Shabbos Parashas Bo - 5774

Shabbos Parashas Bo - 5774

Rabbi Hal Miller

And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, "It is on account of

this that Hashem did for me when I left Egypt." [Shemos 13:8]

So our ancestors were slaves in Egypt, and were released. That was a few

thousand years ago. What does it have to do with today? What does it have to

do with me? I can hear the questions. In fact, they come right out of the

Passover Haggadah, which derives them from the Talmud on our portion.

I am a Vietnam veteran. Even if you lived through that era, unless you were

there, you will never feel that you are one as well. Nothing I can say to you

will change that. A lady once told me, "you're not a woman, so there's no way

you'll ever understand." She was right--no matter how many times she tried to

explain, nothing could get me past the fact that it just isn't who I am. So

how can we expect our children to be Jews, to feel that they also escaped

Egypt a few thousand years ago?

The very next pasuk after ours is the commandment of tefillin: "And it shall

be for you a sign on your arm and a reminder between your eyes, so that

Hashem's Torah may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand Hashem removed

you from Egypt." [Shemos 13:9] What can we learn from the juxtaposition?

Rav Moshe Feinstein ties them together for us. "It is the intent of the Torah

that the tefillin should serve as a reminder of Hashem's miraculous redemption

of the Children of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians." He further notes

on "And it shall be for you for a sign" that "the tefillin are to serve as a

sign not for others, but rather for the wearer himself." Thus, the commandment

of tefillin is for those who experienced the exodus from Egypt! How can we

sell this to our children?

Rav Hirsch sensed this problem. He writes, "Our children are not to be induced

to the faithful observance of the Torah by habit alone, nor is it to be

accomplished by mere preaching. We must show them the way by our own keen and

enthusiastic example." This is certainly helpful in that we cannot expect our

children to pick up the observance of Torah merely because we tell them to.

We must live it ourselves.

But I've lived as a Vietnam veteran. That still doesn't make my children into

such veterans. What is the difference here?

Nechama Leibowitz gives us an answer, citing discussions from Rav Kook. "The

departure from Egypt is not therefore to be understood as a single historic

act that once took place, but as a task confronting every generation and

individual." This would explain the connection to tefillin: we need a constant

reminder of our having seen the power of G-d in order to relate it to what

we see and do today.

This approach also explains the difference between the examples I gave and

the case of Jewishness. I was born a man, that is a historical fact, it does

not repeat daily. I was a Navy officer in the Gulf of Tonkin forty years

ago, that does not keep happening. But the miracles that G-d performs occur

every instant. He took us out of Egypt, but He also continues to give us those

things that sustain life. We see His impact everywhere, all the time. Each

breath, each drink of water or mouthful of food, each step our feet take, all

these happen only because G-d gives us the wherewithall right then. It is not

a case of history, but of the present. It applies to our children as much as

it did to our ancestors.

Our job, all of us including our children, is to recognize this constant

benevolence. Remembering the Exodus, laying tefillin, etc., are ways to keep

this benevolence at the front of our minds. G-d did not just show up for our

ancestors. He is here with us today.