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January 19, 2013
PARASHAT BO
(“Go---to Pharaoh”)
1ST Aliyah (P. 248, at the top)
The Bible says practically nothing about the visual backdrop of the
Plague narrative or story. It doesn’t describe the Pharaoh’s luxurious
court with its gilded throne, the fantastic sculptures that grace the
paved streets, and the world class architecture whose remnants we
can still see. Exodus strips down Egyptian culture by making it
disappear and by ridiculing its gods. The Torah saved its descriptive
minutiae for the Tabernacle that was to be built after leaving Egypt.
The Torah emphasizes spirituality in a practical way as opposed to
the materialistic world view of Egypt. It wants people to live sacred
lives by following mitzvoth. The Torah refuses to elevate materialism,
although wealth does have a place in society, depending upon how it
is used. The Torah recognizes the danger of living in a society
without spiritual values. This lack of spirituality would ultimately lead
to the 9th plague of darkness. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and
demand that the Israelites be let go. Pharaoh is threatened with
locusts. Pharaoh’s courtiers, who also had their hearts hardened by
God, disagree with Pharaoh and ask the question, “How long shall
this one be a snare to us?” The courtiers say, “Let the men go…Are
you not yet aware that Egypt is lost?” The point here is that the
courtiers are able to free themselves from their hardened heart. If
they can, then Pharaoh should be able to do so as well. We are all
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able to change. It might not be easy. But, it can be done. Pharaoh’s
proposal of only letting the men go and not the women, children and
the herds of animals leads to the eighth plague—locusts.
2nd Aliyah (Sha ne) (P. 249, verse 12)
The locus swarm is one of the worst scourges. An area of one square
kilometer can contain 50 million such insects; in a single night, they
can devour 100,000 tons of vegetation. Usually human weather
conditions contribute to their proliferation. These locusts invaded the
land of Egypt in such intensity that they hid all the land from view.
Unfortunately, for the Egyptian people, the grand scale of this 8th
plague did not lead to the recognition of God’s supremacy and
pharaoh’s heart remained hardened. The plagues continued.
In
today’s world, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Assad, the Taliban and the
Palestinian leadership continue to create their own plagues by failing
to free themselves from their own hardened hearts. It is time for the
totalitarian leaders and terrorist groups to heed Moses and to let their
people go. In the usual manner, Pharaoh insincerely tells Moses that
he stands guilty before the Lord. In response, the winds shifted and
the locusts were hurled into the Sea of Reeds. Being relieved of the
locusts, Pharaoh’s heart again hardened, even though God gave him
a chance to repent. This led to the 9th plague—darkness. According
to some commentators, the plague was not a physical darkness but a
deep spiritual or psychological darkness. Many commentators refer to
it in symbolic terms. It could represent Egypt’s blindness to Adonai
and the Pharaoh’s inability to see the spiritual light that only God can
reveal, with all its moral implications. The darkness revealed the total
inadequate power of the Egyptian sun god, re. We need to let the light
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of Shabbat, the light of performing deeds of loving kindness, and the
light of doing acts of tikkun olam to enter our lives so that the ninth
plague will not affect us as it affected Pharaoh and the people of
Mitzrayim.
3rd Aliyah (Shileshe) (P.251, verse 24)
The plague of darkness frightened Pharaoh so he summoned Moses.
He told Moses, “Go worship the Lord but only your flocks and herds
shall be left behind.” In response, Moses replied that you yourself
must provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings. Pharaoh’s heart
stiffened and he told Moses, “Be gone from me! Take care not to see
me again, for the moment you look upon my face you shall die.” Thus
Pharaoh closed the door on any further negotiations and on any
chance of repentance. The signs, plagues or natural disasters left the
mighty Pharaoh more unyielding than ever. The final act of God is
about to come crashing down on Pharaoh and his people.
Unfortunately the innocent must suffer because of the hardening heart
of Pharaoh. His decisions, as decisions made by other world leaders,
have consequences for their own nation and for the world itself. Our
own decisions, our own hardened hearts can affect our friends and
our own families. Let this be the year we break through our personal
darkness to experience the light of the Torah. Let this be the year that
more Jews choose to attend Shabbat services.
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4th Aliyah (Rivee) (P. 252, verse 4)
God announced the final terrible plague. “Toward midnight I will go
forth among the Egyptians, and every first-born in the land of Egypt
shall die.” The pharaoh has been given nine opportunities to save his
people but yet his character did not allow him to see the graffiti on the
wall—“let my people go”. The Pharaoh is blinded by his own ego and
beliefs. This tenth plague is such a seminal event, in Jewish history,
that the month of Nisan will mark a new beginning, not only in the
cycle of the calendar but in the lives of the Israelites. One of the first
steps in the process of liberation was for the Israelites to have their
own calendar, their own way of keeping track of time, recalling the
most important days of their people’s history. A slave does not
control his or her own time. The lunar calendar is the Jewish
catechism for the most concise summary of what we remember and
for what we stand. The Torah is envisioning a new order of life that
will be dominated by the consciousness of God’s active presence in
history and in the lives of the people. Pesach is the start of this new
beginning.
5th Aliyah (Ha meshe) (P. 257, verse 21)
Moses directed the elders to pick out lambs for the Passover offering.
He then told them to take a bunch of hyssop, sort of like our oregano,
dip it in blood and apply it to the lintel and doorposts of their homes.
The text then states, “And when your children ask you, ‘what do you
mean by this rite? You shall say…” This is the origin of the familiar
Seder custom of having the children ask the Four Questions. It joins
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parents with children as partners in a dialogue between generations.
The call, in Exodus (Ex12:26-27, Ex13:8, Ex13:14) to educate our
children also led Israel to become a nation of educators. No other
faith has emphasized education as much as Judaism. The result,
according to Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, was that by the time the Second
Temple was destroyed, Jews had constructed the world’s first system
of universal compulsory education, paid for by public funds. By
contrast, England did not institute universal public education until
1870. Today, Pesach has become a family celebration designed to
help cement the community together. The Seder has become a
commemorative meal to help us remember not only the specific steps
of Passover, but the ideal of freedom. The Seder is our memory meal
as we recall the power of God and the deliverance of the Israelites.
Jewish education, which begins at the family Seder, is necessary to
retain freedom and to instill the values of Judaism to the next
generation. Through education, we become participants with the
patriarchs and matriarchs, Moses, the prophets and the rabbis of
Talmudic, medieval and modern times.
6th Aliyah (She she) (P. 258, verse 29)
The beginning of this portion is truly frightening. Deliverance is as a
result of violence. The first-born become the victims. It is difficult to
read, especially when you realize mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers
are dying. According to the text, “In the middle of the night the Lord
struck down the entire first born in the land. There was a loud cry in
Egypt for there was no house where there was not someone dead.”
The enslaved Israelites were protected by the blood on the doorposts.
Don Isaac Abrabanel, a refugee of the expulsion from Spain, said, in
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1492, “By spilling a drop of wine, from the Pesach cup for each
plague, we acknowledge that our own joy is lessoned and incomplete.
For our redemption had to come by means of the punishment of other
human beings. Even though these are just punishments for the evil
acts, Proverbs (24:17) says, “Do not rejoice at the fall of your enemy.”
So the people took their dough, before it was leavened and after 430
years, left the land of their enslavement. A poem entitled This Night
by Hara E. Person reflects the terrible events of the first Passover. It
then expands its meaning to reflect the terrible nights suffered during
the Israeli war of Independence. One could further expand its
meaning to include surviving the rocket filled nights of Hamas
bombing of innocent people. How would you interpret this poem?
Outside there is only the pulsating darkness,
the terrifying wails of other mother’s pain.
Death winds through nearby villages and distant towns.
And I, I stand safe inside the light-filled shelter,
My arm wrapped tight around the narrow shoulders
of my precious first born.
In colorless gear the soldiers protect our boundaries,
burst of fire red in the shadows.
The cycle continues still.
Our sons fighting their sons,
Too many children lost on their way to freedom.
In the morning the siren sounds the all clear
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and we emerge to a newly drawn landscape,
safe for now but still far from redemption.
7th Aliyah (Shive e) (P. 260, verse 2)
The last line of Shive- e (Ex13:1-10) states: “And so it shall be a sign
upon your hand and as a symbol on your forehead that with a mighty
hand Adonai freed us from Egypt.” According to Rabbi Bradley Shavit
Artson, Dean of the Zeigler School of Rabbinic Studies, the rabbis
have taken this metaphorical statement and expanded it to a physical
action, although the Reform Movement stresses the t’fillin’s abstract
meaning rather than turning it into a physical activity. On weekday
mornings, Jews can physically, by actually wrapping the black straps
to the arm and by placing the message laden boxes on the forehead
and on the arm, memorializing the signs, wonders and strength of
God. The T’fillin, according to the Talmud, acts as a reminder of our
own ability to join our mind, strength and heart in the service of
Adonai (nigh). The word t’fillin (Aramaic), also called totafot (Hebrew)
can literally mean “symbol”. The boxes of the t’fillin are called batim
and the straps are referred to as retzu’lot. In the arm (shel yad) of the
t’fillin, there are four passages written on a single scroll. In the head
(shel rosh) of the t’fillin the four passages are written on four separate
scrolls. The passages come from Ex13:1-10; Ex13:11-16; Deut6:4-9;
Deut11:13-20. The Deuteronomy passages contain the Sh’ma and
the first two paragraphs of the Sh’ma. In our siddur you can find it on
page 346 and 347. The first time the t’fillin is mentioned is in this very
Torah portion. It includes powerful phrases as, “remember this day on
which you went free…” and “It was with a mighty hand that the Lord
brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage”. It is striking that a
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people so recently released from bondage, in Egypt, should respond
to their freedom not by wanting to live without obligations but by
willingly binding themselves to the God who freed them. It is
remarkable, that the people, who were just freed from slavery, chose
to serve Adonai (nigh). Jews of today continue to serve the God that
freed the ancient Israelites. It might be fun and enlightening to read
the four passages in the t’fillin (Ex13:1-10; Ex13:11-16; Deut6:4-9;
Deut11:13-20).
Maftir (P. 262, verse 14)
Haftarah (P. 263 at the top)
Ya-a-mode, Ya-a-mode, Ben ben Moshe, Maftir Chazak
or:
Ya-amode, Ya-a-mode, El-e-ezar ben Daveed v’Shrona, Maftir
Chazak