Parshas Bo 5767

Commentary by Rabbi Ephraim Nisenbaum

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The last three plagues that were visited upon the Egyptians were locusts, darkness, and the Plague of the Firstborn. The locust devoured all the vegetation remaining from the hail. The darkness was actually divided in two parts. The first three days were pitch black, and nothing whatsoever could be seen. The latter three days of the plague the darkness was so thick that the Egyptians were frozen in their positions. The darkness did not affect the Jews, though. They could see where the Egyptians had hidden all of their treasures, yet nothing was taken. Although the Jews may have had legitimate claims against the Egyptians, they took nothing. Before leaving Egypt the people were ordered to ask the Egyptians to give them their valuables, and miraculously, they complied willingly.

In the final plague, every Egyptian firstborn died exactly at midnight. As the plague began to take its toll, Pharaoh feared for his own life, for he too was a firstborn. He ran through the streets looking for Moshe, pleading that he leave Egypt with the nation.

Shortly before the last plague, the nation was given the mitzvah of the Jewish calendar. The month of Nissan was to be the “beginning of the months”. Because this month marked the birth of the Jewish nation, it would also mark the beginning of the months of the year. Although Rosh Hashana marks the anniversary of Creation, and thus the beginning of the year, Nissan, the month of the Exodus, is called the first month.

The people were also given the mitzvah of the Pesach offering. They were instructed to take a lamb–-the Egyptian deity–-and slaughter it before the eyes of the Egyptians. This took a tremendous amount of courage and trust in G-d. The blood of the sacrifice was smeared on the doorposts of every Jewish home to protect them from the plague. Although G-d, of course, needed no reminders of who was Jewish and who was not, the blood served as witness to the courage of the Jews and in this merit they were saved.

The Pesach offering had to be eaten with certain stipulations. The people had to arrange groups to eat the offering before it could be slaughtered. Once the animal was slaughtered nobody else was allowed to join in the eating. The sacrifice also had to be eaten roasted and not cooked. None of the bones were allowed to be broken during the course of the eating.

The portion ends with some of the other mitzvos, which were meant as reminders of the Exodus. The firstborn son has a special sanctity about him, and must be redeemed by the Kohain. The firstborn sheep and cow also had a special sanctity and had to be given to the Kohain. Tefillin are worn on a man’s arm and head to recall G-d’s taking out the Jewish people with an “outstretched arm”.

…let the men go now and you will serve G-d... (Exod. 10:11)

Some commentators explain that Pharaoh wanted the women to remain behind, because he knew that the nation could not survive spiritually without the women’s help.

Rav Yechezkel Sarne was once at a gathering of leading rabbis, grandchildren of the previous generation’s leaders. He stood up and said, “Many of you probably think your grandfathers did the most for the Jewish people in the past hundred years. Well, you are all wrong. The person who did the most never even studied a page of the Talmud!”

The rabbis protested that Rav Sarne’s words were offensive, but Rav Sarne disagreed. “I’ll even tell you more. When I tell you the name, you will all agree that this person accomplished the most—it was Sarah Schenirer, founder of the Beth Jacob school system for girls.”

The rabbis looked at each other sheepishly and agreed, for, indeed, without the Beth Jacob movement, the face of Torah Judaism would have disappeared.

Did You Know...

When donning the tefillin, one may not interrupt for any reason until after the head tefillin have been adjusted properly around his head. One may not even answer Amen, or any other response to the prayers. One should not even signal anyone else without speaking.

If one did speak before reciting the blessing on the head tefillin, he should recite the blessing for the hand tefillin a second time before reciting the blessing for the head tefillin.

Because there is a question regarding the recital of the blessing on the head tefillin, following the blessing one should immediately say Baruch shem k’vod malchuso l’olam va’ed, in order that it should not be considered a blessing in vain.