Bo: The Beginning of Ritual and Man’s Role In History

By: Jeffrey Dweck

In Perashat Bo, G-d suspends for a moment the action of the plagues and Moses’ angry
exchanges with Paraoh and makes his first commands to the people as a whole, indeed
the first positive commandments in the Torah since the two in Perashat Bereshit (“be
fruitful and multiply”) and Lech Lecha (brit milah). G-d institutes a new year – that of
the people and their history, introduces Israel to the ideas of commemoration, ritual and
celebration, and commands them regarding the Passover sacrifice and the telling of the
story of the Exodus. Before the completion of the final redemption and before the
people’s outbreak of song and dance we see in next week’s Perasha, G-d slows the
process and asks Israel to participate in its own redemption.

Until now the people of Israel, since making the transformation from family to nation in
Egypt have been quiet bystanders in their fate—enslaved and now redeemed.

Through the first nine plagues, the Israelite people have been spectators. Now, in a shift
of the narrative, G-d asks Israel to join as the protagonist; G-d chooses not to be alone.
The rituals and commandments surrounding “Remembrance,” the festival, the sacrifice,
and its “signs” set the redemption and, in turn, our religion in motion. Israel was to paint
their doorposts with lamb blood. The Midrash explains that the blood was painted on the
inside of the Israelite homes and thereby a sign “for you.” Israel’s first commandment as
a nation would win G-d’s favor. Not the blood itself, but the gesture of obedience would
protect the people.

In this final plague, G-d doesn’t even explain the course of events as with the first nine
plagues, but instead explains how future generations will look back on it—a flashback in
the making. G-d asks Israel to guard its commemoration forever. G-d will depend on
His people to retell the Exodus and engender in future generations the awe and gratitude
they’ve been made to experience. Children will inquire of their parents. Questions and
answers will replace eyewitness accounts and faith will replace “otot and mofetim.”

Even long after the sacrifice would no longer be brought, the Passover story would
remain and each Jew would yet paint a sign on his doorposts (mezuzah) and upon himself
(tefilin), reminding him of that historical and powerful night, of G-d’s everlasting
protection, and of G-d’s trust in mankind to safeguard His treasured history.