|
Sefer Shemos
Parashas Ki
Sisa
Shemos: Chapter 12
And it will be when your sons will say
what is this worship of yours. And you will say
this is a Passover sacrifice to G-d who skipped over the homes of the Jews
in Egypt as he attacked the
Egyptians thus saving our homes.
I saw a commentary of the Abarbanel on a Haggadah that
explains the above passage making maximum use of the flexibility of the
Hebrew words in the verse.
Unlike two other places in the Torah
where the son ASKS a question, here the Torah uses the word "say"
implying that this is a statement and not really a question at all. And
because the word sons is plural, the Abarbanel
learns that you can read the statement of this son in two different ways:
(1) What is this! This ceremony is YOURS
and not a commandment from heaven!
(2) What is this! This worship is for
YOU and YOUR pleasure. Since the sacrifice tastes good, you agree to do it.
If it had been a less pleasant activity you would have refused!
The Torah tells the parents the proper
reply to each statement:
(1) This is a Passover sacrifice to G-d
- we were commanded by G-d to perform this exact sacrifice.
(2) Since we were in danger in Egypt and were
saved by G-d, we owe it to Him to serve Him in whatever way He sees proper.
Which means to say, had the mitzvah come in a different
form, we would still perform it since we are grateful for having been saved
during the Exodus.
There are two additional points to make
here:
(1) Since the son said that the Passover
sacrifice was not commanded from Heaven, he is not permitted to eat it
since only Jews who believe in Torah Judaism can eat the Passover
sacrifice. This is the idea of the Haggadah when
it mentions to "inflict his teeth", in other words we are not to
put a portion of the meat in his mouth.
(2) If the son does not believe in Torah
Judaism he certainly won't care what the words of the Torah are saying. On
the other hand, it is an historical fact that many Jews did not leave Egypt and perished there
during the last plague before the Exodus. If this son had been in Egypt and did not
believe in G-d, he would perished there and not exited with the Jewish
people! This is the idea of the Haggadah when it
mentions that had he been there he would not have been redeemed - a reply
meant to "shock" him before relating to him the truth of the
Torah's words.
And he gave to Moshe when he finished
speaking WITH HIM two tablets of the law. (Shmos:
Chapter 31, verse 18)
Rashi: "SPEAKING WITH HIM
- we learn from this that Moshe would hear G-d and then they would go back
and repeat the Halachoh together."
Rashi tells us why the verse includes the
Hebrew word for "WITH HIM". When G-d was teaching Moshe Rabbenu the Torah, He would say over a Halachoh one time and then Moshe would repeat it. But
instead of just listening to this recitation, G-d would also say the words.The obvious question is why is
this necessary? Moshe Rabbenu is the one
who must learn to say over the Halachoh and
therefore should recite it by himself. Why go over it TOGETHER?
The
Maharal (Gur Aryeh on this verse) answers that the Torah is NOT an
academic subject but rather a necessary part of the universe. The Torah is
always being recited by G-d and this is what keeps the world running.
The
Maharal also wrote that by way of studying the
Torah a person reaches perfection, which means that he and G-d are bound
together tightly. When we study Torah, we can be sure that the words we
learn lift us up to become G-d's partner in creation.
If
we would realize the importance of studying Torah, I am sure we would find
the time and opportunities to do so.
A
personal note: On the way back from davening in
the mornings, I drive together with someone. Yesterday we discovered that
we had both memorized the same chapters of Mishnah
and began to recite them together word by word. I couldn't help feeling
excited over the fact that we were doing what Rashi
wrote generations ago: "return and repeat the Halachoh
together".
Back to table of contents
|
