In Parashat Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16), God inflicts the last three plagues upon the Egyptians and gives the instructions for the observance of the festival of Passover. The previous Parasha - Va'era covered the first seven plauges - those of blood, frogs, lice, swarms of insects, pestilence, boils, hail and fire. The Torah portion begins with God telling Moses "Bo el Paraoh," "Go to Pharaoh," in order to warn Pharaoh that unless he lets the Israelites leave Egypt to worship God, Pharaoh and all of Egypt will learn that the God of the Hebrews is, indeed, God of all.

Once again (as God did in last week's Torah portion), God hardens Pharaoh's heart so that he denies freedom to the Israelites. Locusts, the eighth plague, devour all the grass and trees so that nothing green is left in all of Egypt. Then darkness covers the land for three days. Before the tenth and final plague, God tells Moses and Aaron to instruct each Israelite family to slaughter a lamb, put some of its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes so that God will pass over their houses when God kills every first born child in the land of Egypt.

The Israelites did exactly as they were told and in the middle of the night, God killed all of the first born children in the land of Egypt - from Pharaoh's first born to the first born of the slaves and even the cattle.

Finally, acknowledging God's power over him, Pharaoh tells Moses and Aaron to leave with the people so that they may worship God. They leave hurriedly, before their dough can rise, without any provisions. The people are told that this day, the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar, will be a day of remembrance throughout the ages, to be celebrated once they enter the land flowing with milk and honey which God has promised them. For seven days the people shall eat unleavened bread and shall tell their children that this observance "is because of what Adonai did for me when I went free from Egypt (Exodus 13:8)." They will also redeem their first born children and animals in remembrance of their salvation.

Commentary

This week’s commentary is from Rabbi Mark Goldsmith (Rabbi of Finchley Progressive Synagogue and brother of Paul our guitarist!) with whom I shared a session at Limmud. Mark writes:

As the horrifying extent of the Tsunami tragedy gradually became known in the week after December 26th I was participating as both presenter and student in Limmud, the extraordinary gathering of 2000 Jews of all denominations seeking to learn and build their Judaism for the year ahead including nine people from Finchley Progressive Synagogue.

Limmud began early on Sunday 26th at Nottingham University before the news reports of the Tsunami reached England. Then like many conferences people were so absorbed in the delight of the wonderful choice of Jewish educational, cultural, political and spiritual sessions that virtually no-one had turned on a television, listened to a radio or gone out of the University campus to buy a newspaper.

I went up to Limmud on the 28th very much aware of the horror unfolding in South East Asia but quickly found that most people at Limmud had no idea about it. At session after session on that day people who, like me, had come to visit for a day or two revealed what the rest of the world knew but the Limmud bubble did not. I found considering the impact of the tragedy in a Jewish setting helpful. For Jews fatalism can never be a response to misfortune. As Jews we are mandated never to accept other people's suffering but rather to provide help and aid and so we join with all who care to give money or supplies.

You will have seen it written in many places by now that the numbers of people killed in the Tsunami tragedy are on the same scale as the number who lose their lives to AIDS in the African continent each month. This does not reduce our responsibility to help in South East Asia - but rather means that we should always consider a proportion of our income to be set aside to be given to the poor and the desperate as well as responding to the immediate disaster that the world has suffered.