נָא, בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם; וְיִשְׁאֲלוּ אִישׁ מֵאֵת רֵעֵהוּ, וְאִשָּׁה מֵאֵת רְעוּתָהּ, כְּלֵי-כֶסֶף, וּכְלֵי זָהָב.
“Please, speak into the ears of the people, and let them borrow, each man from his friend and each woman from her friend, silver vessels and golden vessels."
I won’t attempt to summarize the shiur, but it
came down to not how much money you have, but what you do with it. I
am looking forward to next Sunday when we will discuss Parshat Beshallach.
Mick
I do miss him.
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At 11:2 associated with the plague of darkness:
דַּבֶּר-נָא, בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם; וְיִשְׁאֲלוּ אִישׁ מֵאֵת , וְאִשָּׁה מֵאֵת
רְעוּתָהּ, כְּלֵי-כֶסֶף, וּכְלֵי זָהָב
“Please, speak into the ears of the people, and let them borrow, each man from his friend and each woman from her friend, silver vessels and golden vessels."
There is a lot going on here:
1. For one thing, Hashem is pleading with Moshe. How often does something like that happen? It must be really important. The consensus is that in order to fulfill His promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:13-14) that Abraham's enslaved descendants will leave with great wealth He will need the cooperation of the Israelites.
2. Hashem says to Moshe to make sure that the people, men and women, hear exactly what they are commanded to do.
3. The word רֵעֵהוּ or רְעוּתָהּ translated as "his or her friend" implies that we got along with our Egyptian neighbors who presumably would not begrudge the giving up to the Jew his or her wealthy possessions.
4. The verb לִשְׁאוֹל can equally be translated as to ask or to borrow. To borrow is obviously troublesome. Borrowing is a process by which goods are received subject to a condition for repayment, either on demand or at some ascertainable future time. By not returning the borrowed goods we may be looked at by the world at large as devious or disingenuous people.
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At 12:2, we are commanded to keep a calendar:
הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם, רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים: רִאשׁוֹן הוּא לָכֶם
לְחָדְשֵׁי הַשָּׁנָה
"This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year"
In the Tanach, not in the Chumash, we call this first month "Nisan". However this is a Babylonian name, an “inheritance” from our exile courtesy of Nebuchanezzar. It means “beginning” or possibly in Sumerian “first fruits”.
Nisan appears in the Book of Esther at 3:7 –
בַּחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן, הוּא-חֹדֶשׁ נִיסָן
“In the first month, which is the month Nisan,…”
But get this: At 13:4, Hashem speaks about leaving Egypt, in the month of "Aviv".
הַיּ֖וֹם אַתֶּ֣ם יֹֽצְאִ֑ים בְּחֹ֖דֶשׁ הָֽאָבִֽיב
"Today you are going out, in the month of Aviv".
Rashi dismisses the problem by translating חֹ֖דֶשׁ month as the season of Aviv or springtime. I have some doubts. I think Aviv is a Canaanite word. Three other Canaanite months are cited in 1 Kings, 6:37, 6:38 and 8:2. These are Ziv, Ethanim and Bul. In between the early Canaanite names and the later Babylonian names, Hebrew months are called by their number: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.
This is an inscription from a Phoenician or paleo-Hebrew calendar, taken from a tablet, maybe 10th century BCE, the Gezer Calendar.
The text has been translated as:
Two months gathering (October, November — in the Hebrew calendar Tishrei, Cheshvan)
Two months planting (December, January — Kislev, Tevet)
Two months late sowing (February, March — Shvat, Adar)
One month cutting flax (April — Nisan)
One month reaping barley (May — Iyar)
One month reaping and measuring grain (June — Sivan)
Two months pruning (July, August — Tammuz, Av)
One month summer fruit (September — Elul)
Abij
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We have entered the new month of Shevat.
Because women did participate at the sin of the Golden Calf they have been given by God special benefits when it comes to Rosh Chodesh, the new month, one of which is not to any work.
From theTur, Orach Chaim 417:
Women were unwilling to give their earrings to their husbands; but they said to them: "Ye desire to make a graven image of a molten image without any power in it to deliver." The Holy One, blessed be He, gave the women their reward in this world and the world to come. What reward did He give them in this world? That they should observe the new moons more stringently than the men, and what reward will He give them in the world to come? They are destined to be renewed like the new moons, as it is said: "Who satisfieth thy years with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle."
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At 12: 5-6, HaShem speaks to Moshe:
שֶׂה תָמִים זָכָר בֶּן-שָׁנָה, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם; מִן-הַכְּבָשִׂים וּמִן-הָעִזִּים, תִּקָּחוּ.
וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת, עַד אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה; וְשָׁחֲטוּ אֹתוֹ, כֹּל קְהַל עֲדַת-יִשְׂרָאֵל--בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם.
"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats;
and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at dusk".
Then the people must cook the lamb in a precise way, and fully consume it by the morning. In addition, the people are given instructions for how to eat the feast, as it says "And this is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste it is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord.
This is a very detailed mitzvah that does not seem like it is for "beginners" as clearly the Jewish people were. It could be that Hashem specifically assigned this mitzvah because of its difficulty. I think Hashem was trying to send a message to the people that this religion that they are a part of is not going to necessarily be easy, but it will be worth it. I think this can be seen in the Torah. Right after Hashem assigns the mitzvah, and the people perform it, Hashem takes the Jewish nation out of Egypt. The people can clearly see the correlation of doing what Hashem wants, and He in turn helping out the nation.
Is this a case as stated by Nechama Leibowitz, that "action shapes character"?
It is not difficult to see how slaughtering a lamb would send a poignant message to Egyptians and to assimilated and non-assimilated Jews that it is Hashem who is in charge.
Are there other messages?
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The constellation Aries is overhead in March and April, the time of Passover. In ancient Egyptian astronomy, Aries was associated with the god Amon-Ra, a chief god who was depicted as a man with a ram's head. He represented fertility and creation. Amon-Ra was also the god of the poor and oppressed.
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At 13:3, Moshe exclaims:
וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל-הָעָם, זָכוֹר אֶת-הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר יְצָאתֶם מִמִּצְרַיִם מִבֵּית
עֲבָדִים, כִּי בְּחֹזֶק יָד, הוֹצִיא יְהוָה אֶתְכֶם מִזֶּה; וְלֹא יֵאָכֵל, חָמֵץ.
“Moses said to the people, Remember this day, when you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for with a mighty hand, the Lord took you out of here, and no leaven shall be eaten”.
Here the Hebrew word for “remember” is זָכוֹר. It is in the infinitive form and makes a statement. If “remember” was a command, it would be in the imperative form and written זכר
According to Rav Kook, the infinitive form indicates that the Torah is not merely commanding us to remember and commemorate the anniversary of the Exodus from Egypt. זָכוֹר implies a state of being. It describes us as a people who always remember this historic date.
For Rav Kook the people were not commanded to remember the 15th of Nisan. That was unnecessary. Moses was informing us that this date would be forever etched in our collective consciousness. On this day, the Jewish people were forever changed. On this day our souls gained eternal freedom.
Do you agree with Rav Kook that our Jewish “DNA”, our collective souls were forever changed by the Passover event?
I do.
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שַׁלַּח אֶת-עַמִּי “Let my people go”.
In the first of the Ten Pronouncements that we heard at Sinai, Hashem states: “I am the Lord your God, Who took you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery.”
On Shabbat and on Yom Tovim we specifically commemorate the Exodus; and twice-daily we have an obligation to recall the Exodus in the Shema, likewise in the Birkat HaMazon, the Grace After Eating blessing.
In the Talmud, Baba Metzia 61b, there is a discussion as to why the Torah links usury prohibitions, the commandment to wear tzitzit, and the obligation of accurate weights and measures to the Exodus from Egypt.
Honesty in our monetary dealings is the reason Hashem took us out of Egypt. From Rashi: honesty in our monetary dealings is the reason G-d took us out of Egypt. Quoting the Sage Rava: “Rava said: ‘Why did the Merciful One mention the Exodus from Egypt in connection with the prohibition of interest, tzizit and honest weights?’
The Holy One, blessed be He, declared, 'It is I who distinguished in Egypt between the first-born and one who was not a first-born; I am the one who will exact vengeance from him who ascribes his money to a gentile and lends it to an Israelite on interest or who steeps his weights in salt, or who [attaches to his garment threads dyed with] vegetable blue and maintains that it is, techelet, real blue'”
Paul Robeson says it best:
https://youtu.be/w3OjHIhLCDs
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We are commanded to wear tefillin because HaShem took us out of Egypt with a possessory hand (בְּיָד חֲזָקָה) and with a mighty hand (בְּחֹזֶק יָד).
At 13:9 -
וְהָיָה לְךָ לְאוֹת עַל-יָדְךָ, וּלְזִכָּרוֹן בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ, לְמַעַן תִּהְיֶה תּוֹרַת יְהוָה, בְּפִיךָ: כִּי בְּיָד חֲזָקָה, הוֹצִאֲךָ יְהוָה מִמִּצְרָיִם.
" And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in thy mouth; for with a possessory (strong?) hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt"
At 1316 -
וְהָיָה לְאוֹת עַל-יָדְכָה, וּלְטוֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ: כִּי בְּחֹזֶק יָד, הוֹצִיאָנוּ יְהוָה מִמִּצְרָיִם.
"And it shall be for a sign upon thy hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes; for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.' "
For me there is a sense of property right in verse 13:9.
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The Haftarah reading for Parshat Bo is from Jeremiah 46:13-28. The Babylonians led by their new king, Nebuchadnezzar, are on a tear. They have overwhelmed the Egyptian army of Pharaoh Necho II and have virtually destroyed the Assyrian army in a place called Carchemish which is located on the Euphrates River on the border of Turkey and Syria. The date is 605 BCE. The Babylonians are now headed South…Philistines beware.
The obvious connection of the Haftarah to the Torah portion is the destruction of Egypt:
“The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon coming is to bludgeon the land of Egypt.” (46:13)
הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהוָה, אֶל-יִרְמְיָהוּ הַנָּבִיא--לָבוֹא, נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל, לְהַכּוֹת, אֶת-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם
In 605 BCE, despite Prophet Jeremiah’s warnings regarding Egypt, and because of our weak leadership we had an alliance with Egypt. This alliance came to naught. It was a disaster. The Prophet Ezekiel had similar misgivings.
Are there geo-political implications for us today?
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