A thought on Parshas Bo
"...v'achaltem oso b'chipazon...""...and you shall eat it in a rush..." (12:11)
One of the rules governing the eating of the korban Pesach was that we needed to consume it in a hurried, rushed manner. Many of us make mention of this during the commemorative Pesach seder each year. Later in the Torah (Devarim 16:3), we are reminded that we went out of Egypt "b'chipazon" - in a rush.
The question is: what was this "rush" all about? Seemingly we were busy in Egypt for many long years and we were not stagnant or in limbo. We were probably rushing around in a hurry to do the slave labor day and night. What does it mean that we ate the sacrifice, and we left the land, in a rush (limbo hardly describes our status prior to our departure)? What rush? Whose rush? How was this rush different than all the other rushing during that exile?
The Recanati offers a teaching from the Mechilta: "Aba Chanun said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: It was the Divine Presence which was in a rush."
Remember all of those verses in Shir HaShirim which speak about the Beloved's voice which hides behind walls and then comes forth, and recall Dovid HaMelech's imagery about skipping mountains and prancing hilltops? These are allusions to the rushing Shechina which was pushing and prodding to our people to purify themselves from the dark stain of Egyptian bondage and to get ourselves out of there!Why the rush? It was not only for our sake that HaShem urged us out. The image of a Presence which "rushed and agitated" had to do with the Egyptian's failure or refusal to recognize HaShem. That place was not fit for that sense of the Sacred to tarry. After four hundred years, the Egyptians were no more ready to accept HaShem's Unity and Majesty than were their pagan ancestors. There was no further need to be Present there. When people are not in search of HaShem then HaShem's greatness is not manifest and revealed. Hence, the Shechina was in a rush, and we commemorated this by finishing off our meal in a rush, emulating the message from Above.
And this is why in Yeshaya 52:12, the prophet foretells that in the End of Days lo b'chipazon te'tzeu - there will be no "hurry" Above because all of the world, every individual and nation, will recognize His Presence everywhere and at all times. All people will have the sense that the Sacred hovers, tarries and is always Present.
What a vision for us: imagine that our existence will no longer be a frenzied rush. What a life! Good Shabbos. D Fox
Again, I sent this early because I am away in Jerusalem.
One of the rules governing the eating of the korban Pesach was that we needed to consume it in a hurried, rushed manner. Many of us make mention of this during the commemorative Pesach seder each year. Later in the Torah (Devarim 16:3), we are reminded that we went out of Egypt "b'chipazon" - in a rush.
The question is: what was this "rush" all about? Seemingly we were busy in Egypt for many long years and we were not stagnant or in limbo. We were probably rushing around in a hurry to do the slave labor day and night. What does it mean that we ate the sacrifice, and we left the land, in a rush (limbo hardly describes our status prior to our departure)? What rush? Whose rush? How was this rush different than all the other rushing during that exile?
The Recanati offers a teaching from the Mechilta: "Aba Chanun said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer: It was the Divine Presence which was in a rush."
Remember all of those verses in Shir HaShirim which speak about the Beloved's voice which hides behind walls and then comes forth, and recall Dovid HaMelech's imagery about skipping mountains and prancing hilltops? These are allusions to the rushing Shechina which was pushing and prodding to our people to purify themselves from the dark stain of Egyptian bondage and to get ourselves out of there!Why the rush? It was not only for our sake that HaShem urged us out. The image of a Presence which "rushed and agitated" had to do with the Egyptian's failure or refusal to recognize HaShem. That place was not fit for that sense of the Sacred to tarry. After four hundred years, the Egyptians were no more ready to accept HaShem's Unity and Majesty than were their pagan ancestors. There was no further need to be Present there. When people are not in search of HaShem then HaShem's greatness is not manifest and revealed. Hence, the Shechina was in a rush, and we commemorated this by finishing off our meal in a rush, emulating the message from Above.
And this is why in Yeshaya 52:12, the prophet foretells that in the End of Days lo b'chipazon te'tzeu - there will be no "hurry" Above because all of the world, every individual and nation, will recognize His Presence everywhere and at all times. All people will have the sense that the Sacred hovers, tarries and is always Present.
What a vision for us: imagine that our existence will no longer be a frenzied rush. What a life! Good Shabbos. D Fox
Again, I sent this early because I am away in Jerusalem.
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 11:41 AM
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