Bo Summary

This is a summary of this week's Torah portion.

For my translation of exerpts of Tosefet Bracha on the parsha click these links:

Tosefet Bracha - Bo

Tosefet Bracha - Bo (part 2)

Hashem tells Moshe that He is hardening Pharaoh's heart, so that through miraculous plagues the world will know for all time that He is the one true G-d. Pharaoh is warned about the plague of locust and is told how severe it will be. Pharaoh agrees to release only the men, but Moshe insists that everyone must be allowed to go free. During the plague, Pharaoh calls for Moshe and Aaron to remove the locusts and he admits that he has sinned. Hashem ends the plague but hardens Pharaoh's heat, and again Pharaoh fails to free the Children of Israel.

The country, except for the Jewish People, is then engulfed in a palpable darkness. Pharaoh calls for Moshe, and tells him to take all the Jews out of Egypt, and to leave their flocks behind. Moshe tells him that not only will they take their own flocks, but Pharaoh must add his own too. Moshe tells Pharaoh that Hashem is going to bring one more plague, the death of the first born, and then the Children of Israel will leave Egypt. Hashem again hardens Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh warns Moshe that if he sees him again he will be put to death.

Hashem tells Moshe that the month of Nissan will be the first month in the calendar year. The Children of Israel are commanded to take a sheep on the tenth of the month, and guard it until the fourteenth. The sheep is then to be slaughtered as a Pesach sacrifice, its blood to be put on their door-posts, and its roasted meat to be eaten. The blood on the door-post will be a sign to Hashem, to pass over their homes when He strikes the first born of Egypt.

The Jewish People are told to memorialise this day as the Exodus from Egypt, by never eating chametz on Pesach. Moshe relays Hashem's commands, and the Jewish People fulfill them flawlessly. Hashem sends the final plague, killing the first born, and Pharaoh sends the Jews out of Egypt. Hashem tells Moshe and Aaron the laws concerning the Pesach sacrifice, pidyon haben (the redemption of the first born son), and tefillin.