No one saw his fellow

 and no one rose

from where he was three days,

 but all the

Israelites had light

in their dwelling places.

(Shemot 10:26)

A man could not see his

brother – Something new appeared before their eyes, a partition between the

light and their eyes. Even people close to each other could not see one

another. And so it is written in Midrash Rabba:

"A darkness one can feel"

– how thick was this darkness? Our rabbis said: Thick as a dinar, as is written

"can feel" – something of substance."

And no man rose from where he

was – It is not the nature of darkness to restrict one to the extent that

he cannot rise, for even the blind can walk and grope in the dark. Therefore we

understand that they were frightened of strange apparitions to the point where

they could not move from their places out of fear, as happens to a person who

is frightened by sudden disaster.

But the Israelites had light

in their dwelling places – In reference to the arov * and hail, the Land of Goshen is mentioned, whereas here it

says "in their dwelling places". This is to explain for us the

mystery of the matter, that the darkness upon the land existed only in the eyes

of the Egyptians, and therefore even an Israelite in close proximity to an Egyptian

had light, and this is the reason for "in their dwelling places",

for it refers to the Egyptian dwellings, that is to say, even in Egyptian

settlements, neighboring Israelites did see light.

(Rabbi Shmuel Yitzhak Reggio, Shemot 10:23)

*Translator's

comment: Although traditional commentary understood arov to be a swarm

of assorted wild animals, modern researchers identify arov as swarms of

mosquitoes.

The Broken Man

Moshe Meir

The ten

plagues are divided up among two parashot – Va-era – and this week's portion – Bo.

Close examination reveals differences between the two sections. Pharaoh's

reactions to last week's plagues are:

[BLOOD] And

the soothsayers of Egypt

did thus with their spells, and Pharaoh's heart toughened and he did not heed

them.

[FROGS] And Pharaoh

called to Moses and Aaron and said, "Entreat the Lord that He take the

frogs from my people and I shall send off the people, that they may sacrifice

to the Lord." [After their removal – ] And Pharaoh saw that there was

relief and he hardened his heart and did not heed them, just as the Lord had

spoken.

[LICE] And the

soothsayers said to Pharaoh, "God's finger it is!" And Pharaoh's

heart toughened and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken.

[THE SWARM]

And Pharaoh called to Moses and to Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your

god in the land.: [Following the rejection of this possibility] And Pharaoh

said I myself will send you off, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your god in

the wilderness, only you must not go far away. Entreat on my behalf. [After the

disappearance

of the swarm] And Pharaoh hardened his heart this time, too, and he did not

send off the people.

[PESTILENCE]

And Pharaoh sent and, look, not a single one had died of the livestock of Israel, and Pharaoh's

heart hardened, and he did not send off the people.

[BOILS] And

the soothsayers could not stand before Moses because of the burning rash, for

the burning rash was on the soothsayers and in all of Egypt. And

the Lord toughened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not heed them…

[HAIL] And

pharaoh went and called to Moses and to Aaron and said to them, "I have

offended this time. The Lord is in the right and I and my people are in the

wrong. Entreat the Lord, and no more of God's thunder and hail! And let me send

you off, and you shall not continue to stay." [After the cessation of the

hail] And Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had stopped,

and he continued to offend, and he hardened his heart, both he and his

servants. And Pharaoh's heart toughened and he did not send off the Israelites.

All of these

reactions are of a single cloth. When Pharaoh changes his mind, his first

position is gentle and receptive, whereas the second is harsh and final. His

reactions to the plagues in Parashot Bo, however, are completely different.

[LOCUST-

following the warning] And he said to them, "May the Lord be with you the

way I would send you off with your little ones! For evil is before your faces.

No so. Go, pray, the men, and worship the Lord, for that is what you seek."

And he drove them out from Pharaoh's presence. [Following the plague] And Pharaoh

hastened to call to Moses and to Aaron, and he said, "I have offended

before the Lord your god and before you. And now, forgive, pray, my offense,

just this time, and entreat the Lord your god, that He take away from me this

death." [After the dispersal of the locust's And the lord toughened Pharaoh's

heart, and he did not send the Israelites off.

Pharaoh's

position following the warning is complex, hesitant, and confused, changing as

it moves from beginning to conclusion.

[DARKNESS – following

the plague] And Pharaoh called to Moses and said, "Go, worship the Lord.

Only your sheep and your cattle will be set aside. You little ones, too, may go

with you." And Moses said, "You yourself too shall provide us

sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we do them to the Lord our God… And

the Lord toughened Pharaoh's heart and he did not want to send them off. And

Pharaoh said to him, "Go away from me. Watch yourself. Do not again see my

face, for on the day you see my face, you shall die."

Pharaoh's second

position here differs from all those preceding. It has no closing; it is rather

a systems meltdown. He does not react to the request to leave Egypt; he is

offensive and threatening.

If we can free

ourselves of seeing Pharaoh as 'the other', we will find him to be a mirror of

man as man. In our parasha in particular – where he reaches a stage of

crisis – his shell peels away and his human and fragile self is exposed. This

is a man: conflicted between different yearnings, between his desired reality

and the sharp knife which punctures his dreams. This is a man: he is aware that

he is wrong, but despite this he clings to his position. Lacking justification,

he rages and threatens. The 'other', in his time of calamity, becomes most human.

The strength of the powerful lies in his ability to see this 'other', and to

inscribe him as a mirror in his book of books.

Moshe

Meir, educator, Moderator of Beit Midrash study groups, Doctorate in Jewish

Philosophy. His book "Two Together" on the new religious-secular

philosophy will be published soon.

"This Month"

The renewal of this moon will be

the beginning of renewals for you; that is to say, when you discern the

renewal of the light of the moon, you will be aroused to accept upon yourselves

similar rejuvenation; you shall

determine your moons, your

periods of time by taking note of this ever fresh recurring rejuvenation. Writ

does not say "This month will be the beginning of months" but

"the beginning of your months". It is not a question of the

actual months, but of our months.

(Rabbi Shimson Rafael Hirsch on Exodus 12:2)

The "Erev Rav"

(Motley Throng): Two Points of View

"Your people have sinned."

It is not written 'the people have sinned' but 'your people have

sinned'. The erev rav which you accepted and converted on your own and

did not consult with me, and you said that it would be good for strangers to

adhere to the Shekhina, they have sinned and corrupted.

(Rashi, Exodus 32:7)

"He Has Also Loved the

Nations". Even the nations of the world, such as the erev rav and

those nations which converted and came to receive the Torah together with

Israel, them too did the Holy One, Blessed Be He, love, and they, too, received

reward, as is written in the Psalm: "The Lord will rise us and his enemies

will be dispersed" where "the seat of the Almighty" is also

mentioned.

(Rashbam, Devarim 33:3)

"The People" is, in

Gematria, the equivalent of Also the Erev Rav".

(Baal HaTurim, Shemot 16:17)

The mitzvah of ‘remembering

personal redemption.

You shall celebrate it as an

eternal ruling" – Regarding the festival enumerated in Parashat Emor, it

is written "It shall be a ruling forever for all your generations."

It is obvious that such great joy as that experienced by those delivered from

their suffering in Egypt

and indentured slavery to become a nation distinguished by its kings and

priests, it is natural and civil to celebrate this day. But this applies to this

generation, but for later generations which were not witness to this great

achievement, and were not partner to their travails, this would be unnatural.

It is, therefore a Torah ruling, as all Torah rulings, and therefore "for

your generations it shall an eternal ruling." For the current generation

it is not a edict and ruling, but proper behavior and axiom of the laws of nature.

 (Meshekh Hokhma, Shemot 12:14)

"And you shall no bone

thereof": The Symbols Expressing the Significance of the Delivery from Egypt.

And the Lord said to Moses and

Aaron, "This is the statute of the Passover offering: no foreigner shall

eat of it. And every man's slave, purchased with silver, you shall circumcise,

then shall he eat of it. A settler or hired worker shall not eat of it. In one

house shall it be eaten, you shall not take out any meat from the house, and

no bone shall you break in it. All the community of Israel thus shall do. And should a

sojourner sojourn with you and make the Passover offering to the Lord, he must

circumcise every male of his, then may he draw near to do it and he shall be

like a native of the land, but no uncircumcised man shall eat of it. One law

shall there be for the native and for the sojourner who sojourns in the land.

(Shemot 12:43-49)

And no bone shall you break in

it. – The real offering consists primarily of the blood, the flesh (i.e.,

the muscles) that is to say: the active part of the body; excluding the bones,

which only form the passive framework. An offering is essentially a giving up

of oneself and of the activities prompted by one's own will. In the Pessach

offering one receives oneself back. This symbolic "enjoying of oneself

again", represents the gift of the return of one's personality, i.e.,

regained freedom of will. This refers primarily only to the active part of the

personality – the muscles. With this flesh, this precursor of the nefesh

, the soul, there are the bones, the means placed at the service of the will,

to enable the activity of the muscles to function, and to hold the whole

together. They are not the creature itself but they are placed at the disposal

of the creature and in conjunction with it, "bone with flesh", they

represent, not indeed activity, but the means by which activity is achieved. As

long as the flesh on them can represent the dedication by one's own free will

of one's activities to God, i.e., as long is the flesh is pure, the bones, as

the means used by this free will for activities, themselves become important,

and must be treated with respect, must be protected from fracture. Apart from

their use in conjunction with the flesh in pure and holy uses, the means

themselves are worthless. In conjunction with it, they take on the importance

and meaning of our morally free personality. Hence the dictum: If it has not an

olive [size] of meat, there is no [injunction against] breaking the bone; the

impure person is enjoined from breaking the bone.

(Pesahim 84).

Taken together with the two

preceding precepts the verse would express: No person is to be withdrawn from

the home, no flesh from the person, and no bone from the flesh; the consecrated

idea of the home is to hold all everything fast itself.

(Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, Shemot 1243-40. Translated by Isaac

Levy)

(Editor's comment: Following R'

Hirsch's thoughts on the Temple, we can understand the verse continuing

the laws of the Pascal lamb sacrifice "There shall be one rule for the

citizen and the stranger (49) " as an

ethical statement expressing the deep significance of the delivery from Egypt:

no man's freedom can be based upon the negation of another people's freedom or

equality.)

Why Is the Prohibition of

Observed Only One Day

Rabbi Yossi the Galilean said:

From whence do we know that on the Pesach in Egypt the prohibition on leavened

bread lasted only one day? Writ teaches: "Unleavened bread may not be

eaten" and this is immediately followed by "Today you are

departing."

(Bavli, Pesahim 96b)

On the Pesach in Egypt, the

hametz prohibition was for a single day, therefore – they wrote – the rejoicing

was not instituted as it was on other holidays. In my opinion, the reason for

instructing them regarding generations is to teach the perfection of His

commandments, for all the nations customarily observe the defeat of their

enemies as a holiday of victory. But not so in Israel, they do not celebrate the defeat

of their enemies and do not joyfully commemorate it, as is written, "Do

not rejoice in the defeat of your enemy… lest God see and it be sinful in His

eyes, and He rescind his anger from him" (Mishlei,

54:9). A man of superior qualities does not rejoice in the fall of his enemy,

because the joy is bad in God's eyes, and that which is bad in the eyes of God

must be hated, and therefore on the day of Pesach (the sacrifice of the Pascal

lamb) mention is not made of the Festival of Matzoth, because on that day God

punished the Egyptians. We only recall that He delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, but there is no

celebration and holiday over the defeat of the enemies.

("Meshekh Hokhma" of Reb Meir Simcha of Dvinsk on Shemot

12:15)

"And the men borrowed

Suffering Knows No Boundaries.

When they realized that their

deliverance would be delayed 12 months until the judgment of Egypt, and they (Israel)

saw how their (the Egyptian's) situation seriously deteriorated from [the

plague of] the swarm on, and then how during the plague of darkness no one

could move and all suffered for three days while Israel enjoyed light in their

settlements, they (children of Israel) extended them food and all

necessities, and did not rejoice in their misfortune and took no revenge, thus

Israel found great favor in their eyes.

(Haamek Davar, Shemot 11:2).

"And the

into your houses to scourge."

In order to eradicate

these false principles, the Law commands us to offer sacrifices only of these

three kinds: "Ye shall bring your offering of the cattle [viz.], of the

herd and of the flock" (Lev. i. 2).

Thus the very act which is considered by the heathen to be a great crime, is our

means of approaching God, and obtaining His pardon for our sins. In this

manner, evil principles, the diseases of the human soul, are cured by other

principles which are diametrically opposite.

This is also the

reason why we were commanded to kill a lamb on Passover, and to sprinkle the

blood thereof outside on the gates. We had to free ourselves of evil doctrines

and to proclaim the opposite, viz., that the very act which was then considered

as being the cause of death would be the cause of deliverance from death.

"And the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer

to come unto your houses to smite you" (Exod.

xii. 23). Thus they were rewarded for openly performing a service every

part of which was objected to by the idolaters.

To the above reason for the

exclusive selection of the three kinds of animals for sacrifices, we may add

the following, namely, that these species are animals which can be gotten very

easily, contrary to the practice of idolaters that sacrifice lions, bears, and

wild beasts.    

(Maimonides, 'Guide for the Perplexed' Part 3, Chap. 46)

"As God commanded Moshe

and Aaron, so they did"

The Mekhilta explained "Even

Moshe and Aaron" – the revelation is that they took no privileges for

themselves, but went themselves to choose a Pascal lamb and slaughter it.

(Haamek Davar, ibid. 12:58)

"Because you left Egypt, the

house of slaves"

'House' is family, and

the meaning [of the passage] is – spiritual delivery from a state of acceptance

of slavery, and this (delivery) is a greatness of the spirit, the opposite of

'slave of slaves', and all this is indication that it is my desire to be king

over them, and that their subservience to a ruler of flesh and blood does me

dishonor.

(Haamek Davar, 13:3)

MIDRASHEI TSAFON – From the

pen of Ronen Ahituv

And every male servant . . and

you shall circumcise him and he shall eat of it… (12:42)

On the basis of this, Rav said:

We do not recite "We were slaves" (Devarim

6:21) on the eve of Pesach, because the servant cannot recite this,

because his fathers were not in Egypt, and he is not a free man; but rather [we

recite] "In the beginning our fathers were idol worshippers, and now God

has brought us close to worship Him." And how has he brought us close? As

it is written, "And you shall circumcise him"

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