Scrollers Preview - Parashat Bo 2013

Our Parasha this week completes the story of the ten plagues that strike Egypt, with the final plagues of locusts, darkness and the killing of the first born of all the Egyptians. We get the instructions to the Israelites regarding the Pesach sacrifice that they are to make on the night of vigil before their liberation. Intertwined in the narrative about the sacrifice are also instructions for the following generations to observe the festival of Pesach.

In this Torah portion, at the beginning of Chapter 12, we have the first instance of God giving ritual commandments to the Israelite people through Moses. The commandment is to mark the month of Aviv, in which the Exodus takes place, as the first month on the calendar. “this month shall mark for you the beginning of the months. . .” (Ex. 12:2) The text continues to prescribe the ritual of the Passover sacrifice and the Feast of Unleavened bread, which are celebrated in remembrance of this seminal event of liberation.

Many Medieval commentators ask why the Torah starts with the “In the beginning” – the Creation story  - and not with “This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months.” Because in their context, these rabbis are more concerned with the Jewish path of mitzvoth and halacha (law,) they wonder why it takes so long to get to the first real law in the Torah.

Here, with these regulations concerning the calendar and the first laws concerning a holiday, the Jewish way of life truly begins to take shape. We also see a weaving of past and present and future in this parasha. The text jumps back and forth from the narrative of the Israelites in Egypt putting the blood of the lamb on the door to God’s instructions to future generations to celebrate Passover “in remembrance” of these events.

God even thinks to tell us what to tell our children when they ask us about the holiday, “What do you mean by this rite?”(Ex. 12:26) And we then are to look back into our personal/mythic past and say, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, because He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses.” (12:26)

At this critical juncture in our tradition, many questions come to the surface. We have received other commandments such as circumcision and “be fruitful and multiply.” These have been communicated to individuals from God as commandments to be observed down the generations. But here, we have the first ritual I can detect that is truly communal. What does it mean to us that the Pesach holiday is the first communal observance to be commanded in the Torah? What does this say about the story of the Exodus and its status in our memory and ongoing life as a people? What does this say about who we are as a people? What does it mean that this ritual is commanded while we are still in Egypt?

So many questions, and I’m confident you’ll bring your own. Looking forward to studying with you tomorrow.

Rabbi G.

Scrollers Preview- Parashat Sh'mot 2013

In his introduction to the book of Exodus, or “Sefer Sh’mot,” Nahum Sarna calls attention to the fact that this entire book covers the events of only 2 years. As David Hays often reminds us, the book does not tell us what the 400 years of life in Egypt were like for the Israelites. Instead, there is a sharp focus on God’s intervention in our history in a particular sequence of events.

This parasha begins with the initial acts of resistance to Pharaoh’s oppression, mostly carried out by women. How ironic that Pharaoh calls for the baby boys to be thrown into the Nile, when it is women – the midwives, Pharaoh’s daughter, and Moses’ mother and sister – who begin the process the leads to redemption from Egyptian slavery.

The parasha continues to follow the early life of Moses, culminating in the selection of Moses as God’s partner in carrying out God’s redemptive plan. Having just read the book of Genesis, the stories of our matriarchs and patriarchs still echoing in our memory, it is interesting to note the parallels and contrasts between Moses’ life and the lives of the earlier ancestors, especially Jacob.

Again we have a miraculous birth, but the miracle isn’t due to a barren woman finally giving birth. Moses is one of three siblings, but it isn’t sibling rivalry that causes Moses to flee his home. In fact, Aaron and Miriam aid Moses in important ways. Moses finds his wife at a well and spends many months living with his father-in-law, but this father-in-law is not a trickster, and he easily allows Moses to return to Egypt with his wife and son. We’ll investigate these similarities and differences together and see if we can uncover an underlying message.

I look forward to starting this powerful book with you this Shabbat!