Although Hashem introduces the entirety of Parashat Bo with an instruction LiMa’an Tisapeir LiVinchah, there are many additional elements of the parasha that are individually singled out for their future didactic qualities. After detailing the process of Korban Pesach, Moshe calls together the Zikeinim of the nation and teaches them to smear blood on their doorposts. Moshe commands, “Ki Savo’u El Ha’Aretz, U’Shmartem Es Ha’Avoda HaZos,” presumably referring to the dipping and smearing of the Korban’s blood.
However, we know that the Bnei Yisrael are never again obligated to smear blood on their doorposts. Why then would Moshe command them to “keep” this Avoda in Eretz Yisrael? Looking ahead to the next pasuk, we discover that Moshe’s command actually doesn’t refer to Nisinas HaDam, but rather to the Korban Pesach itself. Moshe foretells:
When your children will ask, “Ma Ha’Avoda HaZos LaChem,” you shall say, “Zevach Pesach Hu LaHashem Asher Pasach Al Batei Bnei Yisrael BiMitzrayim BiNagifo Es Mitzrayim ViEs Bateinu Hitzil.”
Shemos, 12:26-27
So the Avoda kept, the Avoda the children ask about, is the Korban Pesach. This makes plenty of sense; the Korban Pesach has many unusual laws associated with it. We may not break its bones. We eat it with Matzah and Marror, and we eat it reclining. The children have many good reasons to be confused. But one slight difficulty remains; why does Moshe have to tell the Zikeinim about this instruction in correlation to Nisinas HaDam? We finished the bizarre details of Korban Pesach back in pasuk 20; if the child’s question is spurred by our obscure practices, then shouldn’t the pasukim transition from one to the next? All in all, what does the answer Moshe provides for the nation’s children – a resolution that comes to define the Zevach Pesach, not the Nisinas HaDam – have anything to do with dipping and smearing blood?
The answer Moshe provides for the children is itself a source of confusion. Why is it redundant? What does it mean that Hashem skipped our houses at the time that He saved our houses? Even if one understands the term Pasach to refer to mercy and not skipping (as Onkelos does), the redundancy might be resolved, but the syntax is shattered. The pasuk doesn’t say that Hashem had mercy when He smote the Mitzrim and saved us; rather, it reads that Hashem had mercy on us when He smote the Mitzrim, and He also saved our houses. If the effect of Hashem’s mercy is that He spared our houses, why do we have to specify the two actions with two separate clauses?
Perhaps the pasuk identifies Hashem’s mercy over the Jewish homes separately from His saving of the homes because they are two separate actions which actually happen at separate times of the night. We get so caught up in the presence of Makas Bechoros, the holocaust of an entire – and relatively advanced – civilization, that we overlook the other events of that particular night. But a close read into two seemingly contradictory Rashis reveals that there was more to the annihilation of Mitzrayim that night than “merely” the death of their firstborn.
ViLo Yiheyeh BaChem Negef: But there will be [a plague] amongst the Mitzrim. If a Mitzri was situated in a Yisrael’s house, one could imagine that [the Mitzri] might escape; therefore, the pasuk says “the plague will not be BaChem,” but it will be among the Mitzrim in your houses. [Perhaps] if there was a Yisrael in a Mitzri’s house, I could imagine that [the Yisrael] would too be smitten; therefore, our pasuk says “the plague will not be BaChem,” it will not affect us at all.
Rashi, Shemos 12:13
ViAtem Lo Seitzi’u, You shall not leave your homes [lest you be injured]: This tells us that after permission is given to a destructive force to injure, it does not differentiate between Tzadik and Rashah. And night is a time when injurious forces reign, as the pasuk says, “Bo Tirmos Kol Chayaso Ya’ar.”
Rashi, Shemos 12:22
With close analysis, the Mizrachi makes good sense of Rashi’s comments. On one hand, the Bnei Yisrael are told there is no significance as to whether they reside in their home on Pesach night; either way, they will not be affected by the Makah. Yet on the other hand, they are strongly warned not to step outside lest they be hurt. Granted, Hashem might have made each family stay in its home as a test of loyalty or observance, but if Hashem says the Makah won’t affect the nation, then what danger does Rashi comment about reigning at night and not differentiating between Tzadik and Rashah?
The Mizrachi explains that there was another danger aside the threat of Makas Bechoros. On the night of the first Pesach, HaKadosh Baruch Hu turned His Mazikim loose and gave them full permission to hurt anyone they pleased anywhere they pleased, even inside a private home. However, Hashem did remove this Reshus from one location, inside any home with blood smeared on its doorposts and lintel.
The Mizrachi explains that although the commandment “Lo Seitzi’u” technically should apply on even an ordinary night, for there might always be Mazikim outside. But there was an added importance on the first night of Pesach that the Jews be extra safe. Hashem was about to decimate all of Mitzrayim, and without scratching a single Jew, but His plan could only work if the injurious forces were restrained.
If we look closely in the pasukim, we see that the blood on the doorposts served a dual purpose. Like pasuk 13 states, ViRa’isi Es HaDam U’Pasachti Aleichem, Hashem would see the blood and have mercy on the Jews (additionally, he would skip over the Jews), thus saving their households from the terror of Makas Bechoros. Hashem expresses mercy on the people, no matter where they are, whether in their own home or a Mitzri’s. But in pasuk 23, Hashem’s mercy is no longer directed at the people; ViRa’ah Es HaDam… U’Fasach Hasem Al HaPesach ViLo Yitein HaMashchis El Bateichem LiNgof, Hashem pities the entrance. Perhaps what the pasuk means is that the Chemlah Hashem expresses for his nation in this pasuk only extends as far as the doorpost. In other words, Hashem can only guarantee that the Mazikim cannot harm Jews who stay indoors.
Looking even more closely at the pasukim, we can see a syntactical inconsistency between these two accounts, lending further proof to the presence of two harming forces. In pasuk 13, Hashem warns about the Negef LiMashchis, the plague that will damage, a clear reference to Makas Bechoros. However, in pasuk 23, Moshe says Hashem will not allow the Mashchis LinNgof, the damager to plague. The subject is no longer a Makah but rather an injurious entity that Hashem does not allow to hurt Jews. The pasuk wouldn’t say Hashem didn’t allow Himself to hurt the Jews in such a roundabout fashion, therefore, we can safely conclude that this pasuk refers to the Malachei Chabalah.
We can now make sense of Moshe’s answer for the future generations’ kids. The Bnei Yisrael tell their children that Hashem was Pasach Al Batei Bnei Yisrael, the lashon of mercy expressing the restriction of Mazikim to enter Jews’ homes. And when did Hashem forbid them? BiNagifo Es Mitzrayim, When He was hopping around house to house inspecting for Dam. Furthermore, ViEs Bateinu Hitzil, at that time, He chose only to attack the rest of the country with Makas Bechoros. Now the pasuk reads smoothly.
“Shimurim LiChol Bnei Yisrael LiDorosam”
Shemos, 12:43
[The pasuk says there will be a guarding LiDoros, for generations,] Meshumar U’Ba Min HaMazikin, [the fifteenth of Niasan] will be guarded from now onward from harmful spirits.
Rashi, Shemos 12:43
When Hashem showed mercy on Klal Yisrael and restricted Mazikim from entering their homes, He graciously extended the restriction LiDorosam, for that same night each year. Every Peasch night, we are granted a little extra safety and freedom. As a result of the one smearing of blood in Mitzrayim, every first night of Pesach we are exempt from reciting Kriyas Shema Al HaMita, and we are safe from harmful spirits.
The young child, enjoying a roasted Korban Pesach with his family in the Beis HaMikdash, is utterly confused. He does not understand what significance his reenactment of a century-old tradition bears. Granted, we can explain the Korban Pesach as a commemoration of past events, an expression of thankfulness we extend to Hashem. But instead, we acknowledge the Korban as an actual reliving of Yitzeas Mitzrayim, and we support our stance by describing the ongoing effect our actions in
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