Listen to tonight's class on Pesah, "Reflecting the Light," here.
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Showing posts with label Bo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bo. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Monday, January 27, 2020
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Parashat Bo: Quality Time Together
Quality Time Together
A Message for Parashat Bo 2018
Click here to view as PDF
The Hebrew root shamar (שמר)
is mentioned several times in Parashat Bo, each time referring to a
different verb or action. Am Yisrael were commanded to separate a lamb
prior to its sacrifice le-mishmeret – “for examination” (12:6), they
were furthermore instructed u-shmartem et ha-massot – to “safeguard the massot”
(12:17), and they were twice told u-shmartem – to eternally “observe the
service of the korban Pesah” (12:25, 13:10). Indeed, the very night of
departure from Egypt was designated as a night of shemirah:
It is a night of “shimurim” for God,
to take them out of the Land of Egypt. This was the night for God; a “shimurim”
for all Bnei Yisrael for their generations. (Shemot 12:42)
This pasuk implies that the night of the 14th
of Nissan exhibits a “shared shemirah,” as both God and Am Yisrael
will experience it as an evening of “shimurim.” What is the meaning of
this “shimurim,” and how do we perform it “for generations”?
R. Avraham Ibn Ezra suggested that shemirah in this
context refers to this word’s standard association – to guard and protect. God
commanded Am Yisrael to treat the night as a guard (shomer)
protects a city. Just as a responsible guard must stay awake all night at his
post, so too must Am Yisrael stay awake throughout this night. But what
was the purpose of this “all-night” endeavor? It surely wasn’t to eat the korban
Pesah, as according to most authorities it needed to be consumed by
midnight. It wasn’t intended for the retelling of yessiat Missrayim either,
as that must be done while eating the korban Pesah, massah, and maror.
Why, then, was Am Yisrael signed up for an “all-night shift” on the
night of the 14th of Nissan?
Let us shift our focus to the beginning of the pasuk,
which details God’s role in this shemirah: “It is a night of shimurim
for God…this was the night for God.” The pasuk clearly states that
God, as it were, took ownership of this night – it is “His night.” The shimurim
duty of Am Yisrael thus flows from His possession. God seemingly says,
“Since it is my night, and on it I will perform my own shimurim, you, Am
Yisrael, must do so as well.” It appears, then, that there is no practical,
action-based purpose to this all-night endeavor of leil shimurim beyond
the simple (yet awesome) experience of sharing the night awake and in the
presence of God – “on His night.”
R. Shimon ben Semah Duran (Rashbass) suggested a
similar understanding of leil shimurim in his commentary to the
Haggadah. In the well-known anecdote recited at the seder every year,
several prominent tana’im retold yessiat Missrayim throughout the
night, until their students informed them that the time for the morning keriat
shema had arrived. Rashbass suggested that the reason for the
rabbis’ long-winded retelling of yessiat Missrayim was in order to
fulfill the mandate of leil shimurim. Beyond the structured missvot
of korban Pesah, massah and maror, the night of 14 Nissan sets
forth the obligation to stay awake and experience the entire night.
Since most of our lives and the decisions we make are driven
by practical considerations, the concept of leil shimurim may seem
foreign. It is difficult to see the “gain” in staying up all night without a
set plan of action. Conceptualizing our relationship with God as similar to
that of a loved one, however, may help our understanding. We can relate to the
enriching experience of simply spending time together with a person whom we
cherish. It is not the food that we eat, the show that we watch, nor the game
that we play that endures. It is the simple reality of quality time spent
together. Similarly, leil shimurim is the night designated for us to
“spend together” with God – without a scripted plan or course of events.
The concept of leil shimurim must extend further than
one night a year. It must serve as our paradigm for connection, and become our
guiding light on a continuous search for moments in the presence of God. Those
moments, we know, are invaluable. They represent our opportunity to bond with
God during the simple, yet ever important quality time together.
Monday, January 15, 2018
Parashat Bo: Communal Maturity
Communal Maturity
A Message for Parashat Bo 2017
Click here to view as PDF
The detailed laws that Am Yisrael was
commanded on the night before their exodus from Egypt reveal a recurring theme
of the “house” and “household.” They were instructed with regards to the korban
Pesah, “let every man take a lamb for a father’s house, a lamb for a
household” (12:3), and further informed that if the household was too
small to consume a full lamb, “it must take together with its neighbor who is
close to its house” (4). The blood of the lamb was to be placed on “the
doorposts and lintel of the house” (7), serving as “a sign for you upon
the house in which you are” (13), in order that “He shall not allow the
Destroyer to come into your houses to scourge” (23). Each man was
commanded to not leave the entrance “of his house” until morning (22),
and to teach his children in the future: “A Passover sacrifice to God, who
passed over the houses of Bnei Yisrael in Egypt when he scourged
Egypt, and our households He rescued” (27).
The significance of the “house” and
“household” to the story of yessiat Misrayim became clear when the
nation was twice commanded to remember the exodus from the “house of slaves”
(13:3, 14).[1]
They were perhaps being taught in that instance that their freedom from a
“house of slavery” was appropriately designated by the establishment of
independent “houses” and “households.”
The Torah surprisingly shifts from its
emphasis on the “house,” however, when commanding future observance of the laws
of Pesah. Whereas the nation was initially commanded, “The very first day you
shall expunge leaven (se’or) from your houses,” and,
“Seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses” (12:19), the
command upon entrance into Israel was different: “And no leavening of yours
shall be seen in all your territory” (13:7). Whereas the theme of
“house” and “household” dominated the description of Pesah in Egypt, its
repeated command for future observance bore no mention of it whatsoever.
This conspicuous change in theme was repeated
in the context of another dominant feature of the commands – the distinguishing
“sign” (ot) of Am Yisrael. In Egypt, the blood on the houses
stood as their “sign”: “And the blood will be a sign for you upon the
houses in which you are” (12:13). The future “sign,” however, bore no
connection to houses or households and instead lived on through the tefillin:
“And it shall be a sign for you on your hand and a remembrance between
your eyes…” (13:10, 16).
The establishment of Am Yisrael as a
free and independent nation began with complete separation. This was initially
performed by God through the plagues,[2]
and then symbolized by the nation’s various observances in their “houses” and
“households” which separated them from the “house of Pharaoh.” The future
vision for the nation, however, was considerably different. The distinguishing
“sign” was no longer displayed on their houses, but instead concealed on their
arms. The spatial isolation necessary for Am Yisrael’s establishment in
Egypt was replaced by self-realization and demonstration.[3]
We often misunderstand our communities’ source
of strength. We believe that it is the separate “houses” and “households” that
empower the members, and we therefore fear involvement with others. The Torah’s
deliberate shift in description from the initial creation of Am Yisrael
to its eternal existence teaches otherwise. Freed from the “house of slavery,”
the nation was further freed to endeavor from their “houses” and appropriately
engage with others. Though a sense and practice of separateness was eternally
enduring, it no longer existed as a spatial segregation but as an existential
realization and performance.
[1] A depiction of the
bondage as a “house entrapment” is particularly striking considering the
etymology of the name “Pharaoh,” from the Egyptian words “great house.”
[2] Recall last week’s devar
Torah, “Separation.”
[3] Most appropriate in this
context is R. Eliezer’s well-known interpretation, “It shall be for you a
sign – for you a sign and not for others a sign” (Menahot 37b).
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