Overview of the Weekly
Reading: Bo
To be read on the Shabbat of 6 Shvat, 5762 (Jan. 19)
Torah: Ex. 10:1-13:16; Haftorah:
Jer. 46:13-28 (about another downthrow of Egypt by G-d, eight centuries
later)
Stats: Bo contains 9 positive mitzvot and 11
prohibitive mitzvot. Among the Weekly Readings,
Bo ranks 29 in number of verses, 21 in number of words,
and 22 in number of letters
Bo opens with the plagues of locusts and darkness. Then, Moshe
warned Pharaoh of the last plague, the death of the firstborn. G-d commanded
the Jews to designate a lamb as a pascal offering which would be slaughtered
and its blood put on the doorpost, a sign so that in that Jewish home,
no firstborn would be harmed. G-d commanded that Jews not to do labor
on the first and last days of the holiday, to eat matzahs, and not to
own any leavening. The Jews did as they were commanded, and the night
of Passover, the non-Jewish male and animal firstborns were killed.
The Egyptians sent the Jews away, bestowing upon them many riches. They
hurried the Jews so much so that the Jews' dough did not have time to
rise and remained unleavened matzahs. Next are listed a few of the Passover
laws for future generations. Also mentioned are laws of consecrating
firstborn Jewish males and animals, and the mitzvah of tefillin.
FROM
THE CHASSIDIC REBBES (V:15-62/Bo
)
"In order that you may tell in the ears of your son...and you
shall know that I am G-d." (10:2)
How can a parent imbue his children with a sincere faith in G-d? "You
shall know that I am G-d"--you yourselves must believe in G-d first,
before you teach your offspring.
(Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach)
"They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place."
(10:23)
The worst kind of darkness that can exist is when a person does not see
his brother or extend his hand to help the needy. When one ignores his
responsibilities and makes believe that the problems of others don't exist,
the end result is that he himself will suffer and not be able to rise.
(Chidushei HaRim)
"We know not with what we must serve G-d, until we reach there."
(10:26)
While we yet live in this world, we cannot accurately assess the value
of our Torah learning and our performance of mitzvot, or even know if
they were done only for the sake of heaven. It is only after we have reached
the World to Come, the World of Truth, that we will know how faithfully
we fulfilled our tasks.
(Chidushei HaRim)
FROM THE MASTERS OF KABBALAH
(O:15-62/Bo
)
Selected with permission from the five-volume English
edition of Ohr HaChaim: the Torah Commentary of Rabbi Chaim Ben Attar,
as translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk.
The holy Rabbi Chayim ben Moses Attar was born in Sale, Western Morocco,
on the Atlantic in 1696. His immortal commentary on the Five Books Of
Moses, Or Hachayim, was printed in Venice in 1741, while the author was
on his way to the Holy Land. He acquired a reputation as a miracle worker,
hence his title "the holy," although some apply this title only
to his Torah commentary.
G-d said to Moses (Ex. 10:1)
The Torah mentions amira, the soft approach, as well as G-d's
name as the Merciful One. This did not refer to the "sender,"
i.e. to G-d, but to the messenger Moses, as we see in verse 3. [Whereas
as recently as 9:35 the Torah referred to Moses as having spoken sternly,
diber, to Pharaoh, now there is a change of mood. Ed.] Moses spoke
in a kindly manner to Pharaoh even while delivering a warning of a devastating
plague. G-d warned him to do so, as otherwise he might have lived up to
the description of the righteous man in Psalms 58:11 where the Holy Spirit
describes the righteous as rejoicing when he observes G-d taking revenge.
Moses is reminded that what truly makes the righteous happy is seeing
G-d's attribute of Mercy in action.
Furthermore, the Torah employs the attribute of Mercy to remind us that
G-d did not send the plague immediately after the warning but gave Pharaoh
time to change his mind and to release the Israelites. If he did this
then he and his country would be spared the suffering entailed by the
plague of locusts. According to Shemot Rabbah 9,12, a week or even
twenty-four days would elapse between the warning and the implementation
of the plague. All this was part of the attribute of Mercy in action.
On the other hand, it is possible that our verse underlines that even
the attribute of Mercy agreed joyfully that the time had arrived to take
revenge on this enemy of G-d and the Jewish people.
An
essay from Rabbi Shaul Yosef Leiter
(W:15-62/Bo
)
This week's Torah
portion includes G-d's first commandment for the Jewish people as an entity:
the sanctification of the new month (see Sefer HaChinuch for an in depth
explanation). Rashi comments on the first verse of the Torah that
G-d began with the story of creation until the Egyptian exodus, as opposed
to beginning with the first oficial mitzvah, in order to demonstrate
that He is the Creator of everything, and therefore it is His privilege
to give the land of Israel to whomever He chose: the Jewish people.
Nevertheless, we can still ask 'Why is the first commandment something
obscure-the sanctification of the moon?' It must be that there is something
especially significant, a foundation principle, in this mitzvah that made
it the first one to be commanded to the nation.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe cites the Midrash on Naso
that G-d's intention in the creation of the world was His desire to create
for Himself a dwelling place in the lower realms. This means that He wanted
His sanctity to dwell even in this physical plane. How do we accomplish
this task? By doing G-d's commandments. By doing divinely inspired actions
in a physical world, we are revealing His sanctity. Every time we use
something physical to do a commandment-Chanuka candles, or challahs
on Shabbat, or a coin for tzedakah, for example-we draw Divine
energy upon our body, soul, and on the physical object itself, making
a dwelling place for G-d in this plane.
Back to our case in point. What does making for G-d a dwelling place
have to do with the sanctification of the new moon? In Tanya, (2/7),
the first Chabad Rebbe makes an interesting distinction. The physical
world consists of two different elements: time and space. Different sources
explain that time was created before space; it is the very first creation,
and the prerequisite for everything else. Therefore, the first commandment
of the Torah relates to the nature of time: the commandment of sanctification
of the moon.
The Jewish calendar is based on the 29 1/2 day lunar cycle yielding a
29 or 30 day month. Years begin and end when the months are completed.
The dates of holidays are all determined by the cycle of the moon. By
our fulfilling the commandment of sanctifying the arrival of the new lunar
month, we draw down Divine energy on the entire construct of time.
This is the meaning of the blessing, "(G-d) sanctifies Israel and
(the events at that) time". Matter is conserved, and even a soul
can never die; the one commodity we can never hold on to is time. Let
us try from now on to use every fraction of time to make this world a
dwelling for G-d which will be revealed with the imminent redemption.
How does this first mitzvah connected to the beginning of the Torah-that
the Land of Israel was given to the Jewish people. To remind us that in
addition to time, physical matter also must be instilled with holiness.
By imbuing both time and space with holiness, we will hasten the fulfillment
of the prophecy that "the earth will be filled with the knowledge
of G-d, as the waters cover the sea." May it be now!
Shabbat Shalom!
|
