Two-Letter Words
By the time the sidra opens, seven plagues have attacked Egypt. The country is approaching collapse. Yet Pharaoh is still adamant: "The Israelites will not leave! I will not give in to Moses!"

Moses knows the king is furious. He can guess what reception he will get next time he goes to the palace. But it has to be done. So God decides to lift Moses' spirits. Hence, the sidra begins, "The Lord said to Moses, 'Bo el Par'o'."

The translation says, "Go to Pharaoh." But the two-letter word bo doesn't mean "go". Another two-letter word,
The translation says, "Go to Pharaoh." But the two-letter word bo doesn't mean "go".
lech, means "go". Bo means "come". God says, "Come to Pharaoh; I will be with you!" And with this assurance, Moses can carry out his task. He will not be alone.

There is a question we all need to ask ourselves: Do we say "go" or "come" when others are facing a challenging moment? Do we say to a fellow Jew, "Go - be a better Jew" or "Come - let us work on our Judaism together"? Do we say to a communal cause, "Go - if you're short of funds cut down on your activities" or "Come - let us work together to find means for you to keep going"? When Shabbat comes do we tell our children, "Go to synagogue on your own" or "Come - let us come to shul together as a family"? When our children become adults, do we say, "Go - run your lives decently and honestly" or "Come - let's join forces and commit our whole family to do what is right"? When someone is plunged into illness, despair, doubt or bereavement, do we say, "Go - it's your problem" or "Come - let me be with you and share your load"?

Saying "come" and not "go" is the beginning of being a mensch.

Mixed Multitude
The Israelites were not alone in yearning to break free from Egyptian bondage, nor were they the only ones to escape in the Exodus. With them went erev rav, "a mixed multitude", many of whom were members of other races who had also suffered at Egypt's hands - and probably a number of the Egyptian native population who were sure they would enjoy a better life away from their homeland.

One wonders why Moses showed no apparent interest in incorporating the erev rav into the ranks of his own people. It would increase the Israelite population and be a generous gesture to the people concerned.

It does not answer the question to say that the Torah was not interested in the future of the erev rav and so they faded from the story. The better answer is that both Moses and the Torah had no wish to be deflected from the task of Israelite nation-building. God had promised to make them a distinct nation with their own traits and tasks. Integrating a motley throng of fellow-travelers who shared neither the family history nor the religious and cultural tenets of Israel would create countless problems for the future.

Starting With the Calendar
The 12th chapter of Sh'mot commences the halachic commentary known as the M'chilta. The Torah story up to this point does have some halachic content, but the halachic code proper begins with Sh'mot 12. The subject of the chapter is the establishment of the calendar. "This month," it informs us, "shall be for you the beginning of the months." (Exodus 12:2)

The first law of the newly freed nation of Israel is to have a means of denoting the passage of time. An appropriate idea, since history is what happens in time, and time is the measure of history. But who makes history happen?

On the verse about the first of the months, the Midrash Sh'mot Rabbah says that the angels asked God when He intended to establish the festivals of the year. God answered, "Until now the calendar has been My responsibility. Now I have handed it over to Israel themselves. They will decide on the dates of their festivals and you and I will go along with what they decide."

The implication may be that in ancient times our history happened to us - i.e., it was decided On High - but there came a moment when we assumed the responsibility for making our own history. What about the factors beyond our control that constantly affected us, often against our will? We cannot say that we made these events occur - but what we learned to do was to decide on our own response, on how we handled what happened.