Bo - 1st Portion

Join me as we learn together for Sunday paras chapter 10 verse 1. Last week's Torah reading in Pares Vera, we concluded with the seventh plague of hail and how it destroyed a lot of the crop of from Egypt. And at the end, how Pharaoh came calling and asking Moshe to pray to God that the hail should stop. Moshe leaves the city, prays to God, the hail ceases. And today we begin with the warning of the eighth plague. Chapter 10 verse one. This is now the 15th of Taves in the year 2448 where God now tells Moses and Aaron to announce what the eighth plague will be on the last day of the warning period. God says to Moses, "Come to par because I have made him uh I've made his heart hard and the heart of a servant so I may demonstrate my miraculous signs and of in his midst." tells us what does it mean come to per what are you going to do you're going to warn him about the upcoming plague and the pending plague what does the word shishi means to demonstrate so rashi says the word shishi comes from the wordi to place that I am going to make and I am going to place and I will show him what my great miracles will be verse two well So you may recount to your children, to your grandchildren, the mockery that I made of Egypt and the miraculous signs that I performed there. You will then realize that I am God. Verse two, who are you going to tell it to? And that's what you see. Rashi tells us tells us is to let generations the future generations know. The word is means it comes from the word like to make a mockery to make a joke out of it. be the words that bum tells his uh female donkey at the time that he hid him that he made or like it says in Samuel that he made fun of them he mocked them that said amongst those Egyptians when we're talking about in the book of Samuel when they took the ark and therefore he tells them that Hashem made mockery of them it doesn't mean an activity or an action that it's Then it should have said why does it say the word so because I will or I have made a mockery not something that he is doing presently. Verse three came to parrom. So said God from the god of the Hebrews. Until when will you refuse to humble yourself to subdue yourself before me? Send forth my people so they should serve me. The word comes like the Targum translates to be subdued. Refuse me money to be subdued to re become humble before me. Verse five. Verse four. For if you refuse to send my people, I will bring locust into your territory tomorrow. Verse five, and this locust will then cover the surface of the land. You will not be able to see the land, and it will consume any remnant that was left over after the hail and will eat away all the trees that have grown that grown to you in the field. What does it mean? The eye literally it means you will not be able to see the land. One who looks will not be able to see the ground. This is a short type of tank terminology that the Torah is using. Verse six, and this locust will now fill your houses and your servants homes. the homes of all Egyptians. Something that your fathers and your grandfathers have never seen from the day that they appeared on the earth until this very day until this very day. And after saying these words and with that they turned around and left the presence of Pharaoh. Verse number seven. And the servants of Pharaoh said to Pharaoh, the How long will this continue to be for us as a stumbling block as a sneer for us? Send these people and let them serve their God. Let them serve their God. Don't you yet realize Egypt is gone, is ruined. Says the word, don't you realize, don't you see of the Egypt is gone. Verse eight, Pharaoh takes this to heart and with this he summons back Moshe and Aaron. So Mosha and Aaron were brought back Elim and he said to them and now Parrot tries to do a bargaining with Mosh and Aaron go ahead serve your god but first tell me who exactly will be going verse 8 Rashi tells us it doesn't say that they came back on their own but they were sent through a messenger that went to them and told them to come back to Pharaoh. Verse 9, Moshe replies to Pharaoh, who will exactly be going says, "We will go with our young and we will go with the elders. We will go with our sons and with our daughters with our flock with our cattle. We will go because this is a festival for us." Verse 10. So Pharaoh says to them, "May God be with you as when I would send forth with your children, you and your children. Watch out because you think you're going to be able to go out. Your evil intent will backfire. See that there's something that will not work in your favor." 10. as if you think I will send you and your children though he doesn't mention the flock if you think that I will agree to send I don't even want to send the women and children you think I'm going to send the flock with you like the explains that he sees evil will be coming your way but he explains Med explains the med says there is a star that its name is said I see with my astrology that that star is coming to get you in the desert and this is a sign of blood and killing and then later on we find out when Jewish people sinned with the golden calf and God wanted to kill them. Moshe then when he prayed and beseeched on behalf of the Jewish people, Moshe used the following terminology. What would Egypt say? Saying he took them out that look you see I told you I see the astrology that that killed them. This is what Pharaoh said. This is the R that's coming your way. Immediately God was comforted and consoled and recognized and saw that that blood and he changed that blood dama to the circumcision of of the blood of circumcision Yeshua that right before the Jewish people entered into the land of Israel they all had to be circumcised and that was the blood that was referenced to that star that Pharaoh saw Shanemar. That's why Yeshua tells the Jewish people today. I've revealed, I've taken off the shame, the embarrassment that Egypt was upon you because they said, "We see blood is going to happen to you in the desert. And with this, I have removed it because now you have done the blood of circumcision." Verse 11, Pharaoh continues. It's not happening. It's not at all. If you want to leave, the only ones that can go will be the men theem and go serve God because for what? For that is what you're asking. The sacrifices children don't do sacrifice. There's no need for you the children to go and he chased them out and expelled them from Pharaoh's presence. Verse 11, not like you want to go with the children with you. The only one that can go is the men. That service of bringing sacrifices that you're asking until now. It's not usual that children should be bringing sacrifices. The Torah is saying it in a short way. She doesn't say who's the one that chased them out, who expelled them. But this is referring to Pharaoh that expelled them. If we look in the first verse, the first verse of this Torah reading tells us that God says that I have hardened Pharaoh's heart. And the Rebik asks the question, why does Pharaoh get punished if God was the one that hardened his heart? If you look and you notice throughout the different plagues and the different warnings, not always does it say that God hardened his heart. This was the first time that God said that I specifically hardened his heart. God says in the past that I will harden his heart. So why is he being punished for it? So one of the explanations is number one that Pharaoh the very fact that he was so in the first plagues that he did not want to let the Jewish people go. The first punishment was that he lost his freedom of choice. That his heart was hardened. That even now he would not be able to allow the Jewish people to go because he had the choice until now in the first five plagues. And because he did not let the Jewish people go, his heart was hardened. Even more so, the Rebi explains that if Pharaoh would want that means if he would push the envelope hard enough, he would be able to go out of Egypt. He would be able to allow the Jewish people to go out of Egypt and the plagues wouldn't have happened. The lesson for this is as the Reb explains is for every single Jew as that if Pharaoh if he would like to push the envelope enough he would be able to his chuva his repentance would be accepted how much more so the Jewish people who are God's only child even when we do something wrong we have the ability to change course but even if we went that far that we think we've lost our freedom of choice that chuva repentance is something far off and difficult here the Torah tells us every single person has that opportunity to repent no matter how far they may have gone. This concludes the first Torah reading of Parsha's blight.