In Parsha Bo (Shmot 13:4) we come across a statement that seems obvious:

Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving.

Rashi asks: Did B’nai Yisrael not know in which month they went out? Rather, this is what was meant: “See the kindness that God has bestowed upon you. He took you out in a month in which it is fit to go out-not hot, not cold and not raining. So too, is it stated in Tehillim 68:7 “He brings out prisoners ‘bakosharot’, at appropriate times, meaning, a month that is kosher (fit) to go out.”

The word Aviv in the Tanach refers to the time that the barley is ripe as we see in reference to the plague of hail (Shmot 9:31):

The flax and barley had been destroyed since the barley was ripe, and the flax had formed into stalks.

Barley ripens very fast just like spring passes quickly in contrast to the long winter that we leave behind and the lengthy summer ahead.

In Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) 2:11-13 we see the beauty of springtime in nature:

Come, rise, my love, my beautiful one, let us leave. Winter is over; the rains have passed and left us. On the land, buds have appeared. The songbirds’ time has come, and the turtle dove’s call sounds over our land. The fig has put out her buds, and the flowering vines give scent- so come, rise, my love, my beautiful one, let us leave.

Springtime in Israel is very short. The rainy season is over at the beginning of Pesach when we begin to pray for dew rather than rain and before we know it the weather becomes very hot.

We add an extra month of Adar to the Jewish calendar in years that Nisan would otherwise arrive too early in order to ensure that Pesach always takes place is the spring.

Just as we left Egypt in the month of the spring, so too will the future redemption occur in the spring as it says in Micha 7:15: “As in the days when you came out of Egypt, I will show you my wonders.”

Moshe stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was total darkness in the entire land of Egypt for three days.

Each of the plagues was a punishment measure for measure for what the Egyptians did to B’nai Yisrael. Darkness came upon the Egyptians because they darkened the eyes of B’nai Yisrael by enslaving them.

The Midrash, Shmot Raba 14:3 asks if there was another reason for the plague of darkness which was connected specifically with B’nai Yisrael and not with the Egyptians?

The Midrash answers:

In that generation, there were among B’nai Yisrael transgressors who had Egyptian patrons who lived in affluence and honor and were unwilling to leave Egypt and return to God and the Torah, they preferred to worship idols. God said: “If I bring upon them publicly a plague from which they will die, the Egyptians will say: ‘Just as the plague has passed over us, so has it passed over them.’” On this account, God brought darkness upon the Egyptians for three days, so that B’nai Yisrael should bury their dead without their enemies seeing them, and for this, they should praise God.

Today as well, there are Jews who are in the dark who have no interest in Judaism or Israel. Not only will they not advocate for Israel, in some cases they are advocating against Israel.

Unfortunately, the uprisings that have taken place in Europe and on the US college campuses have shown that anti-Semitism is everywhere. The anti-Semitic protesters want to see the end of all of the Jews, affiliated or not.

We must work on overcoming the darkness and see the light at the end of the tunnel. No matter where we are in the world, Israel is ultimately the homeland of the Jewish people.

Sponsored by Sharona & Josh Halickman

in Memory of Rebecca de Beer, Rivka bat Yirat Sara z”l

In Parshat Bo, Shmot 12:1-2 we learn
about Rosh Chodesh: “God said to Moshe and Aharon in the land of Egypt: This
month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of
the months of the year for you.”

Rashi
comments: God showed him the moon at its renewal, and He said to him, “When the
moon renews itself, let that be for you the beginning of a new month.” God was
specifically referring to the month Nisan: This month (Nisan) shall be the
beginning of the order of the counting of the months, so that Iyar shall be
called the second month and Sivan the third.

Ramban points out that Nisan is the
first month from the redemption and Tishrei is the seventh. This is the reason
for, “it shall be the first…to you,” for it is not the first in the year, but
it is the first for you, for such is it called as a remembrance of our
redemption.

Ramban adds that our Sages have already mentioned this topic in the Talmud,
Rosh Hashanah 6a, and said that the names of the months came with us from
Babylonia, for at the start our months had no names. The reason for this is
that at the start the order of the months was as a remembrance of the Exodus
from Egypt, but when we left Babylonia and the verse was fulfilled (Yirmiyahu
16:14-15), “Behold- days are coming- the word of God- when it will no longer be
said, ‘As God lives, Who took B’nai Yisrael out of the land of Egypt,’ but
rather, ‘As God lives, Who brought B’nai Yisrael from the land of the North and
from all the lands where He had scattered them’; and I shall return them to
their land, which I gave to their forefathers.”

Ramban explains: We returned to
calling the months by the names by which they were called in Babylonia, as a
reminder that there we stood and from there God drew us out. The names Nisan,
Iyar, and the others are Persian names and are only found in the books of the
Babylonian prophets (Zechariah 1:7, Ezra 6:15, Nehemiah 1:1) and in Megilat
Esther (3:7). Therefore the verse says, “In the first month, which is the month
Nisan,” similar to, “They cast a pur, that is, the lot.” And until today the
nations in the lands of Persia and Media call the months Nisan and Tishrei and
all the rest like us. And these names recall through the months the second
redemption just as we did until now for the first one.

According to Sforno, from now on,
these months will be yours, to do with as you like. You have My authority to
organize your own calendar. This is in contrast to the years when you were
enslaved when you had no control over your time or timetable at all. While you
were enslaved, your days, hours and even minutes, were always at the beck and
call of your taskmasters.

On each Rosh Chodesh, as the moon
renews itself, we have a new chance to set up how we want to live our lives. We
can step back to see what is important, reflect on the past redemptions and
pray for a better future.

In Parshat Bo, after the plagues, we read about the Exodus from Egypt
(Shmot 12:51):

On that very day, Good took B’nai Yisrael out of Egypt in their
multitudes (al tzivotam).

One way to read the word “tzivotam”
is by their hosts. In other words, the angels were instrumental in helping
B’nai Yisrael get out of Egypt.

Another way to read “tzivotam” is
that B’nai Yisrael were a “tzava,” an army.

Rav David Avraham Spector explains
based on the teachings of Rav Kook in Orot that the God of legions is the God
of Israel and the army of Israel is the army of God. Tzahal- Tzava Hagana
L’Yisrael- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is therefore the revelation of the
angels who fight for Israel.

In the beginning of Parshat
Beshalach, Shmot 13:18, we learn that B’nai Yisrael left Egypt with weapons:

God led the people round-about by
way of the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds. B’nai Yisrael were armed (chamushim)
when they went up from Egypt.

Why did they need weapons?

According to Rashbam, they were
armed with weapons so that they would be ready to conquer the Land of C’naan.

Rav Spector points out that B’nai
Yisrael were preparing themselves to observe the mitzvah of Settling the Land
of Israel. Ramban explains in his Additions to Sefer HaMitzvot of the Rambam
(Mitzvah #4): We are commanded to inherit the Land…The rabbis taught that this
is considered a Milchemet Mitzvah, an obligatory war…and they taught that the
Mitzvah of Settling the Land of Israel is equal to all of the Mitzvot.

Without the partnership of God and
the IDF, we would not have a Modern State of Israel. While God and the angels
protect us from above, the soldiers are angels safeguarding us on the ground.

We must do what we can to show our
appreciation for the soldiers who protect us night and day in missions that we
can’t even fathom.

In Parshat Bo we read (Shmot 12:40):

The habitation of B’nai Yisrael living in Egypt lasted 430 years.

Where did the number 430 come from?

According to Rashi, 430 is the sum total of all of the settlements of
our forefathers in other lands plus their years in Egypt.

This is how Rashi breaks it down:

From the birth of Yitzchak until the Exodus from Egypt there were
400 years. We start counting from the birth of Yitzchak, for only from the time
when Abraham had offspring from Sarah could the prophecy (Breisheet 15:13) “For
your descendents will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will
enslave them and oppress them for 400 years” be fulfilled; and 30 years passed
from the time that decree was made at the “Brit Ben HaBetarim”, “the covenant
between the pieces” until the birth of Yitzchak.

It is impossible to say that the 430
years were in the land of Egypt alone, for Kehat (Levi’s son) was among those
who came down to  Egypt with Yaakov
(Breisheet 46:11); If you calculate Kehat’s years (133) and all the years of
Amram, his son (137) and the whole eighty years of Amram’s son, Moshe (at the time
of the Exodus), they do not total to so many (133+137+80=350). In addition, Kehat
had already lived many years before he went down to Egypt, and many of Amram’s
years overlap with his father Kehat, as many of Moshe’s 80 years overlap with his
father, Amram, so we do not find even 400 years from their coming to Egypt
until the Exodus.

We must therefore admit that the other
settlements of our forefathers in lands other than Egypt (in the land of
Plishtim, Grar etc.) also come under the name of “sojourning as a stranger”
(gerut), even in Chevron (which was in Canaan)  because it is said, (Breisheet 35:27) “[Chevron]
where Abraham and Yitzchak resided”, and it says, (Shmot 6:4) “[the Land Canaan],
the land of their residing in which they resided temporarily”.

Therefore, the prophecy in Breisheet
15:13 “For your descendents will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs.
They will enslave them and oppress them for 400 years” began only once Avraham
had offspring. And only if you count the 400 years from the birth of Yitzchak
will you find that from the time they came into Egypt until the time they left
it, was 210 years.

Our verse was altered for King
Ptolemy (Megillah 9a) who gathered 72 elders of Israel and placed them in 72
houses and he did not reveal to them at first why he gathered them. He told
each one to write a Greek translation of the Torah. God placed council in each
of their hearts and all of them independently arrived at a common decision
about how to translate various words in the Torah.

The way that the 72 elders
translated our passage as recorded in the Talmud Bavli Megillah 9b was: And the
abode of B’nai Yisrael, which they stayed in Egypt and in other lands was 400
years.

The change in the number may have
been to keep in line with the number 400 mentioned in the “Brit Ben HaBetarim.”

However the version in the Talmud
Yerushalmi keeps the number at 430 years.

Either way, the elders certainly
added “in Egypt and in other lands” in order to avoid confusion since B’nai
Yisrael certainly did not stay in Egypt for 430 years.

According to Ibn Ezra, the extra 30
years are counted from the time that Avraham first left his home in Ur Kasdim
and went to Charan. Avraham stayed with his father Terach in Charan for 5 years
and arrived in the Land of Cnaan when he was 75. Yitzchak’s birth was 30 years
after Avraham started on his journey which began at age 70.

We see from here that the 430 years
include all of the travels of our forefathers from the first time that God
appeared to Avraham until the Exodus from Egypt. It was only once B’nai Yisrael
conquered and settled the Land of Israel with Yehoshua, after they wandered for
40 years in the desert, that the Land of C’naan officially belonged to them and
became an eternal permanent rather than temporary dwelling place and homeland
for the Jewish people.

Even
before B’nai Yisrael left Egypt they were already commanded to eat matzah.

In
Parshat Bo (Shmot 12:8), they received the mitzvah to eat matzah with the
Korban Pesach (Pascal Lamb):

They
shall eat the meat that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire,
with matzah and marror.

While
they were in Egypt (Shmot 12:17), B’nai Yisrael were already informed that
there would be a holiday in the future called Chag HaMatzot:

You shall
observe the matzot for on this day I brought your ranks out of the land of
Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all
time.

Once
they were already out of Egypt (Shmot 12:39), B’nai Yisrael baked their matzot:

And they
baked matzah cakes of the dough that they had taken out of Egypt, for it was
not chametz (leavened), since they had been driven out of Egypt and could not
delay; nor had they prepared and provisions for themselves.

In
Dvarim 16:3 we are taught not to eat chametz with the Korban Pesach as well as
throughout the holiday:

You
shall not eat chametz with it; for seven days you shall eat matzot, lechem oni
(bread of distress) – for you departed from the land of Egypt hurriedly- so
that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt as long
as you live.

What is
Lechem Oni (Bread of Distress)?

According
to Rashi (quoting Sifrei), lechem oni is bread that reminds us of the
affliction to which they were subjected to in Egypt.

Chizkuni
points out that poor people, when given a small amount of flour do not have a
vessel at hand to make proper dough. They also do not have enough time to spare
to wait for the dough to rise before baking it. Therefore, they throw the
mixture of flour and cold water into the heated oven or stove and bake it
quickly.

In the
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 460:2 we learn that the Rosh (Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel
1250-1327) would take part in the baking of the matzot, overseeing the
production, hurrying those working there and helping with the flattening of the
dough. It is fitting for everyone to involve themselves in this mitzvah.

When you
bake matzah, you feel what it was like for B’nai Yisrael when they departed
from Egypt. By baking matzah we are preparing ourselves for the “Bechol Dor
vaDor,” aspect of the holiday where in every generation we are obligated to see
ourselves as if we personally left Egypt.

While
Pesach is still three months away, when you plan your Pesach preparations, don’t
forget to make time to visit a matzah bakery!

In Parshat Shmot (Shmot 3:20-22),
God promised Moshe: “And I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all of
my wonders which I will do in their midst: and after that he will let you go.
And I will give this people favor in the sight of Egypt: and it will come to
pass that when you go, you shall not go empty (reikam): but every woman shall
ask her neighbor, and of her that sojourns in her house, jewels of silver, and
jewels of gold, and garments: and you shall put them on your sons and on your
daughters; and you shall despoil Egypt.”

In Parshat Bo (Shmot 12:35-36), we
see the fulfillment of this promise: “And the children of Israel did according
to the word of Moshe; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver and
jewels of gold and garments: and God gave the people favor in the sight of Egypt,
so that they gave them the things that they required. And they despoiled Egypt.”

God already told Avraham about this future
transaction in the “Brit Ben HaBetarim” (Breisheet 15:13-14) “Know surely that
your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve
them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation whom
they shall serve, will I judge: and afterwards shall they come out with great
substance.”

Why was it necessary for the Jewish
people to leave with gifts?

Chizkuni comments on the words “and
you shall not go empty”: They will endow you with a gratuity of three kinds:
silver, gold and clothing, as is the case with a master’s farewell gift to his
freed servant (which was taken from the flock, threshing floor and winepress).

We learn about the master’s farewell
gift in Dvarim 15:12-15: “And if your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman,
be sold to you, he shall serve you six years; and in the seventh year you shall
let him go free from you.
And when you send him out free from you, you shall not let him go away empty
(reikam): you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock and out of your
threshing floor and out of your winepress: Of that which the Lord, your God
blessed you shall you give him. And you shall remember that you were a bondsman
in the land of Egypt and the Lord, your God redeemed you; Therefore, I command
you this thing today.”

Cassuto points out: “The Hebrew
slaves had worked for their masters for the number of years preordained by
Providence. They are entitled to their freedom and therefore at the same time
to the farewell gratuity. The law or rather absolute justice demanded it.”

We see from here that the “gifts” were
just a small portion of what was owed to them for being mistreated and serving
as slaves for so many years.

In Memory of my grandfather, David Margolin z”l on his 36^th Yahrzeit

Different people have different
reactions when they hear about Pesach. The children get excited since they get
an extra long break from school. Vacationers look forward to their trip. But
those who make Pesach at home start to get nervous about the preparations. What
is it about Pesach that makes us so anxious?

A hint can be found in Parshat Bo
(Shmot 12:17-20)

You must be vigilant regarding the
matzot for on this very day I brought out your hosts from the land of Egypt.
You must preserve this day for your generations it is an eternal statute. In
the first month on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening you shall
eat matzot, continuing until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening.
For seven days no leaven may be found in your homes, for whoever eats chametz,
that soul shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a convert or a
native born in the land. You must not eat anything that is chametz. In all your
dwellings you shall eat matzot.

There are a few words and concepts
in these verses that can make us apprehensive:

You must be vigilant

You must preserve this day

No leaven may be found in your homes

Whoever eats chametz, that soul
shall be cut off from the community of Israel (karet)

You must not eat anything that is
chametz.

Those are big sandals to fill!

The laws of Pesach are much stricter
than the laws of keeping kosher during the rest of the year as chametz on
Pesach, even in the smallest amounts, cannot be nullified in the largest of
mixtures.

Rashi (Shmot 12:20) explains that the
words “Anything that is chametz” includes its mixture as well.

Rashi comments on the Talmud,
Psachim 29b that the rabbis added extra stringencies to chametz that were not
added to other prohibited substances such as cheilev (prohibited fats) and dam
(blood) which are also punishable by karet. Their reasoning was that we are
accustomed to separating ourselves from the other prohibited substances all
year long while we are used to eating chametz throughout the year.

In our day and age, the removal of cheilev
(fats on the internal organs of commonly domesticated animals) is done by a
skilled expert at the slaughtering house. Dam (the blood of a kosher animal) is
also usually removed by salting after it is slaughtered so in most cases there
is no longer a need for us to remove it at home.

In contrast, the prohibition against
eating chametz is in our homes and it is the responsibility of the heads of the
household to make sure that there is no chametz in the home and that nothing
turns into chametz during the holiday.

For those of us who are not going on
vacation, how can we get excited about Pesach despite the serious prohibitions?

Enjoy the Torah readings at the
beginning of Sefer Shmot which are being read over the next few weeks. We can
focus on the story of the Exodus from Egypt without the pressure of the
holiday.

Savor the holidays of Tu B’Shvat
(lots of healthy fruits and nuts) and Purim (plenty of junk food) and only
start to think of Pesach once those holidays are over.

Try to kasher your kitchen as close
to Pesach as you can (leaving enough time to cook) so that you don’t end up
with an extra week (or more!) where chametz is off limits.

And finally, remember that the
holiday commemorates the Exodus so don’t forget to celebrate.

When Israel was in Egypt’s land,

Let my people go!

Oppressed so hard they could not
stand,

Let my people go!

Go down Moses,

Way down in Egypt’s land

Tell old Pharaoh

To Let my people go!

Many of us are familiar with “Go
Down Moses”, the spiritual song which dates back to 1850 (or even earlier)
which served as a code song while Harriet Tubman, known as the “Moses” of her
people helped slaves escape through the Underground Railroad before the
American Civil War.

The song “Go Down Moses” was also
used as an anthem during Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s March on Washington for
civil rights in 1963 as it had universal appeal for all oppressed people. King
used the story of the Exodus to give his followers confidence to fight racial
injustice. In his last speech “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” in 1968, right
before his assassination, he compared himself to Moses leading the Israelites
out of Egypt, going up to the mountaintop but not making it into the Promised Land.

“Go Down Moses” has been translated into
Hebrew (“Shlach na et ami”) and is sung at Passover seders worldwide.

In the first few Parshiot of the
book of Shmot, beginning in Shmot 5:1, over and over Moshe and Aaron ask
Pharaoh to let the nation go: “This is what HaShem, God of Israel said, ‘Send
my people, so they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

According to Ibn Ezra, the festival
that they wanted to celebrate was either Pesach or Shavuot, the celebration of
receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.

Pharaoh almost honors Moshe’s
request to let B’nai Yisrael out of Egypt to worship God. However, he is not
happy when Moshe lists who would be going: (Shmot 10:9) “With our young and
with our old we will go. With our sons, with our daughters, with our sheep and
with our cattle we will go for it is a festival to God for all of us.”

For some reason Pharaoh was under
the impression that they are only asking for the men to celebrate and not the
entire nation. Once Pharaoh hears that Moshe would like to take everyone he
says (Shmot 10:11) “That is not right. Only the men should go and worship God
for this is what you desire.”

Rashbam comments that according to
Pharaoh, if you want to serve God, there is no reason to bring the women and
the children.

It didn’t occur to Pharaoh that the
women and the children may also want to worship God.

Pharaoh believed that the only
reason that the entire nation would go out to pray would be if it was part of
an escape plan. Bechor Shor points out that  Pharaoh only wanted to permit the men to go,
keeping the children back in Egypt as collateral.

Pharaoh was wrong. When it was time
to eat the Korban Pesach (Pascal Lamb), it was eaten by the whole family (not just
the men) and the entire nation was commanded to eat matza and not chametz. In
addition, all of B’nai Yisrael (men, women and children) were present at the
revelation at Sinai.

Moshe stood his ground and until
today has served as a role model for many leaders throughout the world
including Harriet Tubman whose life is celebrated on March 10 and Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. whose legacy was commemorated this past Monday.

Sponsored by Josh and Sharona
Halickman in memory of Jeannette Frankel z”l

There are many differences between
how the first Pesach was celebrated in Egypt, right before the exodus and how
we celebrate Pesach today.

In Egypt, God instructed Moshe (Shmot
12:3,6-8, 10-11) “Speak to the entire community of Israel saying, ‘On the tenth
day of this month they shall take- each man shall take a lamb for his family, a
lamb for each household…You shall hold it in safekeeping until the fourteenth
day of this month, they shall slaughter it- the entire community of Israel-
between evenings (in the afternoon). They shall take of its blood and place it
on the side of the doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they will
eat the lamb. They shall eat the meat during the night. It shall be roasted
over fire. They shall eat it with matzah and bitter herbs… You must not leave
any of it over until morning. Any of it left over until morning must be burned in
fire. This is how you must eat it: with your waist belted, your shoes on your
feet and your staff in your hand. You must eat it in haste, it is a Pesach
offering to God.’”

A few mitzvoth that differed on the
first Pesach:

1.   
Taking
the lamb into their homes four days before they were required to slaughter it.

2.   
Putting
blood on the doorpost

3.   
Eating
quickly as the Exodus was imminent

In addition, Sifri and Targum state
that since the Torah prohibits an uncircumcised person from eating the Pesach
offering (Shmot 12:48 “but no uncircumcised male may eat of it”) all of the men
who had not yet had a brit mila needed to be circumcised beforehand. As it says
in Yechezkel 16:6: “…and I said to you: ‘In your bloods, live!’ And I said to
you: ‘In your bloods live.’”

According to Alshich, “They could
not have circumcised themselves on the night of Pesach. On the contrary, they
were bidden to take the lamb four days earlier in order to give them breathing
space for several days to recover from the operation. They could not afford to
be sick at the time of the exodus. Three days are needed to recover from
circumcision. God therefore wanted them to perform the circumcision first and
wait three days to recover and then leave Egypt…They therefore had to pick up
the lamb first, circumcise themselves and wait three days and finally slaughter
the Paschal lamb, quickly eat the sacrifice and escape from Egypt.”

After hearing what B’nei Yisrael had
to do to prepare for the first Pesach, risking their lives by bringing the lamb
which was the god of the Egyptians into their homes for four days, getting the
men of all ages circumcised, slaughtering and preparing the lamb, putting the
blood on the doorposts and then eating in a rush with one foot out the door
makes our cleaning, shopping and cooking for Pesach seem like a piece of cake.