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Bo 3 "In order that that you may relate in the ears of your son and your grandson how I fought the Egyptians...and you shall know that I am Hashem." (10:2) It is well known that in order to completely convince others of something, the speaker must himself believe what he is saying. In keeping with this, the above verse may also be read, "In order to relate to your descendants how I fought Egypt, you must believe that I am Hashem." (R' Yehoshua of Belz) With our young and with our old we will go... we are to hold a feast unto G-d (Ex. 10:9) For in truth, what kind of a Yom Tov would it be without our children? Any holy celebration that does not include the younger generation is no celebration at all... (Shem MiShmuel) For all the Children of Israel there was light in their dwellings (Ex. 10:23) This unique light not only illuminated their own homes, but accompanied the Jews wherever they went-even when visiting their neighbouring Egyptians. Exile is a time of spiritual darkness that intensifies the closer we get to Moshiach's revelation. Nonetheless, just as our ancestors enjoyed "light in their dwellings" even before their redemption from exile, so too does every Jew possess an aura of holiness now, just prior to the Final Redemption, which accompanies him wherever he goes. (The Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT"L, Parshat Korach, 5751) And they despoiled Egypt (Ex. 12:36) After 210 years of extremely harsh exile in Egypt, the Jewish people received "reparations" in the form of "vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments." Later, at the splitting of the Sea, they received five times as many riches-precious gems and pearls. We in our generation are about to leave a longer and even harsher exile than our forefathers endured. Accordingly, the "reparations" we will receive from G-d will be infinitely greater. Keeping this in mind should cause us to be even more generous in giving tzedaka. (The Rebbe, Parshat Vayechi, 5752) "They could not delay...." (12:39) Chazal praise the Jews in Egypt for speaking Hebrew, giving their children Jewish names, and maintaining the Jewish style of dress. Yet Chazal say that if the Jews had remained in Egypt another instant, they would have become completely assimilated. This demonstrates, says R' Zalman Sorotzkin, that the trappings of Jewish living do not preserve Judaism; only the Torah, which the Jews in Egypt had not yet received, can do that. (quoted in Ta'am vaDa'at) "And you must relate to your son on that day saying, on account of this did HaShem act for me when I came out of Egypt. And you must have a sign on your hand, and a memorial between your eyes in order that HaShem's Torah should be in your mouth..." (13:8-9). The Torah commands us to educate our children and teach them about the miracles that HaShem performed for us in Egypt, in order to draw them closer to Torah. This will only be possible if the parents themselves, by their deeds and actions, show their children how they should live. The tefillin on the arm remind us that to be an observant Jew requires action, while the tefillin on the head remind us that we need to use our intellect. Together, the tefillin symbolize that we must dedicate both our deeds and minds to HaShem. The Torah is advising us that when we teach our children about HaShem and His Torah, in order to achieve the desired results we must make sure our lessons are neither contradicted by our actions nor by the thoughts we express, and most of all, "that HaShem's Torah should be in our mouth" all of the time. (Chasam Sofer) |
