Parshas Bo
1. When Moshe Rabbeinu relayed to Pharaoh the words of G‑d, that He would bring upon Egypt the plague of the firstborn, he also stated the time when the plague would come: "בחצות" ("at midnight") — in the middle of the night. (Only because Pharaoh's astrologers (stargazers) might err about the exact time did Moshe Rabbeinu say1 "כחצות הלילה וגו׳" ("About midnight..."), meaning that it would happen around midnight.)
This is not understood: why was it necessary at all to tell Pharaoh the time when the plague of the firstborn would begin? He could simply have said — as with the other plagues — that G‑d would bring the plague upon Egypt, without stating the time. We see from this that the plague of the firstborn has a special connection with the time of midnight, so much so that in order to tell Pharaoh about this plague it was necessary to state the time along with it (except that because of "lest Pharaoh's astrologers err," Moshe said "About midnight...").
We further find regarding the plague of the firstborn, unlike all the other plagues: a) For this plague the Jews had to make a special sign on their houses — the blood of circumcision and the blood of the Pesach offering2 "על שתי המזוזות ועל המשקוף" ("on the two doorposts and on the lintel") — so that the plague that would come upon the Egyptians should not harm the Jews. b) G‑d commanded3: "ואתם לא תצאו איש מפתח ביתו עד בוקר" ("And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning") — that the whole night the Jews should not go out of their houses, because "מאחר שניתנה רשות למשחית אינו מבחין בין צדיקים לרשעים" ("Once permission has been granted to the destroyer, he does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked")4: since permission had been given to the destroyer, he makes no distinction between a tzaddik and a rasha, and Jews too could have been struck by the plague.
But seemingly, the Jews did not suffer from the other plagues either; the plagues were only for the Egyptians. So with the other plagues too there was "permission granted to the destroyer," and nevertheless the Jews did not need any special safeguards to protect them from the destroyer. Why, specifically with the plague of the firstborn, did the Jews need them? And what is the difference between, and the need for, the two things: a) "You shall not go out...", and b) the sign of the blood of circumcision and of the Pesach?
2. The difference between the plague of the firstborn and the other plagues is this: The other plagues were not of a kind that could be called "permission granted to the destroyer." Even in the plagues that touched not only the property of the Egyptians but also their lives — such as the wild beasts — the destroyer was nevertheless limited in his destruction; it was carried out through a specific, limited5 thing (frogs, lice, and so on). He had permission to harm or kill the Egyptians only by way of that particular plague6. Therefore this is not "permission granted to the destroyer." With the plague of the firstborn, by contrast, he was given permission — we find no limitations on the manner of killing the Egyptian firstborn. And since "permission was granted to the destroyer," the Jews needed a safeguard, so that he should not harm the Jews too.
A deeper difference: The purpose of the plagues was primarily not to strike the Egyptians, but so that it would be known "כי אני הוי׳" ("that I am the L‑rd"), as is also stated explicitly regarding some of the plagues7: "בזאת תדע וגו׳" ("By this you shall know..."), "למען תדע וגו׳" ("So that you may know..."), "בעבור תדע וגו׳" ("In order that you may know..."). Therefore this was not needed for the Jews, because the Jews already had the knowledge of G‑dliness without it8. And in this itself the plague of the firstborn differs from the nine plagues: in them, the one who was struck was not himself completely destroyed, and he himself also had the benefit of the knowledge. With the plague of the firstborn, however, there was "ומת כל בכור וגו׳" ("And every firstborn shall die..."). The purpose of the plague of the firstborn was also to kill the Egyptian firstborn, to destroy them completely — and not so that they themselves should thereby know "that I am the L‑rd." Therefore it was necessary here to guard against a possible claim of the attribute of judgment: "מה נשתנו אלו מאלו" ("How are these different from those?") — in what way are the Jews different from the Egyptian firstborn with regard to the punishment (not with regard to the knowledge)? For the Jews in Egypt too were sunk in kelipah9: "אלו עובדי ע״ז וכו׳" ("These are idol worshippers, etc.")10. And therefore there was room for the emissary of the attribute of judgment, the destroyer, not to allow a distinction between the Egyptians and the Jews.
(Although it says11: "ועברתי וגו׳ והכיתי כל בכור וגו׳ אעשה שפטים אני הוי׳" ("I will pass through... and I will strike every firstborn... I will execute judgments; I am the L‑rd") — and our Sages12 derive from this: "אני ולא מלאך וכו׳ אני הוא ולא אחר" ("I and not an angel... I am He and no other"), that G‑d Himself brought the plague of the firstborn upon Egypt — nevertheless, the destroyer was also present and could act as prosecutor13. Because of this the safeguards were needed, so that the destroyer should have no access.)
In this there were two matters: a) In the land of Egypt in general there was "permission granted," without limitations. No sign helps there, because "he does not distinguish, etc." — all are equal — so the only remedy is "You shall not go out...". b) In the houses of the Jews, regarding which there was a limitation14, "ופסחתי עליכם" ("and I will pass over you") — I will skip over you — there is no "permission to the destroyer"; consequently there can be a distinction, a difference, between Jews and Egyptians, and this difference is connected with the sign.
3. It is, however, still not understood: since the claim of the attribute of judgment, "How are these different from those?", had a place, how could the "sign" protect the Jews from this claim and from its consequence — the plague of the firstborn? The answer is that the plague of the firstborn came from a level in G‑dliness — "הקב״ה בכבודו ובעצמו" ("the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and in His own Self") — that is entirely above hishtalshelus (the chain of spiritual descent), above the attribute of judgment, and consequently at that time there is no place at all for claims of the attribute of judgment. Claims of reason can take hold in the levels of the order of hishtalshelus, which are measured and limited; but above the order of hishtalshelus, as at the time of the plague of the firstborn, no rational claim applies.
And this is the explanation of why the plague of the firstborn was specifically at midnight: precisely at the moment of midnight there shines the light that is above hishtalshelus, which is why that moment can join the two halves of the night — chesed and gevurah. The first half of the night is the time of the attribute of gevurah, which is why we see that it then becomes darker and darker; in the second half of the night the attribute of chesed shines, and therefore it then begins to become lighter and lighter. And the moment of midnight unites both opposites, chesed and gevurah, because in it there shines the light that is above hishtalshelus. And as is known, one who unites two opposite matters must himself be above both limitations15.
This means that at the plague of the firstborn there shone G‑d's essential love for the Jews, a love that is above all reasons and all calculations. And by virtue of this essential love, even when reason asks "How are these different from those?", "הלוא אח עשו ליעקב" ("Is not Esav a brother to Yaakov?")16 — they are, after all, both the same — G‑d nevertheless says: "ואוהב את יעקב ואת עשו שנאתי" ("And I loved Yaakov, and Esav I hated"). He loves the Jews because they are His children — "בנים אתם לה׳ אלקיכם" ("You are children to the L‑rd your G‑d")17 — and the love of a father for his children is an essential love that cannot be questioned or touched by any rational reason or claim.
Therefore Moshe Rabbeinu had to mention to Pharaoh the time when the plague of the firstborn would come, "About midnight," to allude that it would be a revelation from above hishtalshelus. For without this allusion to the higher light, Pharaoh and his magicians would not have been able to believe that a plague whose purpose is to destroy kelipah, at a time when "permission was granted to the destroyer," should not touch the Jews, although "these are not different from those." Because of this Moshe Rabbeinu said "About midnight" — a light above hishtalshelus.
4. Nevertheless, it was necessary for the Jews to have a sign. The explanation of this:
All G‑dly flows that come from above are drawn down only through the service of the Jews here below. Even the revelations from above hishtalshelus, up to G‑d's essential love for the Jews, require service. Although, being an essential love, it is always whole, service below is nevertheless required so that the love should be revealed below (and be received inwardly). But the service must resemble the flow — a service above reason and understanding, that is, above the hishtalshelus of the Jew's inner faculties.
Therefore the sign on the Jewish houses on the night of the plague of the firstborn also consisted of the blood of circumcision and the blood of the Pesach, for they expressed the bond of the Jews with G‑d in a manner above reason and understanding. The covenant of a Jew with G‑d through the mitzvah of circumcision is a bond that is above intellect (as we see from the fact that the mitzvah is to circumcise a Jewish child at eight days, when he is not yet at all capable of understanding)18. So too the mitzvah of the Pesach offering was then performed with mesirus nefesh (self-sacrifice), above reason and understanding, because the sheep for the Pesach offering were "תועבת מצרים" ("the abomination of Egypt"), the idol of Egypt; and the Jews took the sheep, kept it for four days before the eyes of the Egyptians, and said openly that they were going to slaughter it and offer it to G‑d — which is, after all, a service of actual mesirus nefesh.
And this service of revealed mesirus nefesh, above the reason and understanding of the Jews, also called forth from above, in revelation, the essential love that is above reason and understanding — which is the revelation of midnight.
5. With this we will also understand the connection between the sayings of our Sages regarding the merit through which the Jews were redeemed from Egypt. In one place our Sages say19: "בזכות האמונה נגאלו אבותינו ממצרים" ("In the merit of faith our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt") — that the redemption was in the merit of the Jews' faith in the tidings of redemption ("ויאמן העם וישמעו כי פקד ה׳" ("And the people believed, and they heard that the L‑rd had remembered")20); and in another place our Sages say21 that they were redeemed in the merit of the two bloods, the blood of the Pesach and the blood of circumcision ("בדמיך חיי וגו׳" ("In your blood, live...")22). For both matters — faith, and the bloods of Pesach and circumcision — are above reason and understanding.
Faith in general is above intellect, and especially the faith of the Jews in the redemption while they were in the Egyptian exile. By the laws of nature it was impossible for the Jews to be freed from Egypt, for "לא הי׳ עבד יכול לברוח ממצרים" ("No slave could escape from Egypt")23 — not even a single slave could flee from there — all the more so six hundred thousand. Moreover, it is easy to imagine how broken the Jews then were by the hardship of the exile and the servitude in general, and quite especially by the brokenness and suffering caused by Pharaoh's decree against the little children (for it is human nature to give up everything, as long as, G‑d forbid, no harm comes to one's children, and especially to little children). And despite their great brokenness, and their harsh confinement in the bitter exile of Egypt, the Jews believed with simple faith in Moshe Rabbeinu's tidings of redemption, that G‑d would free them and take them out of exile.
This simple faith, which is above reason and understanding, called forth above as well the essential love that is above reason and understanding — although according to intellect there could have been the claim, "How are these different from those?" But, as mentioned above, in order that the essential love, from above hishtalshelus, should come down and act through the order of hishtalshelus, until the redemption of Israel could actually come about from it here below, the Jews' own essential bond with G‑d also had to come down into revelation and act upon their inner faculties, down to the level of actual deed. And this the Jews did through their service in the mitzvah of Pesach and the mitzvah of circumcision — the bond from above intellect, carried through into actual deed.
6. On the verse "ויהי בחצי הלילה" ("And it was at midnight"), the Mechilta brings two opinions: a) "יוצרו חלקו" ("Its Creator divided it") — the Creator divided the night; b) "יודע עתותיו ושעותיו הוא חלקו" ("He Who knows its times and its hours divided it") — the One Who knows its times and its hours divided the night. And the Radvaz explains24 the difference between the two opinions: according to the first opinion, G‑d, the Creator of the night, stopped the sphere (the revolution of the hosts of heaven) for a short while and nullified the matter of time, and this divided, in a noticeable way, the first half of the night from the second. According to the second opinion no miracle was needed here; rather, G‑d, Who "knows its times and its hours," pinpointed and aimed at the exact midnight — even though a person cannot demonstrate it — and at that precise moment He struck the Egyptian firstborn. What is the inner difference between the two opinions? And especially: why was the miracle of "Its Creator divided it" needed?
7. The explanation of the two opinions:
It is certain that the flow at the time of the plague of the firstborn came from a place that is above hishtalshelus, as discussed above at length. The opinions differ, however, as to the manner in which the flow came down below. According to the opinion that "Its Creator divided it," below too the flow was revealed in a manner above nature and above time; since nature and time are not vessels for such a light from above hishtalshelus, G‑d therefore stopped the sphere and nullified time and nature. According to the second opinion it was not a nullification of nature; rather, the flow from above hishtalshelus was drawn down and revealed within the garments of nature (similar to the miracle of Purim). And this second manner has a special quality: nature itself was elevated — nature became a vessel for what is above nature.
Since "אלו ואלו דברי אלקים חיים" ("These and these are the words of the living G‑d"), both qualities were present in the revelation of midnight (even more so than in the miracle of Purim): the light from above hishtalshelus enclothed itself in nature in an inward manner ("He Who knows its times and its hours"), and the light also shone through nature in a revealed manner ("Its Creator divided it").
The reason for this is: the plague of the firstborn, the last plague, was the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt; and the purpose of the Exodus was the Giving of the Torah, as it says25: "בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלקים על ההר הזה" ("When you take the people out of Egypt, you shall serve G‑d on this mountain"); and the point of the Giving of the Torah is to unite the higher and the lower26 — the union of G‑dliness that is above nature with nature. Therefore at the time of the plague of the firstborn too there was the revealed union of higher with lower through both matters together — "Its Creator" and "He Who knows its times and its hours."
This was also seen in the Exodus in general: even after the redemption from Egypt, the land of Egypt was not nullified; it remained a kingdom afterwards as well. And nevertheless, at the very time when Egypt was in its full strength and "no slave could escape from Egypt," six hundred thousand went out, besides women and children — and this was "ביד רמה" ("with an upraised hand").
8. As stated earlier, the revelation from above hishtalshelus at the time of the Exodus came through the blood of circumcision and the blood of the Pesach. Since in the revelation of midnight there was, openly, the integration of higher with lower, one must say that the service of faith and mesirus nefesh above reason and understanding, through the blood of circumcision and the blood of the Pesach, was also of such a kind that it permeated the inner faculties too, down to the very lowest matters27. Therefore it also brought about above that the revelation from above hishtalshelus permeated the garments of nature as well.
The service of the covenant of circumcision, as already discussed at length28, is to permeate the physical flesh down to "יסוד סיומא דגופא" ("the foundation, the end of the body")29, and to bind the physical flesh, as it were, with G‑d in a "ברית עולם" ("everlasting covenant"), above reason and understanding. Even more evident was the bond above reason and understanding with what is very low in the service of the blood of the Pesach. One took a lamb, a thing that is outside even the human body — "the end of the body" is still a part of the person, but a lamb is something that belongs to one's portion in the world. And lower still: the Egyptians had made the lamb into their idol, and even this the Jews made into a vessel for mesirus nefesh above reason and understanding.
This is also what we see in the fact that the Pesach offering differs from all other offerings30 in that "שלא בא מתחילתו אלא לאכילה" ("from the outset it comes only to be eaten"). With all other offerings, the mitzvah of eating is an additional mitzvah beyond the essence of the offering. But with the Pesach offering, the entire offering is for the sake of eating the Pesach. This is the point of the Pesach offering: that in matters of eating, in which man is equal to an animal31, there should be expressed the faith and mesirus nefesh that are above reason and understanding.
9. It has already been discussed several times32 that the true meaning of freedom is not only that the soul should be free of the limitations of the body and the animal soul; the body and the animal soul, and also one's portion in the world, must likewise be freed from the things that conceal G‑dliness — in them too the revelation of the soul should be felt.
And the preparation for true freedom — of the soul, of the body and animal soul, and of one's portion in the world — was the revelation of faith (the revelation of the soul), which expressed itself down to circumcision ("the foundation, the end of the body"), and also in the lamb, a thing outside oneself (one's portion in the world)33.
And since the power to descend very low comes from very high, it is understood that as high as is the power of circumcision, which affects and reveals G‑dliness even in the physical flesh down to "the foundation, the end of the body," the power of the Pesach offering is higher still, in that it draws G‑dliness also into what is outside the person, into his portion in the world. And specifically through this is the true meaning of freedom accomplished; as already discussed34, as long as the "רכוש גדול" ("great wealth"), one's portion in the world, has not yet left Egypt, the completeness of freedom is lacking.
And therefore we find that the blood of circumcision was a preparation for the blood of the Pesach, as the Midrash relates35: when the Jews wanted to eat the Pesach offering and Moshe told them that they must first circumcise themselves, the Jews then circumcised themselves. And a preparation is, after all, lesser than the thing for which one prepares.
10. "כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים אראנו נפלאות" ("As in the days of your going out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders"). The future redemption, which is coming soon, will be like the Exodus from Egypt. Just as the Exodus came in the merit of faith, which was revealed and came down also into the inner faculties, down to the very lowest faculties (circumcision), and also into matters outside the person (Pesach) — so too the future redemption will come in the merit of faith: that despite the great concealment and hiddenness of our exile, we will arouse the simple faith in the coming of Moshiach, that "הנה זה עומד אחר כתלנו" ("Behold, he stands behind our wall")36 — that any moment now he is coming, he is already standing behind... [The source page ends here; the rest of this section and the closing line of the Sicha continue on the next page.]
Notes
1) Berachos 4a. Cited in Rashi, Shemos 11:4.
2) Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer ch. 29. Targum Yonasan, Shemos 12:13. Zohar II, 5b [OCR unclear].
3) Shemos 12:22.
4) Mechilta, ibid. Bava Kamma 60a, end. Cited in Rashi, Shemos, ibid. See also the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe, Laws of Guarding the Body and Soul, end of sec. 13.
5) The plague of pestilence too was very limited, for it was only among the livestock, and only in five species (Tanchuma Buber, 31b).
6) As it is written (Shemos 9:31–32): "והשעורה נכתה כי השעורה אביב וגו׳ לא נכו כי אפילות הנה" ("And the barley was smitten, for the barley was in the ear... they were not smitten, for they ripen late").
7) Shemos 7:17; 8:18; 9:14.
8) See Torah Ohr, Vaera (57a); Torah Chaim, ibid.
9) See Zohar Chadash, beginning of Parshas Yisro.
10) Yalkut Reuveni, Shemos 14:27. Zohar II, 170b.
11) Shemos 12:12.
12) Sifri, Devarim 26:8. See also the Haggadah shel Pesach with Likutei Taamim uMinhagim (Kehot edition), p. 25.
13) Zohar II, 41a, end. Zohar III, 149a.
14) Shemos 12:13.
15) See in many places; Or HaTorah, Lech Lecha, the discourse beginning "ויחלק עליהם" ("And he divided [his men] against them"), [OCR unclear] onward, and in the Omissions there (vol. 2, 423b onward).
16) Malachi 1:2–3.
17) Devarim 14:1.
18) See Likutei Sichos, vol. 1, Parshas Toldos.
19) Mechilta, Shemos 14:31.
20) Shemos 4:31.
21) Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer ch. 29. Mechilta, Shemos 12:6. Cited in Rashi, ibid.
22) Yechezkel 16:6.
23) Mechilta, Shemos 18:11. Cited in Rashi, ibid., verse 9.
24) Responsa of the Radvaz, vol. 1, sec. 854.
25) Shemos 3:12.
26) See Shemos Rabbah 2:3 [OCR unclear; perhaps 12:3]. Tanchuma, Vaera 19. See also above, p. 758 and p. 776.
27) This is also true of these mitzvos in general: these two mitzvos — circumcision and Pesach — are among the mitzvos given before the Giving of the Torah, when the world was impure (see Shabbos 146a; Zohar I, 52b). This is why there was then the decree that the lower beings should not ascend above (Shemos Rabbah 12:3), and it was not possible for Torah and mitzvos to be enclothed in the physicality of the world. Before the Exodus and the Giving of the Torah it was necessary to refine certain details of the world as it still was in its impurity, and this gave the power for the cessation and nullification of the impurity at the time of the Giving of the Torah (from the sicha of Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5712).
28) See above, p. 34[OCR unclear].
29) Introduction to Tikkunei Zohar (17a).
30) Pesachim 76b.
31) Chagigah 16a.
32) See also the letter for the festival of Pesach 5722 and the sources noted there (printed in the Haggadah shel Pesach (Kehot), p. 594).
33) This is not contradicted by what is explained in Tanya ch. 31, that "the evil in the souls of Israel was still in its strength in the left chamber, for their impurity did not cease until the Giving of the Torah," which is why the Exodus from Egypt was by way of flight. For although there was then freedom also with regard to the refinement of the body and the animal soul (as explained in [OCR unclear reference] and in Zohar Chadash, beginning of Yisro), nevertheless, since the refinement on the night of Pesach came about mainly through the revelation from above, and on their own they were not prepared for it (and their service with circumcision and Pesach was essentially only to arouse the revelation from above, for the world was then still in its impurity, and consequently the mitzvos at that time were of a different kind (which is why we do not derive laws from before the Giving of the Torah — Yerushalmi Moed Katan 3:5; Yoma 28b; Sdei Chemed, Kelalim, under that entry, and Pe'as HaSadeh; Talmudic Encyclopedia, under that entry; and see above, note 27)), therefore the nullification of the evil in the animal soul was only external and revealed, while inwardly and in concealment the evil still remained in its strength. The nullification of the evil (externally) through the revelation from above was the beginning of, and the empowerment for, nullifying the evil (inwardly) by way of service from below upward during the days of the Counting [of the Omer]; and then, at the time of the Giving of the Torah (after the completion of the service of the Counting), their impurity ceased, including that which was inward and that which was in the world (from the sicha of the second night of Pesach 5720).
34) See above, Parshas Vayigash. On this basis one can explain why our Sages derived from the Pesach of Egypt (Pesachim 96a) that the Tamid offering requires inspection (four days before slaughter): the inspection of the offerings (which are included in general in the Tamid offering) — bringing a person close to G‑dliness, so that it be in wholeness without any blemish — comes through refining one's portion in the world (Pesach). When one does not fulfill his task of refining his portion in the world, then even if he refines all the powers of his soul down to the very lowest powers (circumcision), it is possible that the essence of his soul is still in exile, as explained above in Parshas Vayigash, and not close to G‑dliness.
35) Lekach Tov, Shemos 12:6.
36) [The text of this note is on the following page and is not included in this source.]
Key Lesson
The Exodus came through simple faith and mesirus nefesh above reason, expressed in actual deeds (circumcision and the Pesach offering) that reached even the body and one's portion in the world, and so drew down G‑d's essential love for His children. So too, the coming redemption will come through our simple faith that Moshiach is already standing behind our wall, despite the darkness of exile.