Bo – Page 4 – Peninim on the Torah

והיה כי יאמרו אליכם בניכם מה העבודה הזאת לכם?

And it shall be that when your children say to you, “What is this service to You?” (12:26)

The Mechilta considers this to be the question presented by the ben rasha, wicked son. He has removed Hashem from the service, refusing to recognize that what the rest of the family is doing is Divinely ordained. The wicked son has essentially removed himself from the community. This is a common excuse: “I do not have to do this, because I am not Orthodox.” Being Orthodox is not a choice. Reneging Orthodoxy is also not a choice. One either follows the law, or he does not. Excuses to justify one’s errant behavior, to assuage one’s guilt, are meaningless. On the…

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והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עשה ד' לי בצאתי ממצרים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5777

And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, “It is because of this that Hashem acted on my behalf when I left Egypt.” (13:8)

As presented in the Haggadah, this pasuk is both the response to the ben rasha, wicked son, and to the lack of questioning by the she’eino yodea lishol, child who does not realize or know that there is much to question concerning the Pesach observance. The parents of such a child must endeavor to pique his curiosity. They have an obligation to guide and teach him that he is not like everyone else. He has a destiny, a historic mission, to carry on the legacy of the Exodus and its seminal standing as the critical commencement of our becoming a…

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והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עשה ד' לי בצאתי ממצרים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5777

And you shall tell your son on that day, saying,” It is because of this that Hashem acted on my behalf when I left Egypt.” (13:8)

In the Haggadah, this is the father’s response to his errant son, the ben rasha, wicked son. He makes a derisive statement, and his father responds with a litany underscoring his historical connection with yetzias Mitzrayim, the Egyptian exodus. Does the response really clarify anything in the wicked son’s mind? For that matter, is the wicked son really seeking an answer? When someone reaches the point of derision, nothing anyone says really matters to him. He is interested only in “hit and run,” ridiculing and skewering the subject of his derision and leaving, supposedly satisfied that he has shot his…

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ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5776

And so that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son’s son that I made a mockery of Egypt. (10:2)

We celebrate the exodus from Egypt annually on Pesach, when we recall the many miracles which Hashem wrought for us. Veritably, the Exodus was a seminal event, second in importance only to the Giving of the Torah. What happened at that time to our forebears carries weight for us to this very day. After all, had they not been liberated from the Egyptian bondage, where would we be today? Indeed, it makes sense for children to celebrate their parents’ wedding anniversary. Had their parents not wed, the children would never have been born. Therefore, the parents’ wedding celebration is not…

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וידעתם כי אני ד'

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5776

That you may know that I am Hashem. (10:2)

We live in an era which may be characterized as “inexplicable.” When we look around the world and we open our minds to confront reality, it is obvious that Klal Yisrael – both as a nation in general and the individual Jew in particular – is not winning a popularity contest. Indeed, this is the way it was in Egypt. The Egyptians despised the Jews. Yet, they were not prepared to let us leave their country. “Good riddance” was not enough for them. Their deep-rooted hatred for us and for everything that we represented stoked their desire to keep us…

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והיתה צעקה גדולה בכל ארץ מצרים אשר כמהו לא נהייתה

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5776

There shall be a great outcry in the entire land of Egypt, such as there never has been. (11:6)

That there will be a loud crying is understandable. Every Egyptian home sustained the loss of its firstborn. It is a normal response to sudden death. Why was it necessary to inform the Egyptians beforehand that there would be a great outcry? What else? Horav Yechezkel Levenstein, zl, explains that the Torah is teaching us an important lesson. The great outcry which would accompany the deaths of the Egyptian firstborn, an outcry which would seize and overwhelm the entire country, was not the result of a natural reaction to sudden tragedy. This outcry was part of the middah k’neged middah,…

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ויהי בחצי הלילה וד' הכה כל בכור בארץ מצרים מבכור פרעה הישב על כסאו עד בכור השבי אשר בבית הבור.

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5776

It was on midnight that Hashem smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of every captive who was in the dungeon. (12:29)

We have reached the last of the ten makkos, plagues. This is the end of the line. Every firstborn – kol b’chor – implies that any firstborn who had the misfortune to be in Egypt at the time of the makkos bechoros, plague of the firstborn, also died. If: he was not an Egyptian; he was a tourist visiting the country; he was a temporary resident on business; he was not an Egyptian, but rather a member of a different nation – if he had a firstborn, or if he was a firstborn, he suffered the same fate as the…

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ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים... וידעתם כי אני ד'

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5775

So that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son’s son that I made a mockery of Egypt… that you may know that I am Hashem. (10:2)

The Revelation of the Divine Presence witnessed by the Jewish People in Egypt was unparalleled. They saw how Hashem manipulated the “laws of nature” to serve the needs of His People, as he meted out justice to the evil Egyptians. This year of Revelation led up to their liberation from Egypt, followed by the Splitting of the Red Sea, which was the precursor to the seminal event in Jewish history: the Giving of the Torah. It would all be for naught, however, had it not been transmitted to future generations. The Torah invokes us to relate this experience to our…

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דבר נא באזני העם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5775

Please speak in the ears of the People. (11:2)

Rashi quotes the Midrash which explains the reason that Hashem asked Moshe Rabbeinu to make a special effort to convince the Jews to request valuables from the Egyptians. If they would not do so, the neshamah, soul, of Avraham Avinu would take umbrage, saying that Hashem had carried out His promise that the Jews would be enslaved and persecuted, while he had not carried out the second prophecy, concerning the Jews’ exodus amid great wealth. It appears that Hashem’s primary concern was regarding what Avraham would say. What about Hashem’s word? The Almighty informed Avraham that two things would occur:…

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והיה לאות על ידכה ולטוטפות בין עיניך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5775

And it shall be a sign upon your arm, and an ornament between your eyes. (13:16)

The four Scriptural passages contained in the Tefillin are basic to Judaism. They address the concepts of the Oneness of G-d, reward and punishment, and the obligation of a Jew to observe all of the mitzvos of the Torah. Also contained therein is a reminder of the Exodus which catalyzed our freedom from tyranny, leading up to our acceptance of the Torah and eventual initiation as Hashem’s People. Thus, wearing Tefillin daily is an affirmation of our belief in all of the above. A Jew who does not put on Tefillin is referred to as a poshei Yisrael b’gufo, Jewish…

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והיה כי יאמרו אליכם בניכם מה העבודה הזאת לכם?

And it shall be that when your children say to you, “What is this service to You?” (12:26)

והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עשה ד' לי בצאתי ממצרים

And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, “It is because of this that Hashem acted on my behalf when I left Egypt.” (13:8)

והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר בעבור זה עשה ד' לי בצאתי ממצרים

And you shall tell your son on that day, saying,” It is because of this that Hashem acted on my behalf when I left Egypt.” (13:8)

ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים

And so that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son’s son that I made a mockery of Egypt. (10:2)

וידעתם כי אני ד'

That you may know that I am Hashem. (10:2)

והיתה צעקה גדולה בכל ארץ מצרים אשר כמהו לא נהייתה

There shall be a great outcry in the entire land of Egypt, such as there never has been. (11:6)

ויהי בחצי הלילה וד' הכה כל בכור בארץ מצרים מבכור פרעה הישב על כסאו עד בכור השבי אשר בבית הבור.

It was on midnight that Hashem smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of every captive who was in the dungeon. (12:29)

ולמען תספר באזני בנך ובן בנך את אשר התעללתי במצרים... וידעתם כי אני ד'

So that you may relate in the ears of your son and your son’s son that I made a mockery of Egypt… that you may know that I am Hashem. (10:2)

דבר נא באזני העם

Please speak in the ears of the People. (11:2)

והיה לאות על ידכה ולטוטפות בין עיניך

And it shall be a sign upon your arm, and an ornament between your eyes. (13:16)

YEARS

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