Good Shabbos Subscribers;
A while back, we wrote that we would soon begin offering sponsorships for the weekly Parshat HaShevua.
Those wishing to sponsor upcoming Parshiyot HaShevu’ot l’zechut an upcoming simcha or l’zechut the Yahrtzeit of a loved one, please contact me here.
Regards,
Moshe Burt
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Parshat Bo is the one which, for me, annually relates to that crazy tune which played back “in the Old Country” a few decades ago, “Does Your Korbon Pesach Lose It’s Flavor Tied to the Bedpost Overnight?” (Actually, the real title to the song was “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It’s Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?”)
Over the years, this author has opened with this nutty parody because it cuts right to the chase, to 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 relevance to the National entity (B’nai Yisrael) then, as well as today, of these mitzvot which relate to emunah (belief in) and yirat (fear of) Hashem.
With B’nai Yisrael chomping at the bit for the redemption, for freedom from Mitzri bondage, Hashem directs them to take the Korban pesach and to perform Bris Milah on all males.
Rebbetzin Shira Smiles, in her sefer “Torah Tapestries” on Sefer Shemos (pages 29-30) relates a citing from the Navi Yechezchel (Sefer Yechezchel, perek 16, posukim 6-7 regarding Sefer Shemos, Perek 12, posuk 6):
“I have passed by you and I saw you wallowing in your bloods and I said to you ‘By your bloods you shall live.’ …. and you [were] naked and unclothed.” Our sages (citing Yalkut Shimoni, Shemos, page 195) explain that “unclothed” means stripped of Mitzvot. Hashem initially determined that Am Yisrael was unworthy of being redeemed. Therefore, he “clothed” them, enabling them to earn the merit to live through the performance of the two Mitzvot. Note that the word “blood” in this posuk is actually plural “bloods”, referring to two Mitzvot that involve blood…. Korban Pesach (the passover Offering) and Bris Milah (circumcision): B’nai Yisrael’s implementation of these two “bloods” was the combined accomplishment that gave them life and sanctioned their salvation. Fittingly these verses from Yecherzchel are recited at both the pesach Seder and at a Bris Milah.
The Targum Yonatan… specifies (Commentary on Sefer Shemos Perek 12, posuk 13) that since circumcision was a requirement for males to participate in the Korban Pesach, both the blood of the korban Pesach and the blood from the Bris Milah were used in that fateful night. Further, regarding the placement of both bloods on the doorposts, Moshe told them (Sefer Shemos Perek 12, posuk 24) “Ushmartem et hadavar bazeh lechok lecha ulevanecha ad olam (You shall observe this matter as a statute for you and for your children forever). From this…, we see that these Mitzvot have eternal significance.
Rebbetzin Smiles, in her sefer “Torah Tapestries” on Sefer Shemos, makes repeated reference to the term “mesirus nefesh” which is translated as”giving over the soul.” She writes citing a Shabbos HaGadol drosh in 1900 by a Rabbi Friedman (“Torah Tapestries” on Sefer Shemos, pages 33-34):
Giving over your soul to something means making a statement of total committment. Serving Hashem with “mesirus nefesh” means coming to the deep realization that serving Hashem is all that matters to us. It matters more than life, and from that realization stems the act of serving Hashem”bechol nafshecha” (with all of your soul) (Sefer Devarim, Perek 6, posuk 5) — even if it means giving up that life… We also realize that the service of Hashem matters more than the selfish aspects of our lives.
So what is the sequel today to the “two bloods” where a Pesach Seder is accessable to all, whether at home, with friends or even in the local Chabad House, and Bris Milah is routinely done on all Jewish males on the eighth day (or if complications of birth occur — as soon as the baby’s health permits) and, in fact done routinely in the hospital on the vast majority of gentile male births?
And by what do we define today as “mesirus nefesh” (giving over the soul) in a context of B’nai Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael? Is it making aliyah? Is it committment to V’ahavtah L’rei’echa Komcha to one’s fellow Jews? Is it connecting and possessing Eretz Yisrael? Is it inserting one’s own body, at risk of billy club beating or arrest, to prevent further expulsions of Jews from Our Land? Is it even possibly the painless task of Likud members to cast their votes on 31 January FOR Jewish life, rather than surrender?
May we, the B’nai Yisrael be zocha that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole — be totally restituted for all that was stolen from them at leftist-agendized, supreme court legalized gunpoint, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard, and the MIAs be liberated alive and returned to us in ways befitting Al Kiddush Hashem. May we have the courage and strength to stand up and physically prevent the possibility of Chas V’Challila any future eviction of Jews from their homes and the handing of Jewish land over to anyone, let alone to enemies sworn to Israel’s and Judaism’s destruction and eradication. May we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha to see the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Ki Karov Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of The Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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