BO 1998

One of the underlying messages of the Torah portion Bo is that things are not always what they seem.  In this Torah portion, we learn how Pharaoh sends out the Jewish people.  He and his country were powerful.  The Jewish people were slaves, but, yet, it was he who had to capitulate to them.

We also learn how we were to set up a calendar as the first community mitzvahs.  We all know that slaves have no time of their own and the ability to control your time is the mark of freedom.  Our time, though, is measured by the moon, because the Jewish people are not like other peoples.  We go up and down, like the moon, but we are never completely destroyed.  Other peoples rise, but then fall, never to return.  In our own day we saw the Soviet Union disappear.  Those that seem weak many times are those that have the inner strength to endure, while those who seem strong collapse at the first challenge.

In this week's Torah portion, we learn how the Jewish people are commanded to put the blood on the door.  There is a disagreement among the rabbis as to where they were to put it.  Some said it was to be placed inside the door.  Others said it was to be placed outside the door.  In fact, Rashi says explicitly that it was to be placed inside the door.  This seems very strange, because if they placed it inside the door, how could the angel of death see it and pass over their homes?  Of course, if the angel of death did not have to see it and could see right through the door, why did they have to put blood there at all?  Why didn't they just make a seder, and the angel of death would see through their door and see them making a seder and spare them.  We all know that the angel of death has his own special abilities.  I am reminded of the story they tell about a man who looked out his door in Philadelphia and saw his friend in the garden, and he also saw the angel of death near his friend.  He told his friend to quickly leave for Boston.  Then he turned to the angel of death and said, "What are you doing hovering near my friend?  He is a young man."  The angel of death said, "I'm on vacation right now but four hours from now I have an appointment in Boston.  "

Other rabbis say the Jewish people had to put the blood on the door to show they were courageous.  They had to openly defy the Egyptians to merit freedom.  They had to openly reject paganism.  Rabbi Yitzchak in the Mechilta says this openly.  Other rabbis say they are both right The blood was placed on the inside and outside because we need two elements for the Jewish people to survive.  We need inner strength.  The blood on the door outside stood for Jewish learning and commitment, and the blood outside stood for Jewish pride and the willingness to organize to fight our enemies as best we can.  We all know that European Jewry had a great deal of inner strength, but because they were not organized correctly, Hitler was able to destroy six million of them.  We also know that here in America where we have no strong outside enemies, we are being destroyed from the inside by assimilation.  We know in Israel today, too, that without a strong army, Israel would be quickly run over by the Arab states.  On the other hand, without strong Jewish learning and tradition, Israel can lose its Jewish identity, too, just as we can in the diaspora.

At the end of this Torah portion, we learn that the tephillin are a sign of the Exodus.  Why?   Because we need two elements to be free.  We need our head.  We need to have the inner things, a commitment to our values which comes from study, but we also put tephillin on our hand to signify that we also have to use politics, persuasion, and sometimes force to preserve ourselves, but we always have to remember that we put the tephillin on the left hand.  We never have had great power, and we never will even in the United States.  Although many Jews occupy prominent positions, this could all change overnight.  In order for the Jewish people to survive, we need to concentrate on Jewish education, but we also cannot neglect self-defense.  We need the ADL and the Jewish World Congress, etc.  However, we must concentrate also on education.  Seventy to eighty percent of our resources should go there, not the way it is today.  That's why Rashi stressed the blood on the inside.  Actually, the rabbis say the blood was composed of two parts, the blood of circumcision and the blood of the lamb.  A Jew must be learned and concerned.  Jewish survival depends not only on the power of our left hand, but also on the education we fill our heads and our children's heads with.

I am reminded of the story about a man who called a doctor in the middle of the night because his wife was very sick.  The doctor came with his nurse, and they ushered the man out of the room.  Shortly the nurse came out and asked the man for a screwdriver, got it, and went back in.  A few minutes later she came out again, asking for pliers, and went back in.  Shortly the doctor came out and asked for a hammer.  The man looked aghast and sad, "Doctor, what's the matter with my wife?"  The doctor replied, "I don't know.  I haven't been able to open my bag."  Jewish survival depends on many things which do not at first glance seem obvious.  We have been able to survive not because we have immense power, but because we have always stressed education and used what power we did have wisely.  Let us all hope we will continue to do so, so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day.  Amen.