Bo: commemoration

This parsha is the basis for the Passover Hagadah,  It contains the commandment to celebrate and commemorate the dramatic Exodus from Egypt in the spring. It contains the instruction to teach these things to our children. This is our foundational  story. 

The text tells us that a situation favoring the dramatic display of will and power has been set up.  The Pharaoh's heart has been hardened, he will not easily allow the Hebrews to leave. 

כִּֽי־אֲנִ֞י הִכְבַּ֤דְתִּי אֶת־לִבּוֹ֙ וְאֶת־לֵ֣ב עֲבָדָ֔יו לְמַ֗עַן שִׁתִ֛י אֹתֹתַ֥י אֵ֖לֶּה בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ׃

וּלְמַ֡עַן תְּסַפֵּר֩ בְּאָזְנֵ֨י בִנְךָ֜ וּבֶן־בִּנְךָ֗ אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁ֤ר הִתְעַלַּ֙לְתִּי֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם וְאֶת־אֹתֹתַ֖י אֲשֶׁר־שַׂ֣מְתִּי בָ֑ם וִֽידַעְתֶּ֖ם כִּי־אֲנִ֥י

 For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them,

and that you may recount in the hearing of your children  and of your chidren's children how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I displayed My signs among them—in order that you may know that I am the LORD.” 

 It will take the plague of the firstborn for him to accede to all of the demands.  The goal is to perpetrate the plague, the demands of Moses are merely the instrument.  Is  the  result is worth the effort?  In our time, how do we handle the cruelty assigned to Gd and the role assigned to the Hebrews as bystander/beneficiaries, a role similar to the Polish people in the Holocaust?  

The Passover story is a preparation for the Jewish mind to understand the modern Exodus from Europe.  The Holocaust is often described as "incredible"  This is a word that I object to.  The word means "unbelivable" and hence, not believed.  Not believing that the Holocaust occurred is  a most offensive antisemitism. It is a denial of recorded history for the sake of diminishing Jews.  These are the Jews who perpetuate the miracles of the Exodus as real events.

 As time goes by, the holocaust fades .  It decays and becomes the fertile soil, the product of decayed flesh and blood - out f which stories emerge.  It becomes the origin of the next mythos: stories of survival and heroism,  the fight  for the liberation of all oppressed people. This evolution is framed  by the ancient story of Moses and the Pharaoh and the locusts, darkness and death plagues. It is a co-memoration.  

At the close of the parsha, the special status of the  firstborn is emphasized by repetition.  These 2 passages are incorporated in the  tefillin, they are testimony to the special status of people of Israel, Gd's designated firstborn .  All the firstborn were designated for destruction on the night of Passover, but Gd lamely ( the true translation of pesach) skipped the Hebrews... for a while.

The Rasha, the wicked child, the rash child, of the Hagadah  is quoted  

וְהָיָ֕ה כִּֽי־יֹאמְר֥וּ אֲלֵיכֶ֖ם בְּנֵיכֶ֑ם מָ֛ה הָעֲבֹדָ֥ה הַזֹּ֖את לָכֶֽם׃

And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this rite?’

Actually, all three children's questions can be derived from this verse.  The Chacham, wise, child simply asks: מָ֛ה הָעֲבֹדָ֥ה, how is the ritual carried out?  and the simple child asks מָ֛ה זֹּ֖את   What is this?

At the seder of my parents, I did not know what to ask.  But now I ask, Did Gd harden the heart of Hitler?