Some commentators regard this Sidra as the most important one in the Torah. It contains the story of the Exodus which is the greatest event in the history of the Jewish people and has become a central tenet of our faith. The Sidra begins with an account of the last three plagues. Its middle section focuses on the first celebration of Pesach, which is known as Pesach Mitzrayim, a title that was given to it by our rabbis, in order to differentiate it from the Festival of Pesach, Pesach Ledorot, which we have been celebrating ever since. The Sidra concludes with the mitzvah of Tefillin which we are commanded to bind around our weaker arm, next to our heart, and above our brain. The purpose of this mitzvah is to remind us of the chains that held us as prisoners as well as to impress upon us the message, that in order to be free people we must be bound to the service of God.
The first sentence in the Sidra recounts that God commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh. The commandment begins with the word BO, meaning ENTER. This implies that Moses had to enter the palace and issue a warning about the next plague of locusts. It represented an escalation in Moses’ demands and tone. Up to this point, Moses was commanded merely to speak and warn Pharaoh, outside the palace.
Moses obeyed the instruction. He went into the palace, together with Aaron, and warned Pharaoh very strongly. He said to him: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Unless you stop afflicting my people, you will soon suffer, together with the whole Egyptian nation, a massive onslaught of locusts. The locusts are going to consume all the crops.
When Moses and Aaron had finished warning Pharaoh, they walked out without waiting for a reply. They did not want any negotiations and, on the basis of previous experiences, they no longer trusted Pharaoh. However, their warning made a serious impact. After, they left Pharaoh’s servants began to be frightened and demanded that Pharaoh reconsider his policy. It is noteworthy that their opening words to Pharaoh were precisely the same as those of Moses and Aaron. Like them, they also said: AD MATAI. In this way, the Torah emphasises that they were as frustrated with Pharaoh, as Moses and Aaron were.
The negotiations with Pharaoh failed. The eighth plague of locusts came. The plague took place during the months of February- March. It happened in this way: A very powerful east wind brought a massive number of locusts to Egypt. They had hatched throughout the long winter months. It was the worst plague yet. Its effects were more devastating than the previous seven plagues. It caused such a terrible famine, that had it continued for any length of time, it would have killed Egypt’s entire population. But the Torah tells us in chapter 10 verse 16 that Pharaoh hastened to call Moses and Aaron, and demanded that they should appear before him immediately.
The ninth plague followed very quickly. It was an extremely severe darkness, which scholars believe came with a heat-wave, called Chamsin. This also happened in early March. A hot southerly Egyptian wind blew in from the Sahara desert, carrying with it sand and dust. The matter that was released was extraordinarily dark and dense and it blocked out the sun. The darkness lasted for three days. The Israelites were not affected because they lived in Goshen, which was quite distant from the origin of these dust clouds.
The Torah says that, during the plague of darkness, the Egyptians ‘were unable to see any of their fellow citizens or rise from the places.’ Our Hasidic masters have expounded this verse to teach us an ethical lesson. When people don’t pay attention to their neighbours, the result is that their society disintegrates, never to rise again. This happened in Egypt. It began its downfall when nobody wanted to see the suffering which they were causing to their Israelite brethren. As a result, their civilisation vanished.
Chapter 12 begins with the first commandment, which was given to the Israelites, as a nation. It is not the first commandment of the Torah. There are three Commandments in the Book of Bereshit, which were given to individuals. The first commandment which was given to the Israelites as a nation concerned the calendar. We do not know anything about Israel’s earlier calendar, but the language of the commandment here clearly points to an innovation and a break with the past.
The Israelites were instructed to count the month of spring, as the first month, so that all the other subsequent months of the year would follow it, as ordinals. The names for the months, which may have been in use before, were forgotten and never came into usage again. We only know some of them because they are mentioned in the Bible. By making the month of Spring, the first month of the year, it was ensured that the Exodus would always be remembered, whenever people used a date. We find the same in respect of the days of the week, which also do not have specific names. They are all ordinals which serves to remind us of the forthcoming Shabbat. This, too, is a mitzvah which should be remembered every day.
The commandment reads: “This month shall be to you the head of the months.”. The words ‘to you’ appear to be redundant. Some commentators have suggested that it addresses Moses and Aaron specifically. As the first leaders of the nation, they were instructed to ensure that the first month would always occur in the season of Spring. For this purpose, they implemented rules for intercalating the years and introduced a 19-year cycle. In this way the lunar and solar calendars were harmonised. Moses and Aaron were also given powers to fix the occurrence of the new moon every month. As a result of this they were able to fix the date of the festivals. This responsibility remained in the hands the Sanhedrin for many years, until it was abolished in the fourth century CE. For hundreds of centuries, the monthly fixing of the calendar was regarded as a symbol of Jewish power and independence in the Holy Land. When the Jewish people were exiled from the land of Israel, the calendar became fixed, astronomically, for all times. At this point in our history, it ceased to be a symbol of power.