Parashat Bo
January 18, 2024
Rabbi Harry Pell, Associate Head of School
As we turn in the Torah to Parashat Bo this week, we find ourselves in the middle of the ten plagues. Just after barad (hail), and right before arbeh (locusts), to be exact. In the middle of all of this, in a brief interchange with Moshe that could easily be overlooked, God shares not just the “what” of the plagues, but the “why,” and in doing so gives us some good advice as Jewish educators and parents.
Apparently, God’s miraculous signs were meant to have an impact on the Egyptians, but also on the future generations of the Israelites. The job of those present would be to tell the story to the future generations. Which is, in effect, our job.
Shabbat Shalom, and thank you to all of my colleagues who are invested in this holy work, day in and day out.
God explains to Moshe that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart for a specific reason. It was in order that God would be able to display these “signs” – God’s word for the plagues – to the Egyptians, and, reading between the lines, so that the plagues could have the necessary impact on the Egyptian people, leading to freedom for Bnei Yisrael. That’s all well and good, makes sense, and could easily have been the end of God’s explanation. Except, there’s more.
וּלְמַ֡עַן תְּסַפֵּר֩ בְּאׇזְנֵ֨י בִנְךָ֜ וּבֶן־בִּנְךָ֗ אֵ֣ת אֲשֶׁ֤ר הִתְעַלַּ֙לְתִּי֙ בְּמִצְרַ֔יִם
And, God adds, I also did this so that you would tell your children some day, and your children’s children, what I did in Egypt.
And, God adds, I also did this so that you would tell your children some day, and your children’s children, what I did in Egypt.
Apparently, God’s miraculous signs were meant to have an impact on the Egyptians, but also on the future generations of the Israelites. The job of those present would be to tell the story to the future generations. Which is, in effect, our job.
This message resonates immediately when we think of Shoah survivors sharing their testimony, and I imagine some day, survivors of October 7th doing the same. But I think it’s bigger than that. In a sense, the future of the Jewish people depends on our children knowing their grandparents’ stories, and those of their grandparents’ grandparents, and their grandparents as well. The joyous together with the painful. Our obligation as Jewish educators and parents is to make sure that the next generation of the Jewish people knows the history of the Jewish people. Paraphrasing the Elie Wiesel quote that we put on the back of the Lev v’Nefesh sweatshirts our students wear each year in Poland and Israel, only then can we call on our past to illuminate and guide us as a people to a better future.
Shabbat Shalom, and thank you to all of my colleagues who are invested in this holy work, day in and day out.