Bo - saving ourselves!

This week’s parshah, Bo, heralds a glorious beginning for Israel. In it, we stand poised at the brink of redemption.

The plagues aren’t over yet. We still have one – the worst – left to go.  When the reading begins, God  explains the killing of all first-born Egyptians to Moses.  God the.  tells Moses when it’s going to happen, and how the Israelites can save themselves from the final plague.

Redemption was not automatic for us.  It wasn’t enough for Hashem to produce miracles and imbue us with strength and courage.  We – the people – had to act with courage.  We couldn’t just wait for the mighty Hand to sweep down from the sky and usher us out of Egypt.  God did not allow us to sit passively in our homes. Our own part in the drama had to be active and brave.

In this process, God ordered us to slaughter lambs.

Think back to the book of Genesis.  What kind of work did Jacob and family do? They were shepherds.  They raised, cared for sheep, and ultimately either slaughtered them – or sold them for others to slaughter and eat.

That was a problem in Egypt.  Lambs were sacred. One of the most important gods of Egypt had the head of a ram, and the Egyptians didn’t take well to people killing sheep.  It was the same as killing one of their gods.Therefore, when Joseph sent for Jacob and the rest of the family, he instructed them to say:  we are shepherds.  Our ancestors are shepherds.  That’s all we know.

This was important for two reasons.  First, Pharaoh would give them good land for pasturing the sheep.

Second, and more importantly, they’d be distant from the prying eyes of most Egyptians.

So here we are, centuries later – a people subjugated into slavery and spiritual degradation.

We could sit passively during the previous nine plagues.  God did all the work.

But before the final plague could take place, we had to act. At great risk.

The risk: was the order to slaughter lambs. And to smear their blood on the entries to our homes.

Not only did we blatantly kill their gods ... we displayed their blood on our houses – not safely inside the house, but at the front door ... where no one could miss seeing it!

This was dangerous.

All through the story of the plagues, Moses insists that we had to travel at least three days away into the wilderness.  Why? He knew that slaughtering lambs would enrage the Egyptians, and they’d be likely to slaughter US.  Moses pointed this out to Pharaoh, though this was hardly news to him. Pharaoh knew – or thought – that he had the upper hand, that we wouldn’t risk observing our rites inside Egypt.

As long as Pharaoh could control us religiously, he would continue to dominate and enslave us.

What a Pharaoh didn’t know: this time, sacrificing lambs will not take place on a three day journey away from hostile Egyptians.  It will happen in Egypt itself. Right at home.

The sacrifice of lambs ... meant that WE put our own lives at risk.  WE decided whether or not we really wanted freedom.  

What happened if we faltered and didn’t kill a lamb and smear its blood on our doors?  Surely, God wouldn’t strike Jewish first-born along with the Egyptians! ...

... In chapter 12, we read:

21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Draw out and take a lamb according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb.
22. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out from the door of his house until the morning.
23. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not let the destroyer come into your houses to strike you.

If God  saw blood on our doorposts, Godsaved us.  From this, we have to assume that Jews who did NOT follow through on this part ... perished with the Egyptians.

It was more than even the willingness to risk our physical lives – which IS major.  I don’t want to understate that aspect!

However, in the process, when we killed their “gods,” we destroyed Egypt’s power over us.  We also forced them to recognize the impotence of their gods.

We had to move away from their deities, their idolatry, in order to move in God’s direction.

God  freed us. At the same time, we  escaped slavery and lived as a holy people.

When we made that choice ... when we decided that we would risk everything and leave Egypt ... we began a great journey on the road to holiness.

When we strive for goodness – for holiness – we, too, must actively choose to follow a righteous path.  Our ancestors often found themselves wandering in a wrong spiritual direction.  So do we.

We must recognize that sometimes ... often ... the false gods aren’t ancient figures of wood and stone!  A false god is anything that we worship. A false god is any thing that dominates our lives ... outside of God and Torah and our values.

Our idols can be:
• Financial success
• A nice house
• Even the Packers ...

God will help us find our way, but we cannot sit quietly back and wait. We must root out the false gods that live inside our own souls. We must actively strive for goodness, for righteousness ... for a heart full of Torah ... and a life of blessing.