Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah begins with last three of the Ten Plagues: a swarm of locusts devours all the crops and greenery; a thick darkness envelops the land; and on the 15th of the month of Nissan at midnight, all the firstborn of Egypt die.
The first specifically Jewish mitzvah is then given to the Children of Israel: to establish a calendar based on the monthly rebirth of the moon. The Israelites are also instructed to bring a “Passover offering” – a lamb or goat is to be slaughtered, and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel of every Israelite home, so that God should “pass over” (Pesakh) those homes when the plague of the firstborn takes place. The roasted meat of the offering is to be eaten that night together with matzah and bitter herbs. The death of the firstborn finally breaks Pharaoh’s resistance, and he drives the Children of Israel from his land. So hastily do they depart that there is no time for their dough to rise, hence the practice of eating matzah in commemoration of the Exodus. Before they go, they ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver and garments—fulfilling the promise made to Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth. The Children of Israel are instructed to consecrate all firstborn, and to observe the anniversary of the Exodus each year by removing all hameitz, leaven, from their possession for seven days, eating matzah, and telling the story of their redemption to their children. They are also instructed to wear tefillin on the arm and head as a reminder of the Exodus and their commitment to God as the Power of Liberation…
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וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה בִּנְעָרֵ֥ינוּ וּבִזְקֵנֵ֖ינוּ נֵלֵ֑ךְ בְּבָנֵ֨ינוּ וּבִבְנוֹתֵ֜נוּ בְּצֹאנֵ֤נוּ וּבִבְקָרֵ֙נוּ֙ נֵלֵ֔ךְ כִּ֥י חַג־יְהֹוָ֖ה לָֽנוּ׃ Moses said: “With our young ones and with our elders we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our sheep and with our oxen we will go— for it is a festival of the Divine for us.” - Shemot (Exodus) 10:9, Parshat Bo
Several years ago, I gave my thirteen-year-old son an electric guitar after he expressed a desire to play. I was concerned that it would just be another expensive fad for him, but then he surprised me by spending an enormous amount of time learning guitar from videos – The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Queen – the rock guitar classics. Some days he would sit and practice for nearly six hours at a time.
I wondered what would happen if I told him that he had to sit for six hours and practice? That would probably not have worked, and I might be arrested for child abuse. Maybe Mozart’s father could get away with that kind of thing back in the day. But now, that kind of intensity would have to come from an inner passion; in our family, you wouldn’t sit and practice for six hours unless you really wanted to. Passion and joy are totally different from self-discipline, from making and sticking to commitments and obligations. Passion and joy are also things we have as children; they’re not something we have to develop, like the adult qualities of being responsible, of following through with plans and so on. Obviously, adult qualities are also necessary. In fact, it is doubtful he would have been able to sit down and teach himself guitar like that had I not been requiring him to practice piano and drums from a very young age. I imposed an adult-based discipline structure on him, and that gave him a basic foundation of musical skill. That skill is useful for musical greatness, but not sufficient. For greatness you need to become passionately obsessed. And that kind of passion is a child-like quality; it doesn’t have to be developed or created, only uncovered and unleashed. This is especially true with spirituality. It is essential to have a committed practice, to study the teachings regularly, to put spirituality on your to-do list and use your adult mind to make it a priority. But if that’s all you’ve got, it won’t go very deep. You may master texts and rituals and words, but they will remain on the surface. You can use your adult mind to set aside times for prayer, but once you start praying, you’ve got to become like a child and cry and sing out from the heart. You can use your adult mind to set aside times for meditation, but once you start meditating, you’ve got to be really curious like a child – What is happening right now? What is my mind actually doing ayway? – rather than merely doing a technique. בִּנְעָרֵ֥ינוּ וּבִזְקֵנֵ֖ינוּ... – With our children and our elders… Pharaoh gives permission for Moses to lead his people from Egypt, but he says that only the men are allowed to go. And that is what the ego whispers to us: “It’s okay, you can do your spiritual practice – just put it on your agenda. Be adult about it.” But Moses says, “No, we’re all going – our children and elders both must both go celebrate the festival!” If we want our spiritual life to be a true celebration, and not be coopted by ego/Pharaoh, we’ve got to invoke the child within. Certainly, we need the z’keinim – the elders – as well, but once the adult mind has performed its function, once the adult mind has done its organizing and planning, give the adult a break and bring forth the child within. Only then can you really practice b’khol levav’kha – meditating and praying with all your heart, with all your being. This quality of spontaneous joy is represented by the sefirah of Yesod, Foundation – because all our practice, indeed all of life, must be built upon it.
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