Weekly Shabbat parsha thoughts - Bo - 1.22.2010

This week’s portion (Bo – I have included a summary of the parsha below) sets up the beginning of what is one of the great creative tensions in the Torah and really for the Jewish people across the ages. This is the portion where the Jews get set free from Egypt.

It begins the struggle between being the Jews of Egypt and the Jews of the Exodus. And this is the beginning of the struggle between free expression in the world and the need to understand that we are also apart. It is the challenge of the need for Identity as a people and Engagement of the outside world. Both are requirement of being a chosen people and we need to remember that every day. Our job is not to be cloistered nor totally assimilated. Balancing on this razor’s edge is the essence of the Jewish challenge and both are needed to fulfill our obligations to ourselves and HaShem. When we swing to far to one side or another you will have problems.

And while this balancing act is a huge (and by design unending) challenge it also sets up a permanent tension for the Jewish people. And I believe that this tension and heightened challenge is a fount of greatness for the Jewish people. Having the requirement to balance these two worlds puts an active Jew in a permanent state of creative tension. Having an ideal that is based on a difficult balancing act and a world that makes it even harder to achieve that ideal allows us to access a stronger motivation for making that difference in the world we wish to see. The challenge is not simply something we should “manage” but should be viewed as a source of potential greatness or stated more accurately a motivation for creating greatness.

So we often can be frustrated by a need to balance our Jewish identity as a separate people and our desire, need and requirement to be a part of the larger world. We all have felt frustrated with this tension and balancing act but we also need to remember that this is not a problem to be “solved” but more accurately a source of potential greatness and an engine for us to continually achieve more.

It is a tension that begins with the Exodus this week – but the challenge is still with us today - but so is the engine for greatness.

Shabbat Shalom

Parshas Bo Summary from Torah.org

Moshe and Aharon forewarned Pharaoh about the Locust. His advisors begged Pharaoh to consider Moshe's request, and Pharaoh attempted to negotiate with Moshe and Aharon that the children should stay behind. When his offer was refused, all negotiations broke down and Pharaoh chased Moshe and Aharon away. The Locust swallowed up Mitzrayim (Egypt), but Pharaoh still refused to send away the Jews.

Darkness enveloped Egypt for three days. Pharaoh told Moshe that he could take out his people, but he had to leave the cattle behind. Moshe refused and Pharaoh forewarned Moshe that he could not come to him again. In truth, the next time they saw each other would be after the Death of the First Born, when Pharaoh went to Moshe.

Moshe forewarned the Egyptians about the Death of the First Born. In 12:2 Hashem (G-d) commanded Moshe and Aharon with the very first Mitzvah to be given to the Nation. The very first Korban Pesach was described along with the Mitzvos of Matzoh, Chametz, and Pesach.

The Bnai Yisroel were commanded to mark the inside of their doors with the blood of the Korban Pesach.

The plague of the Death of the First Born left Mitzrayim in mourning. Pharaoh and the Egyptians hurried the Jews out of Mitzrayim. Approximately 600,000 men besides women, children, and the elderly (3,000,000 total) as well as about 1,000,000 non-Jews (the Eruv Rav) left Mitzrayim during the Exodus. It was the year 2448, and the Pasuk says that the Jews had been in Mitzrayim for 430 years. (exactly 430 years from the Bris Bain Habisarim - The Covenant Between the Halves) The laws of the Korban Pesach were reviewed.

The Parsha concludes with a review of the laws of Pesach as well as introducing the Mitzvos of Pehter Chamor - the commandment to exchange all first born, male donkeys for a sheep; Pidyon Haben - redeeming the first born male child; and the Mitzvah of Tefillin.