Bo: Bechor

The bechor, the firstborn, comes into great prominence at the end of this week's parsha. The tenth, and ultimate plague was promised at the begining of the story: 

וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה כֹּ֚ה אָמַ֣ר יְ 

בְּנִ֥י בְכֹרִ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ 

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Y: Israel is My first-born son. 

וָאֹמַ֣ר אֵלֶ֗יךָ שַׁלַּ֤ח אֶת־בְּנִי֙ וְיַֽעַבְדֵ֔נִי וַתְּמָאֵ֖ן לְשַׁלְּח֑וֹ הִנֵּה֙ אָנֹכִ֣י הֹרֵ֔ג אֶת־בִּנְךָ֖ בְּכֹרֶֽךָ׃ 

I have said to you, “Let My son go, that he may worship Me,” yet you refuse to let him go. Now I will slay your first-born son.’”

All along, it was the divine plan to perpetrate the tenth plague, to kill the first born of Egypt. 

The Pesachal sacrificial rite, with the lamb's  blood on the lintels and doorposts, seems to be, primarily, a way to identify the occupants of a particular home as loyal to the Gd of Israel.  Circumcision was a prerequisite to participation in this ritual. Are you in or are you out. The sacrificial rite involved the sheep and goats that the Egyptians revered and/or reviled, but such a sacrificial rite would drive the Egyptians to kill those who participated in such a ritual. 

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 pesachal rite was the declaration of allegiance to the Israelites and their Gd. It could identify the families that had assimilated and become part of the alien Egyptian culture. It could protect people who were far enough along in joining the Hebrews that they could and would perform these actions. The protection  that the  rite afforded  against the fatal epidemic was probably a motivation. As Jews in America assimilated, the Passover seder, the remnant of that ritual, was the last celebration abandoned. 

The ritual is call pesach. The root of the word means lame. Gd would skip over the protected homes. The ritual debilitated some heavenly force. Did it dull the scrutiny, allowing the accumulated offenses to be ignored? Was it the death force itself that was briefly inactivated?

My father told me that after the partition of Poland, the armies would commandeer any fit  horse  they saw. My uncle hammered a nail into the foot of his horse to make it appear ( or actually become) lame.  Was this some kind of ad hoc Pesach?

The bchor, the first born, is the protector of the tradition. The first borns had the largest dose of the old ways from parents  - when they were the only child. They were in a position to help inculcate the younger siblings with the prevailing world view. Often, the first borns had the most to gain from preserving a status qou that favored them 

There is irony in the selection of the firstborn, the most privileged, to be the victims of the plague. Perhaps the plague was punishing (arbitrary) privilege itself. It was recompense for the exercise of that privilege in enslaving and torturing others. The tenth plague fulfilled the revenge  fantasy. 

The bechor was the heir-apparent, the designated link in the tradition and the inheritance, the successor.  A plague of death to these people was a grass roots revolution, an insurrection on the family level. Perhaps, it was a step toward meritocracy. 

Firstborn sons do not do well in the stories that precede the tenth plague. Cain sets the pattern when he kills his younger brother because of envy. Ishmael, Abraham's first born, is the runner-up to his brother  Isaac. Esau, Jacob's older brother is a fearsome rival that is bested by his clever younger brother. Ruben, Jacob's eldest, is superseded by his brothers Joseph the provider, Judah the commander and Levi the hallowed.

Birth order is an uncontrollable variable in a person's life. There is no fairness to it.  The selection of the first born as the targets of the tenth plague, and the sanctification of those  whose families made decisions to allow them to survive changes the implications of that accident of birth and time. The privilege now involves a burden. We are reminded that success can come from battling privilege. 

The Torah was not written by a bechor.