Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16)
OVERVIEW
With the final three plagues, the battle between God and Pharaoh comes to a dramatic conclusion. Locust swarm down upon Egypt devouring all the crops and plants that remain. But Pharaoh still refuses to let the Israelites go. When darkness descends upon Egypt for three full days, Pharaoh seems to relent, but not completely. Moses refuses his offer, and Pharaoh declares that Moses can not come before him again, or he will be put to death. Moses then forewarns the Egyptians about the final plague: Death of the First Born.
Before the final plague, God presents the first Mitzvah to be given to the People of Israel collectively: the observance of the festival of Pesach (Passover). Moses and Aaron are instructed by God to offer a lamb as a sacrifice, and to mark the doorposts of the homes of the Israelites with its blood. Instructions are then given to eat Matzah (unleavened bread) and Maror (bitter herbs) and to annually observe a seven day festival of commemoration of the Exodus (which is yet to take place).
And then, as the climactic conclusion, the angle of death passes through, killing all of the first born of Egypt. With this final blow, Pharaoh sends the Israelites on their way, and they hurriedly depart. We are told that there were 600,000 adult men who left Egypt, along with all the Israelite women, children, and a "mixed multitude" - all the other non-Israelite slaves who also took the opportunity to leave.
Our Parasha concludes with a review of the laws of Pesach, as well as introducing the mitzvot of Redemption of the First Born and Tefillin.
IN FOCUS
And you shall explain it to your child on that day, saying, "It is because of what the Eternal did for me when I went free from Egypt." (Exodus 13:8)
PSHAT
Just before the tenth plague, after which God allows Pharaoh to finally relent and allow the Israelite slaves to leave Egypt, God commands Moses and Aaron to speak to the Israelite people and instruct them in the observance of Pesach, the festival that commemorates the exodus from Egypt. This is the first Mitzvah (commandment) that is given, through Moses, to the Israelite people collectively. Since it is given even before the events which are to be celebrated, great detail is given as to precisely how the festival is to be observed. Everything we know about Pesach to this day comes from this passage: we are to observe a week-long festival, with the first and last days to be observed as "Sabbath-like" days, beginning on the 15th day of the first month (Nisan). All leaven is to be removed from our homes and we are only to eat unleavened bread during this time, along with bitter herbs. Details are given about the Pascal offering (the specific type of sacrifice offered on Pesach), and about how it is to be offered and eaten. It is made clear that these rituals are to remind us that it was God who freed us from bondage in Israel, in each generation, as if we all we present at the time of the actual exodus. The details then end with the commandment that we are to explain ("tell") this personal meaning of Pesach to our children.
DRASH
I've always been fascinated by the fact that God commanded Israel to celebrate Pesach as a commemoration of the exodus from Egypt, before the Israelites were actually released from slavery and allowed to depart. How could the Israelites understand what they were suppose to celebrate, when it has not even happened yet? In our verse, the Israelites are even told what to tell their children when they ask about the festival ritual: "It is because of what the Eternal did for me when I went free from Egypt." But they've not yet gone free! Would it not have made more sense for God to wait until after the Israelites had crossed the parted waters of the Yam Suf ("Sea of Reeds, or more commonly referred to as the Red Sea) and then said, "So, now you are free, and here is what I want you to do to commemorate this great thing I have done for you..."?
The major commentators all go into a great deal of discussion about the details of mitzvot given here relating to the observance of Pesach, but none comment at all about the timing of the command. The timing just doesn't seem to matter to the Sages of old, who followed the rabbinic precept of Ayn Mukdam V'ayn M'uchar Batorah - that there is no "before and after" or chronological order to the Torah. They would never challenge the presentation of the sequence of events.
But I do. My contemporary mind does work sequentially, dealing with both literature and life. If God gives the command before, and not after, there must be some reason. So what is the reason for giving this command to commemorate the exodus before the exodus. Was it just for narrative effect?
Rashi gives us a bit of a hint in his explanation of the answer that is to be given to the child: "It is because of what the Eternal did for me when I went free from Egypt." Rashi explains that the Hebrew phrase ba-avor zeh - "on account of" or "for the sake of" - indicates that the God took the Israelites out of Egypt for the sake of them carrying out the commandments. Therefore, the command was given before the actually exodus so that they would understand that their commitment to the mitzvot was what was getting them out of slavery. In a sense, they were being given a choice: submission to Pharaoh's slavery or submission to God's will. The choice was theirs to make, but once made, they must remember eternally the choice, and the commitment, they have made. This also explains the part of the answer to the child that says, "because of what God did for me." Today we might not actually have experienced the slavery in Egypt ourselves, but we are still, as Jews, obligated to the mitzvot.
But there might also be a simpler answer; one that focuses more on those who were actually in slavery. By giving the commandment to observe Pesach before the exodus, and by emphasizing that this festival is to be an eternal observance, throughout the generations, the Israelites are being given hope. For the slaves themselves, who had experienced the horrors of slavery and lived for 400 years in a paganistic, polytheistic environment, it must have been difficult to develop the faith that God was really going to free them. Pharaoh kept changing his mind, and Moses, who seemed to be a questionable leader at best, had not been terribly successful so far. By commanding the observance of Pesach as an eternal commemoration of the yet-to-take-place exodus, that gave the Israelites faith that they would be around eternally. When a commandment is made for the future generations, that meant there was going to be a future generation. Pesach becomes not only the paradigm of observance of mitzvot, but it also provides hope for the otherwise hopeless Israelites that they were going to be saved, that they were going to survive the exodus, and that their descendants throughout the generations would remember and tell the tale. When we say to our children, "It is because of what the Eternal did for me when I went free from Egypt," we relate to our ancestors who went from slavery to freedom, and, perhaps more importantly, they went from hopelessness to hope.
This command to "tell your child" becomes the basis of the Haggadah, and is one of four references in the Torah to instructing children about the exodus, which the Sages developed into the Four Children of the Haggadah. The Four Children teach us that that each person is different, and that the story must be told in a way that each will understand. Certainly, today, most of us may not be able to relate to actual physical slavery, so to focus on labour may not be the best way for us to understand the experience of our ancestors. But all of us have, at one time or another, experienced moments of hopelessness. Pesach reminds us that we should always have hope, and that we can always be saved. That is a message we all need to hear.
DAVAR AHER
You will observe the feast of unleavened bread... (Exodus 12:17)
Here the word for unleavened bread is matzot, which is spelled the same as mitzvot - commandments. Thus, Rashi, quoting Mekhilta, tells us that just as one may not permit the matzot to ferment, one may not permit the mitzvot to ferment. Just as matzah which has been permitted to ferment may not be used, and one who eats it is punishable by karet - being cut off from his people, so too is there a severe punishment for one who allows a mitzvah to ferment and does not perform it at its proper time. (R' Pinchas of Koretz, quoted in Itturai Torah)
