Parashat Bo by Meir Anolick. In this week’s Parsha, Bnei Yisrael are given the well-known commandment of sacrificing sheep and using the blood from that sheep to paint their doorposts. God tells Moshe that when He sees the blood, He will pass over those homes and not allow any harm to come to its inhabitants. So it was that when Hashem passed through all of Mitzrayim and slew the firstborn of every home, He passed over the homes of Bnei Yisrael where the blood was on the doorpost. This whole concept poses a problem. First off, why does God need an indicator on the door to know which homes are Jewish? Hashem is Omniscient; he does not need to be reminded where we lived. Furthermore, all of the Jewish people were living in the land of Goshen, which through the verses we come to see was separate from the rest of the land of Mitzrayim, so why couldn’t Hashem just tell Moshe, “I will pass over the land of Goshen”? Three of the Imahot were barren (Leah was not only because Hashem had mercy on her for being the less-loved wife), and they had to pray to Hashem that they could have children. Sara, Rivkah, and Rachel all had to pray for some time (Rachel less so, but she probably felt more pressure with all the children Leah was having) before Hashem finally granted them children. We learn in Masechet B’rachot (don’t remember the exact daf) that Hashem loves the prayers of the righteous. It was for this reason that the Imahot were barren, because Hashem wanted to hear their prayers. The same question can be applied here, why does Hashem need to hear prayers? He already knows what is in our hearts, He can see our lives and know what we desire, so why the need to verbalize it? The answer lies in how the action affects us. Hashem wanted the Imahot to pray to him because by immersing themselves in prayer would help them to perfect their traits and become better people. Hashem wanted them to grow in a way that could only come through prayer and developing that connection with Him, and that is why He made them barren. Now we can apply this to our Parsha. Hashem knew already where Bnei Yisrael lived, He did not need anyone to point it out to Him. What He wanted from us was to take that step to connect to Him, to take an action that indicated readiness to serve Him and follow in His ways. By taking this action, we showed our willingness to follow Hashem and it is through that merit that Hashem passed over our homes and saved us from the plague. Hashem knows what is in our hearts, and He knows whether or not we truly want to follow Him, but He wants us to state it explicitly, because that will strengthen our resolve. May we all strive to show our devotion to Hashem every day, through both actions and words. https://amchachamvnavon.wordpress/2014/01/02/bo-5774/
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 23:00:02 +0000
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