Parsha Bo: Doing Mitzvot and Hashem’s Will; Breaking Out of Apathy and Fear’s Box

Over the years, I’ve come to associate this nutty parody of mine with the very heart of our Parsha. That is the Mitzvot of taking the Korbon Pesach, applying the da’am on Jewish doorposts, the going up from Mitzrayim (Egypt) to “…a land flowing with milk and honey …” and the first mitzvah commanded of the National entity (B’nai Yisrael), the Kiddush HaChodesh — the sanctification of the New Moon and the relevance today of these mitzvot which relate to emunah (belief in) and yirat (fear of)Hashem. And each year, just like countless other stories of our heritage and Halachot, the perspective each year is unique just as the events of each year are unique unto themselves, yet part of Hashem’s “vast eternal plan.”

Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s “Growth Through Torah” relates comments from The Chofetz Chayim on the verse “There will come a time when G’d will bring you to the land … He swore to your ancestors that He would give you — a land flowing with milk and honey, and you shall do this service.”

He states, “The Torah and the land of Israel are one unit. Their relationshp is as the relationship of body and soul. A soul cannot exist alone in this world. The body alone is just dust from the earth, it needs the soul to give it life. The soul of the Jewish people is the sacred Torah. The body is the land of Israel. There are many Mitzvot that cannot be fulfilled outside of the land of Israel. Nevertheless, with all of the difficulties involved in living in exile, we as a people are still alive. The land of Israel without Torah, however is like a body without a soul. It is just a piece of land. Only when both exist together is there a complete unit.” (“Growth Through Torah”, p. 168-169 quoting “Chofetz Chayim al HaTorah”, p.65)

And Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler added about being in the Land of Israel; “In two hours, I attain in spiritual matters things that outside of Eretz Yisrael I had to work on a number of weeks.” (“Growth Through Torah”, p. 168-169 quoting Marbitzai Torah Umussar, vol. 3, p. 79)

But there is another dimension to tying that Korbon Pesach to the bedpost, the taking of the Korbon Pesach in the first place. We learn that lambs were among the “sacred” avodah zora of the Mitzrayim. Many of our brethren considered this act a great risk, the risk of angering the Mitzriyim thus risking their lives. A degree of Emunah was necessary, the faith that Hashem will protect his children who partook in this act. Many apparently arrived at a Cheshbon that by taking the Egyptian idol, tying it to the bedpost and then slaughtering it and smearing it’s blood on the doorpost, they would lose lives or limbs. Apparently, when many Jews had what to lose, and/or when they felt comfortable in their situation in Mitzriyim, their emunah, and thus their Mitzvot suffered.

And so we learn that as a consequence, roughly 20% of the B’nai Yisrael left in the Yetziyot Mitzrayim, the going up from Mitzrayim. The rest apparently died under cover of the plague of darkness, for those who remained applied the da’am to their doorposts, eat their Korbon Pesach and their first-borns survived the plague of the Egyptian first-born.

Similarly, today there are many among us here in Eretz Yisrael who remain unwilling to put it on the line against an oppressive Regime which harms their fellow Jews. They are more concerned about their lifestyles, that they may lose that precious job — that the “boss” may not understand and they’ve got to have food on the table, a house over their heads. They can’t justify stepping out in defense of their fellow Jew — it doesn’t affect me, it’s not at my door. Why should I get involved in Yenamsville — in Gush Katif, the 4 Shomron Towns, the Shalhevet neighborhood in Chevron, Amona and more? They justify their cheshbon by saying that this or that place is not at my doorstep.

This past Motsei Shabbos, this author had the privilege of hearing Moshe Feiglin speak locally. During his talk, he spoke that the people have to want change in order for change in Israel’s institutions and the way she is governed to occur. While not being able to follow-up on his statement publically, this author did address a follow-up to him one-to-one saying that it’s not enough for people to want change; to succeed, this want must be soo compelling that all else is secondary such that masses of people in the hundreds of thousands are willing to put themselves on the line, step up to the plate for days, weeks, months, as long as it takes to forceably bring about change; change in government, change in Israel’s institutions, change in the non-existent leftist, Arabist Israeli justice system, change in the IDF and change in leftist, agendized media. These are the “five-fingers” which Moshe often speaks of.

What seems lacking in modern-day Jews in Eretz Yisrael as opposed to the Jews of Shushan who united, fasted and wore sack-cloth as did Mordechai? Why don’t we feel as compelled as the Jews of Shushan? Or to the people of the Ukraine who forced new elections by the force of hundreds of thousands demonstrating 24/7 for days, weeks, months — as long as it takes to force change, to force new, honest elections? Is it even possible for today’s Jews to feel so compelled — even if there were a gun to our collective heads — in Kiryat Sefer or Beitar Illit, or such as Ahmadinejad’s or Egyptian nukes?

For how long will Observant adults, be they Dati, Dati leumi, Chardal, Chareidi, Chassidic or S’fardi leave the dirty work to “the golden youth” of Gush Katif, of Amona, the youth for Jonathan Pollard’s freedom? By doing thus, are we not emulating those in Mitzriyim who didn’t take the Korbon Pesach? Have we, as this author wrote in last week’s Parsha HaShevua attributing to Sforno, “as a result, … lost the priviledge of going to the Promised Land and their children were the ones for whom the promise … was fulfilled”? (Artscroll Stone Chumash, Sefer Shemos, Perek 6, pusuk 9, page 321)