Bo – Page 4 – Peninim on the Torah

והיה כי יאמרו אליכם בניכם מה העבדה הזאת לכם

Roberto Szerer In Bo, 5778

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

The Torah addresses four “sons” – each one different from the other. One is wise; one is (called) wicked; one is simple; the last one is uninitiated, unable to ask. They all have one common denominator: they are sons. One deals differently with a son. One does not attempt to “best” a son; one seeks to teach a son, to enlighten, to help him understand, to inspire him. Thus, regardless of who the son is, how he acts, or how he presents his questions – remember, he is still your son. We do not seek to prevail, to triumph, over…

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תקע בשופר גדול לחרותנו

Roberto Szerer In Bo, 5778

Teka b’Shofar Gadol l’cheiruseinu. Sound the great Shofar for our freedom

Teka b’Shofar is the tenth blessing of the Shemoneh Esrai. The specific designation of the number ten with regard to the ingathering of the exiles is not lost. Kibbutz galuyos, ingathering of the exiles, and returning to the Holy Land have been our national dream since the tragedy of the destruction of the Temple, which was provoked in part by the infighting among the people – sinaas chinam, unwarranted hatred. The return must be one embraced and personified by unity. Divisive quarreling among Jews is the sad result of arrogance and envy. One who is humble does not envy, since…

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החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5777

This month shall be for you the beginning of the months. (12:2)

Time is our most precious Divine gift. Time is life. When we give someone our time, we are giving him a part of our life. The time we give up is a part of our life, which we can no longer retrieve. Thus, it is best that we take great care in how we spend that time. The quantity and quality of time we spend with our children manifests how much we value our relationship with them. If our relationship is all about talk, but does not involve our input of time, it is a sad commentary on that relationship….

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והיה כי יאמרו אליכם בניכם מה העבודה הזאת לכם?

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Bo, 5777

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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והיה כי יאמרו אליכם בניכם מה העבדה הזאת לכם

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

תקע בשופר גדול לחרותנו

Teka b’Shofar Gadol l’cheiruseinu. Sound the great Shofar for our freedom

החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים

This month shall be for you the beginning of the months. (12:2)

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)

YEARS

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