Pesach: A New Beginning

The prophet Yechezkel (Ezekiel) declared:

“And as for you birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to smooth [your skin], nor were you salted, nor were you swaddled… Then I passed you and saw you wallowing in your bloods, and I said to you, ‘By your bloods shall you live;’ I said to you, ‘By your bloods shall you live.”[1]

Rashi explains “the day you were born” to refer to “when I (Ha-Shem) chose you in Egypt,” when Israel had yet no merits to warrant their redemption, like a new-born child not yet groomed. However, “by your bloods shall you live” – by two acts of shedding blood was Israel redeemed from Egypt, the blood of the Pesach sacrifice and the blood of circumcision.[2]

Why did the prophet choose the metaphor of birth to describe the events of the Exodus from Egypt? Was the choice merely poetic, or do the prophet’s words reveal a deeper reality? Furthermore, why specifically do these two merits form the impetus for the Redemption?

R. Shimshon Pincus z”l,[3] explains that the order of Jewish holidays forms a spiritual ladder that the Jew climbs over the cycle of the year from lowest to highest level of spiritual growth and closeness to the Almighty. This ladder parallels the lifecycle of the human being. Each successive festival, or rung on the ladder, corresponds to a different stage of life, from the earliest and least developed, to a stage of full maturity that is the climax of spiritual development.

Pesach, then, as the first rung on the ladder,[4] corresponds to the birth of the human being. Shavuos, the time our people received the Torah and became bound by its commandments, corresponds to the time of the bar mitzvah, when the individual becomes bound by the commandments. Sukos, the time we remember the Almighty’s act of surrounding our people with protective clouds, corresponds to the time of one’s marriage, when a bride comes under the chupah, the protective canopy of her groom. Purim, the final festival of the Jewish year, corresponds to the apex of one’s spiritual development and closeness with the Almighty.

Let us examine how Pesach parallels the birth of a human being:

• Yaakov (Jacob) and his sons descend to Egypt as a small nomadic group of a mere “seventy souls.”[5] There this seeding of Israelites takes root and begins a rapid multiplication until it reaches the critical mass of a whole nation.[6] Similarly, an introduction of human seed into the nurturing environment of the womb catalyzes a process of rapid cellular reproduction resulting in the formation of a new and independent life. In fact, the Torah describes Egypt as “the private part of the earth,”[7] the place the seed must enter to produce new life.
• Shir ha-Shirim (the Song of Songs) describes Egypt as the “mother” of Israel.[8]
• Prior to the Exodus, Egypt experiences its own set of “birthpangs” as ten devastating plagues rack the mighty empire, each bringing the fledgling nation of Israel closer to its ultimate freedom, when the new nation would burst forth from its “mother” country.
• The Ten Plagues take place over the course of nine months, as each plague lasts one week, with Moshe warning Pharaoh for three weeks before the onset of the next plague. The tenth plague, the Slaying of the First-born, takes place in a single night, hence from the onset of the plague of Blood to the ultimate Exodus, the day following the midnight slaying of the first-born, nine months transpire, the same as the gestation period of a human child!
• The final plague itself, the final contraction that ejected the nation of Israel from its host mother, revolves around the birth event - the Plague of the First-born!
• Just as a new-born Jewish child undergoes circumcision, the new-born Jewish nation underwent a mass circumcision upon their Exodus from Egypt.[9]

Indeed Jewish ritual law also reflects this new-born quality of Israel. The Almighty issues to the Children of Israel their first national commandment with the onset of Nisan, the month of the Exodus. “This month is for you the first of months; it is first for you for the months of the year.”[10] With the Exodus, we mark the beginning of a new national clock. Like a new-born child, time for us begins now.

In the terminology of our Sages, chametz euphemistically represents the Evil Inclination.[11] With the arrival of a new-born baby, a family will thoroughly clean and sterilize its home to protect the baby from elements against which its yet undeveloped immune system remains vulnerable. Similarly, in the wake of Pesach we thoroughly clean and sterilize our homes, eliminating this spiritually harmful element, chametz, from the environs of our fledgling nation.

Likewise, a new-born eats a highly specialized type of food containing the essential nutrients for its early growth and development (mother’s milk). So too the special food of Pesach, the matzah, contains the most essential nutrient for a Jew’s early stages – as the opposite of chametz it constitutes the antithesis of the Evil Inclination – indeed a valuable spiritual vitamin to feed the Jew from his earliest days.

The commandment to Israel to redeem their first-born, issued at this time,[12] like the Plague of the First-born mentioned above, further highlights the issue of birth in a great declaration by the Almighty that, “My son, My first-born, is Israel!”[13]

But did the Exodus merely mark the birth of something “new” as in young in age, or did it bring about the creation of a nation completely unique and distinct from any nation that had come before? Indeed our tradition teaches that this birth was not merely generative but transformative, an evolution in the annals of mankind. What was the nature of this transformation?

Let us examine the commandment of the Pesach offering for a clue. In the past, such as during the time of the Patriarchs Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, all sacrifices offered to the Almighty were burnt-offerings (olos), meaning offerings completely burned upon the altar, with no part left over for human consumption. After all, this animal, as a gift to G-d, certainly held too much sanctity for benefit by mere mortals! For a lowly human being to partake of such a lofty offering would constitute an insult to the Almighty!

However, the commandment to offer the Pesach sacrifice introduces a shocking change – the owner of the animal must eat from the sacrifice! Not only must one eat, but should one not eat, one incurs the harshest penalty offered for any crime in the Torah – spiritual excision (kares), the expurgation of one’s soul from among the Jewish people!

While many transgressions in the Torah carry this penalty, only two positive commandments carry this punishment for their non-performance – the Pesach offering and circumcision. What is the meaning of this sudden change? What is the connection between these two strict commandments?

The novel mandate to share in an offering to the Divine demonstrates that with Pesach our nature has altered. With the consumption the Pesach sacrifice and performance of circumcision the Jew undergoes a spiritual and physical transformation. We are no longer human; we are something greater. “And I said to you, ‘By your bloods shall you live;’ and I said to you, ‘By your bloods shall you live.’” Without these two merits, one has not graduated from mundane humanity to the exalted status of the Israelite, of a nation attached to the Divine.

Of course, today, in the absence of the Holy Temple in which to offer the Pesach sacrifice, we offer our Pesach Seder in its place, concluding with the words, “As we have merited to arrange it [in facsimile], so may we merit to perform it [in actuality].” Let us seize the opportunity that Pesach affords, realize our special potential as Jews, and begin anew our journey to reach the highest of spiritual heights and closeness to the Almighty.

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[1] Yechezkel 16:4-6. Translation based on Artscroll Stone Edition Tanach.

[2] Rashi ad loc. See also Rashi to Shemos (Exodus) 12:6

[3] Lecture on Purim

[4] Rosh ha-Shanah 4A explains that Pesach is the “rosh ha-shanah,” or “beginning of the year” regarding the cycle of festivals.

[5] Shemos 1:5; see also B’Reshis (Genesis) 46:27

[6] Shemos 1:7; see also B’Reshis 47:27

[7] B’Reshis 42:9, 12

[8] Shir ha-Shirim 1:6, Rashi ad loc.

[9] Rashi to Shemos 12:6, Yehoshua (Joshua) 5:2 and Yechezchel 16:6

[10] Shemos 12:2

[11] See Berachos 17A and Rashi ad loc s.v. “seor she-ba-isah"

[12] Shemos 13:2,11-15

[13] Ibid 4:22