THEY SHALL TAKE SOME OF THE BLOOD AND PUT IT ON THE TWO DOORPOSTS AND THE LINTEL OF THE HOUSE IN WHICH THEY ARE TO EAT IT.

(Shemot 12: 5)

 

And put it on the two doorposts and the lintel - On the inside. Are you saying it should be on the inside or, rather, on the outside? We learn from the verse, the blood shall be a sign for you (12: 13) - a sign for you and not for others.

(Mechiltah Bo Masekhet DePaskha 6)

 

The Blood on the Lintel: Inside? Outside? For Whose Benefit?

Many said that blood was placed on the lintel and the two doorposts in order to show that the abomination of Egypt was being publicly slaughtered, since by that time, they [the Egyptians] were afraid of them [the Jews]. But if that were true, the blood would have been placed on the gate of the courtyard, yet they placed the blood secretly after closing the gate of the courtyard, and they slaughtered [the paschal lamb] at twilight, nearing night-time, so that no one would see them. Furthermore, no one went outside the door of his house until morning (12: 22), at which time they set off on their way and each person closed the gate of his courtyard, since the Egyptians thought that they would return. The only reason for placing blood on the lintel was as an atonement for all those eating within the house, and as a sign for the destroyer to see [and pass over the house], in the manner [described in the verse] and put a mark [on the heads of those to be spared] (Ezekiel 9: 4).

(Ibn Ezra on Shemot 12: 7)

 

We have been commanded to slaughter the paschal lamb and to sprinkle with its blood in Egypt the gates from outside, so that we should make manifest our rejection of these opinions, proclaim what is contrary to them, and bring forth the belief that the act, which they deemed to be a cause of destruction, saves from destruction.

(RaMBaM, Guide of the Perplexed III: 46, pg. 582 of Pines translation)

 

 

Between Servitude and Freedom

Moshe Landsman

 

Parashat Bo is the third of the trilogy treating Israel's liberation from Egyptian servitude. In parashat Shemot we see the process of enslavement, the consequences of oppression, and the factors internal to the Jewish People that form a foundation that makes liberation possible. Parashat Va'Eirah describes the moment of transition in which the people begin replacing their slave mentality with a mentality of freedom. In our present parasha, we see the people already released from their toils (according to the Sages, by this stage the people were no longer employed in hard labor), moving quickly and with an outstretched arm towards physical liberation from the Egyptian culture.

The most salient act of liberation in the parasha is the offering of the Paschal lamb, and it is accompanied by a pronouncement: This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you (12: 2). This announcement serves to endow the offering of the Paschal sacrifice in Egypt with historical significance. We count the months of each year from this act, starting each new year with a new beginning of liberation. Actually, our parasha and the preceding parshiyot of liberation are replete with pronouncements regarding the historical significance of the Exodus from Egypt. Incidentally, the historical significance established by this trilogy does not only look forward to the future, but also to the past as well. It situates the present within the flow of Jewish history and within the continuous dialogue between Israel and God. Indeed, the late Salvadoran psychologist, Ignacio Martin-Baro, wrote that the restoration of an oppressed people's historical consciousness is an important element in the process of its liberation.

The problem is that after liberation, and, actually, throughout the five books of the Torah, Israel repeatedly suffers pangs of nostalgia, wishing to return to servitude. Its conduct vacillates between moments of longing for enslavement and "servile" behavior, and yearnings for freedom. I believe that a number of principles may be learned from this process:

1.   Liberation is not identical with freedom. Liberation is a process, a coming-to-be, while freedom is a mode of being.

This is readily seen in our parasha, and even more so in the two preceding it. The attitudes and conduct of the Hebrews and of the Egyptians are in constant flux. Even Pharaoh with his hardened heart revises his position as the plot thickens.

2.   Freedom is not a static condition, but rather dynamic and unstable. This derives from the very nature of freedom - its most central characteristic being the ability to make choices. That it, the freedom to choose allows a person to choose servility and endanger freedom itself, throwing it off-balance.

An example of this may be found in Moses' request that God erase him from His book if the Jewish People should lose its role in the spiritual history of the world. This request is not just part of the bargaining in which Moses engaged with God after the sin of the golden calf. It also represents Moses' freely taken decision; if all of the earlier events would be drained of significance, he no longer wishes to participate in the process.

3.   By virtue of its preoccupation with the present, freedom lacks the historical vision that is sometimes exploited in order to justify actions that would be considered questionable under normal conditions. In parashat Bo, this becomes evident in connection with the exploitation of the Egyptians. In contrast to the historical attitude of liberation, free people make use of the dynamic orientation of the present, usually without any concern for future consequences. Thus, the notion of "ends justifying the means" is appropriate to the libratory process, but not to the actual experience of freedom.

4.   Sacrifice is part of both liberation and freedom, but it is expressed in different ways. During the process of liberation, the ability and willingness to make sacrifices develops together with the capacity to plan for the future. Sometimes engagement with the people's heritage inspires sacrifice. It expresses a willingness to merge with a common fate, often a fate belonging wholly to the future. In contrast, sacrifice stemming from freedom is a result - often unavoidable - of present moral choice. Sacrifice associated with freedom is unplanned. It sometimes occurs out of lack of concern for future consequences. While the sacrifices of liberation involve melding together with a group, those of freedom stem from an individual's personal decision, sometimes taken in a mood of profound isolation.

In the parasha of Shemot, Pharaoh's daughter sees a Hebrew infant crying and decides to take pity on him. She transgresses her father's command and even returns the baby to his mother to be nursed. This was a personal decision taken without consideration for immediate or long-term consequences.

5.   Liberation is a means, while freedom is the goal. A corollary of this is that liberation does not always bring freedom. However, sometimes freedom can be used to help promote liberation.

Moses' background - a Hebrew raised as a freeman - is an example. A freeman can promote the process of the people's liberation because having experienced freedom himself, he is acquainted with its nature.

As I have said, liberation does not necessarily bring freedom. The book of Devarim concludes without resolving whether the people are bound towards servitude or towards freedom. Will the people become free individuals, serving God in joy and gladness (Devarim 28: 47), or will Yeshurun grow fat and kick (paraphrase of Devarim 32:15)? The historical perspective of a people undergoing liberation may be short-sighted.

There is an additional reason why liberation does not always lead to freedom: Freedom generates anxiety. As I mentioned above, freedom is realized in isolation. Similarly, freedom requires us to stand before the abyss of nothingness. Choice, made by leaping into uncertainty, always leads to yet another moment of choice. The uncertainty is unending; in its place comes yet greater uncertainty. When the process of liberation leads us to recurring anxiety, we may very well flee from it and choose a less taxing path.

Despite all of he above, there is something within us which leads us towards freedom. We experience this force as light, authenticity, or self discovery. The flight from freedom brings about feelings of betrayal, of unreceptiveness. We find it difficult to flee from ourselves.

Today we must also examine where the process of our people's liberation is taking us. It is easy to know if we are moving in the right direction: the nearer we approach freedom, the greater will be our anxiety.

Dr. Moshe Landsman is an educational and developmental psychologist.

 

 

And So It Shall Be as a Sign Upon Your Hand

And so it is with a person's two hands, for the left hand, being weaker, is near the heart, the seat of wisdom. The intellectual portion of the heart weakens the hand, for the hand deals with physical actions. However, the right hand is near the liver, which is the seat of the appetitive faculty, which does not oppose the hand, for that is its main power, but the seat of rational mind is near the weak hand. And when He says and so it shall be as a sign upon your hand, it is as if He said it shall be as a sign upon your heart, since the heart causes the hand to be weak. Thus the point of the mitzvah of tefillin (phylacteries) is that it serves as a reminder at the locations where the mind resides, in the brain and heart. The tefillin of the head are placed between your eyes because the eyes and he heart are panderers of sin (J. Berakhot 1: 5). That is why those two places need something to remind them of God's existence and power, in order to make people turn from sin.

(Keli Yakar Shemot 13:16)

 

"Light and Darkness"

And so, the pure righteous ones do not complain about darkness, instead, they add light. They do not complain about evil, but instead add justice. They do not complain about heresy, but instead add faith. They do not complain about ignorance, but instead add wisdom.

(R. A. Y. Kook zt"l Arpelei Tohar 27-28)

 

"Mixed Multitude": Two Views

Your people have acted basely (Shemot 32:7) - It does not say the people but rather, your people: a mixed multitude that you decided to take in and convert of your own initiative, without consulting Me, and you said it would be good to bring converts close to the Divine Presence. Now they have become debased and debase others.

(Rashi on Shemot 32: 7)

 

Lover, indeed, of peoples (Devarim 33:3). Including the nations of the world such as the mixed multitude and those of the nations who converted and came to accept the Torah together with Israel - These, too, are beloved of God, He accepted them and His presence rested upon them.

(RaShBaM Devarim 33:3)

 

[Now when Pharaoh let] the people [go…] (Shemot 13: 17): The numerical value of the people [et ha'am] is equivalent to that of also a mixed multitude [ve'gam erev rav] (12: 38).

(Ba'al Ha'Turim on Shemot 13: 17)

 

 

 

 

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