Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parshat Bo 2

we have to bring all of them with us but again Hashem strengthened parro's heart and he didn't send them out not only that par said to mosha go from here beware do not see my face anymore which was very disrespectful to the leader of the Jewish people he tells him get out I don't want to see you so Moshe said again Moshe is making fun of par you have spoken correct corly I shall never see your face again until you will come begging to see my face and that happened after the plague of the firstborn when par came running where is mosha where's Aon and he was begging them please where are they I want to see them now we turn to page 347 chapter 11 the warning of the plague of the firstborn Hashem said to mosha one more plague I shall bring upon power and upon Egypt and after that he shall send you forth from here verse three Hashem granted the people favor in the eyes of Egypt and they respected Moshe as well and therefore when the Jewish people will ask for the golden and silver vessels the Egyptians will happily give everything they have now verse 4 Moshe said and Moshe is now telling parro what Hashem is going to bring upon him so said Hashem at about midnight I shall go out in the midst of Egypt and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die and there shall be a great outcry in the entire land of Egypt such as there was never been and such as there shall never be again now we turn to page 349 verse 9 Hashem said to mosha par will not listen to you so that my Miracles may be multiplied in the land of Egypt now chapter 12 we have the first commandment the first positive Commandment that was given to the Jewish people as a nation in Egypt Hashem said to MOS Aron this month of Nissan shall be for you the beginning of the months it shall be for you you the first of the months of the year and this is a commandment to establish the calendar system with the month of Nissan as the first month of the year and that's what we keep until today even though our year starts on R which is in but our first month is in spring in Nissan and rash falls in the seventh month surprisingly because rash is the new year for the whole Humanity that is when God created Humanity all people adamar but in Nissan since the Jewish people became a nation we celebrate Nissan as our first month so we have two New Years practically that we celebrate there are more but for us in TI we celebrate rosashana the new year for the whole humanity and in Nissan we celebrate the rosashana the new year for the Jewish people now the Jewish people have a special calendar our calendar is based on the sun and that is the solar year we try to stay uh within the seasons so that PES is in the spring and sukot is in the fall and shot is in the summer and we use the lunar calendar as well we blend them together so that our months are based on the moon and our year years I'm based on the sun and that is unique the secular calendar the Gregorian calendar is only based on the Sun the new month can uh be the beginning of the moon cycle or the new month can be in the middle of the new moon cycle or at the end there's no relationship whereas by the Jewish uh month the beginning of the month is always the beginning of the cycle of the moon as well as the solar uh year we are keeping uh with it so that our holidays do not move unlike the Muslim calendar they only use the lunar calendar and therefore they do follow the cycle of the moon but they ignore the cycle of the Sun and so the lunar year is 11 days shorter than the solar year and so their calendar moves 11 days every year and so every three years it moves a whole month whereas by the Jewish people we adjust and we add another leap month a a second Adar to bring back the the lunar year um it should match with the solar year so again the the Jewish calendar is is the most perfect and uh precise it follows both the Moon and the Sun and that is the mitvah that was given to the Jewish people in Egypt now we're on page 351 we have some rules of the PES offering in Egypt before the Jewish people left Egypt on the night when the Egyptians were being killed Hashem said you Jewish people in order to have the Merit the to leave Egypt and to be saved from the plague of the firstborn you have to do two while I am letting blood flow from Egyptians when they firstborn are being killed I want you to let blood as well you have to do circumcision on your forkin and let some blood out and you late in the day you you have to take an animal a sheep and you have to cut its neck and let its blood out and these two bloods the blood of the circumcision and the blood of the Corban P the Passover offering will be atonement for your blood and you will survive so Hashem already at the beginning of the month tells them on the 10th of the this month they shall take for themselves each man a baby lamb or a baby goat for their household verse six you should examine it until the fourth 14th day of this month so from the 10th until 14th watch to make sure that it is unblemished that it's a healthy animal and Slaughter it in the afternoon of the 14th of Nissan take some of its blood and place it on the two door door posts and on the lentil of the houses in which they will eat it another rule they have to eat the meat of the Corban P roasted over fire cannot be cooked must be roasted whole as a whole animal and they have to eat it with matah and with bitter herbs okay now we turn to page 353 and you have to eat the entire animal you cannot leave anything until the morning now one of the reasons why Hashem said that we have to roast the animal and it has to be whole is because the this animal the sheep or a goat were the gods of Egypt the Egyptians worshiped they bowed down and served the sheep and Hashem said I want you to take the sheep in front of the Egyptians lead it on the street bring it to your house let it stay in your house for 4 days and then take it bring it out of your house Slaughter it skin it keep the body whole so that it should be visible to Egyptians that you are killing its God and start roasting it slowly the whole animal so that it should be visible and they should smell their own God being burnt and they can't do anything and they feel powerless and they see that their their gods are powerless they see that their Gods Not only cannot save them but their gods cannot even save themselves their gods are being slaughtered and this was also a test for the Jewish people whether or not they will be strong enough not to be afraid of Egyptians I used to give an example imagine that you take an American flag and you go in front of the state or federal building and you burn it so that was one of the gravest uh things that you can do against the government however this year it's not a good example anymore unfortunately you can burn American flag and nobody's going to do anything but if you can find an object that people think this is Untouchable this represents our freedom and power and no one dares to raise for example if you you go and you blow up the Statue of Liberty Americans are going to be very upset what is this this Jew is doing to our symbol of Freedom so that's how uh Jews felt how can we go and take their God take possession of it and Slaughter it not cut chop it up and cook it in fire in on in water but put it outside in its entirety and roast it slowly making it make the making the aroma wafted throughout all the streets isn't it dangerous and nevertheless all the Jewish people did precisely that verse 11 some more rules you should eat fully dressed that will be a sign that you are ready and you're expecting to be redeemed you should have a belt on you have should have your shoes on you should even have your staff in your hand your walking stick and you shall eat quickly showing that I'm about to leave this is very similar to the way we um eat on PES we try to eat quickly why because we have a cut off we know that we have to finish by midnight so that that's how the Jewish people ate they ate quickly for different reason they wanted to show Hashem is about to save us we're about to come out of Egypt they didn't know that Egyptians are dying they were peacefully sitting in their homes and they could have felt threatened that maybe Egyptians are going to come and take revenge on us for killing their God as Christians have done for thousands of years but nevertheless the Jewish people said we don't worry about the Egyptians we are about to leave Egypt we are going to be free let's eat quickly and we out of here verse 12 Hashem says I shall go through the land of Egypt on this night and I shall strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt and I shall meet out punishment I am Hashem and the blood shall be assigned for you upon the houses where you are and I shall pass over you that is why this holiday is called pass over because Hashem said I will pass over the Jewish people and I will land my sword on the Egyptians and I will strike in the land of Egypt verse 14 this day shall become a remembrance for you and you shall celebrate it as a festival for Hashem the Festival of P for your Generations as an eternal decree shall you celebrate it for 7 day period shall you eat matot this is the Commandment to eat m P page 355 and on the previous day you shall nullify all from your home because anyone who eats on PES his soul shall be cut off from the Jewish [Music] people verse and on that day the first day you may not do work and on the seventh day you may not do work but you are allowed to cook food for people not for Animals verse 19 for seven days may not be found in your houses the first commandment was don't eat the second commandment is you should not possesss verse 20 you shall not eat any kets in your dwelling you shall eat only matah verse 21 mosha instructs the Jewish people mosha called to all the Elders of Israel and said to them and he related to them all the laws of PES offering that God told him now we're on page 357 no man shall leave the entrance of his house until the morning the Jewish people were supposed to go into the houses lock the door and eat the P they sh it during the day they roasted it during the day and then in the evening they were supposed to bring it in lock the door and eat it inside and not go outside and this was for the reason that the Jewish people were not allowed to see that the Egyptians are dying even though they wanted to to enjoy the Revenge but Hashem said one of the reasons I'm saving you from Egypt is because you preserved yourselves well you did not mingle among Egyptians you did not intermar with them you kept your names Jewish names you still spoke Hebrew language and you still wore your clothing because you were separate from Egyptians I'm saving you and therefore lock your door to show that you are different you are separate don't go among Egyptians now verse 29 the 10th plague begins it was at midnight that Hashem smoted killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of par to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon even firstborn animals also died verse 30 par rose up at midnight he and all his servants and there was a great outcry in Egypt because there was no house where there was no corpse every house there was a dead body whether the firstborn sometimes there were more than one firstborn and if there was no firstborn then the eldest of the houseold died and he ran to motion Aon and he called for them please rise up go out from among my people go and serve Hashem as you have spoken we're in page 359 take even your sheep and even your cattle as you have spoken and go and please bless me as well complete permission no strings attached and of course mosha said it's midnight par we're still sleeping my children are in pajamas wait until the morning and the Jewish people waited until the morning and in the morning Egypt imposed itself strongly upon the people to hasten to send them out of the land for they said we're all dying when the morning came Egyptians were pushing the Jewish people and the Jewish people woke up in the morning they wanted to make dough for breakfast but the Egyptians said please eat your breakfast outside of Egypt so they picked up their dough before it became leavened and that is another reason why we eat mats P because as we left Egypt the dough didn't have a chance to rise and we ate matah on our way out for breakfast on that day and the second reason was the original reason because on the night of the plague of the firstborn the Jewish people ate matah together with Corban p and the the Jewish people requested from the Egyptians silver vessels gold vessels and garments and they emptied Egypt now Exodus begins verse 37 the children of Israel journeyed from Ram says toot about 600,000 men on foot 600,000 men translates to approximately 3 million people because these were 600 soldiers 600,000 adult able-bodied men also a mixed multitude went up with them they are called erra many converts that joined the Jewish people the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt for 430 years this is counted from the time that Hashem um predicted gave the prophecy to Abraham that his children will be aliens this was when Abraham was 70 years old uh then from 70 until 100 that's 30 years and then from the birth of until now it was 400 years so together it was years now we turn to page 361 additional laws of PES offering this time for future this is the verse 43 this is the decree of the PES offering a non-jew may not eat it a Jewish person who converted to another religion may not eat it a slave a non-jewish slave that you buy and you circumcise and he accepts upon himself um to serve only one God he may eat it but just a non-jewish worker who is not your slave may not eat it you may not break a bone of the Corb p and once you start eating it in one place you cannot move it to another place or cannot split it into two groups okay now chapter 13 on the same page and we here we have the Mitzvah to sanctify the first born uh um of people and animals Hashem spoke to Moshe sanctify to me every firstborn of man and Beast and later we will have laws about the firstborn the firstborn of animal is Holy if it's a kosher animal you have to bring give it to Coan and the Kohan brings it as an offering and then the Kohan eats it and if it's um firstborn of a donkey which is not Kosher you have to exchange the baby donkey for a baby sheep and the Sheep you give to kohen and the baby donkey you keep and as far as people are concerned first born males of people have to be redeemed from Coen for five silver coins now verse three the mitvah to Remember The Exodus Moses said to people remember this day on which you departed from Egypt now we turn to page 36 3 we have um some additional mitv about as well as the Commandment to say over the say the story of The Exodus on the night of PES as it says in verse 8 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 while you're eating matah and Corban p and the bitter herbs you shall say these words to your children now we have a Mitzvah of and it shall be for you as a sign on your arm and as a reminder between your eyes because in teine it speaks about um The Exodus it speaks about the plague of the firstborn it speaks about sanctification of the firstborn and so on and so forth it speaks about the foundations of our birth as a nation that is why we put on teine and we have to be aware what it says in teil we have the par of shma as well as um these paragraphs chapter 13 has two paragraphs and both of them are inin and the two portions of shma these are the four sections ofin now we go to to verse 12 you shall set apart every first born to Hashem which means any animal that gives birth for the first time and it's a baby boy you have to give to kohen now we turn to page 365 and we speak about the firstborn donkey verse 13 every first issue donkey you shall redeem with a lamb and we speak about the firstborn of humans redeem every human firstborn among your sons that is the um give five silver coins to kohen and finally verse 14 till the end of the paragraph when your son will ask you at some future time what is this he'll see you eating matah he'll see you putting on teine he'll see you observing MIT he'll say what is this Dad you shall say to him because with a strong hand Hashem removed us from Egypt from the house of slavery when par stubbornly refused to send us out Hashem killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt therefore I offer to Hashem all male first issue of the womb that is why to remember that we were saved from the plague of the firstborn I sanctify the firstborn of kosher animals I exchange the firstborn of a donkey for sheep and I redeem the first born of people from Coen for five silver Shel coins in verse 16 again reminds us to wear teine and it shall be as a sign upon your arm and as an ornament between your eyes for with a strong hand Hashem removed us from Egypt this concludes par B thank you for listening shabbat shalom