I

Bo: Who is in and who is out 

The first Rashi   on the Torah suggests that the Torah could have begun in this parsha

 

אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק לֹֹֹֹֹא הָיָה צָרִיךְ לְהַתְחִיל אֶת הַתּוֹרָה אֶלָּא מֵהַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם,

 

 Rabbi Isaac said: The Torah  should have commenced with the verse (Exodus 12:2) “This month shall be unto you the first of the months”

With this phrase, the text turns from narrative to instructional.  Take a lamb. These are instructions for the exclusively Hebrew feast made from its sacrifice.  A ritual that protects its sincere participants from the ravage of pestilence around them. 

What was the function of the preceding stories - in all their ambivalence  and tangents?  The stories serve to generate the identity of the people who left Egypt.  Retelling the saga continues to contribute to the identity of the generations of readers who followed and identified with those proud, confused, frightened, redeemed survivors.  Identity cannot come from instruction, it can only come from story. The entanglement that comes from living  as a  minority -  struggling to survive and sometimes excel, in a place  with alternative values – leads to confusions that are never clearly resolved. How do I meld the value of universal equality with the specialness of my own people? How did the Hebrews in Egypt legitimize the leadership of Moses in the society that had saved the world from famine by virtue of the hierarchy led by Pharaoh?  A story has the subtlety that allows living without clear resolution

When we celebrate the shadow of the Exodus, when we have our annual seder, we are instructed to that effect: 

בְּכָל־דּוֹר וָדוֹר חַיָּב אָדָם לִרְאוֹת אֶת־עַצְמוֹ כְּאִלּוּ הוּא יָצָא מִמִּצְרַיִם,

 

In each and every generation, a person is obligated to see himself as if he left Egypt,

 

In the Hagadah, this pronouncement follows an outline of Jewish history that begins with Abraham.

 

In that first Rashi, Rabbi Isaac posits that the story of Genesis  is to establish that the world was created by Gd and Gd can dispense its territory by right of ownership. I think that some  of the  subsequent  story serves to create a people who would make a claim to a portion of the Earth that they believe has been designated to them

 

Moses and Abraham are antiparallel.  Moses brings plagues on the Egyptians. Abraham tries to rescue Sodom

When Abraham speaks with Gd  concerning the plan for the destruction of the five communities associated with  Sodom , Abraham points out the injustice of killing the righteous with the wicked.  Gd acknowledges the problem and shows Abraham that the argument does not succeed.  There are too few righteous, less than 10, to save them. The rescue formula for Sodom was the umbrella of the righteous. It was the community that was judged, the net merit of the whole, not the individuals. 

One might suspect that Abraham wanted to save his nephew Lot who lived in Sodom.  Abraham  had risked his life ( and the lives of his army) to save him before from the mortal Northern kings.  It is reasonable to suspect that he was now trying to save him from the wrath of Gd.  Lot and a portion of his family are  saved, and by his merit, he may have saved one of the five communities. 

Of the ten plagues, three( the invasion of the multitude, the zoonosis and darkness) explicitly state that the Israelites were separated and spared from the ravage.  The other seven do not specify this (although it is assumed in the tradition). Two plagues, hail and the death of the firstborn, identify a method for rescue. They allow families to choose.

Onkelos makes this choice clear. In the gloss to  12;43

כׇּל־בֶּן־נֵכָ֖ר לֹא־יֹ֥אכַל בּֽוֹ׃

Onkelos: 

כָּל בַּר יִשְׂרָאֵל דְיִשְׁתַּמַד לָא יֵכוּל בֵּהּ

No [Jew who renounces his religion] may eat

 

The Passover experience served to differentiate the Hebrews from the Egyptians. This separation had to be done in the face of he Egyptians. Ironically,Pharoah had offered that the Hebrews perform their rite in the land, but Moses rejected the idea because it would anger the Egyptians:
8;22

הֵ֣ן נִזְבַּ֞ח אֶת־תּוֹעֲבַ֥ת מִצְרַ֛יִם לְעֵינֵיהֶ֖ם וְלֹ֥א יִסְקְלֻֽנוּ׃

 

If we sacrifice that which is untouchable to the Egyptians before their very eyes, will they not stone us!

The Hebrews are confronting their host society.  The separation requires the defiance.

Matzoh is a rejection of Egyptian technology. The use of yeast to generate carbon dioxide and alcohol marks the beginning of industrial  biochemistry. The Egyptians  were the ancient masters of the microbial world. They made beer and bread by nurturing the microbes.  They preserved the dead by killing the microbes.

Celebrating with matzoh was a rejection of the Egyptian way. It was an act of Luddism, anti technological. Leavened bread tastes good, but it takes time and it is filled with emptiness. The exodus required  quicker decision and less hot air.  Ultimately, fermentation technology was adopted  by the Hebrews, but its rejection celebrated, It’s like not using a phone on Shabbath.

Every day, I grow out of the person I was yesterday. The secular world has much to offer.  Skepticism is warranted; I celebrate it.