Parshat Bo: First Things First
Parshat Bo: First Things First

                     

“Sanctify every firstborn of Israel to Me… be he human or animal; he is Mine” ( Exodus 13,2) .

Rav Kook asks: “A bechor (firstborn) is by nature holy – so why must he be ‘sanctified’ by its parent or owner? Although this kedusha (holiness) is only by way of the bechor’s intrinsic nature, and thus passive (b’koach), not active , yet it still possesses the power (passively)  of innate holiness. So what is the point of man’s consecration of a firstborn?”(Olat R’Iya part 1,page 36; quoted by Rav Tzvi Tau in Emunat Iteinu,vol.8, page 163) .

 

Rav Kook provides an answer that serves to provide a wide-reaching manifesto for today’s “believers”: those who believe in Zionism, in Eretz Yisrael, and in Israel’s Divine mission in this world. The answer is that simple innate, passive holiness is deficient, and therefore capable of succumbing to as many downs as ups, and to causing much damage (Disengagements, Oslos,etc) along its way to the  physical building of this Land. For this reason, men who have worked to make themselves holy( anshei kodesh), must sanctify “this natural kedusha, which is hidden as a passive, potential holiness.. for there is a holiness in all men and animals; despite the fact that their holiness is not now visible, they are truly ‘the  Lord’s ‘ even now . For in Hashem’s sight, and light, there is no innate state, and all is in its active, completed form”.

 

Rav Tau, as well as Rav Matis Weinberg, write about this vision of Hashem’s. The Lord “sees” with the Or Haganuz, the original light of Creation, which envisions not just the Chomer, the visible physical object in front of one’s eyes;  rather, with the Or Haganuz, the first Adam saw “Misof h’Olam ad sofo”, from the beginning to the end. Adam saw the origins of every item in the plasma of the Big Bang, to its final, developed form in the future. Thus, even though, now, we must “mavdil bein kodesh l’chol” and recognize that not-yet-overtly kodesh is still “chol” (secular,nonholy), yet even the donkey( in Hebrew, chamor= pure physicality) possesses intrinsic, passive holiness.

 

Rav Tau: “These weaknesses of the chol, the secular Israelis who have worked, and still work, so hard to build this country, should not cause shock and weakness among Men of Torah and Belief(anshei amana); rather, they should strengthen themselves to sanctify this Redemptive process and bring it to its more complete fulfillment. We must not abandon the Seculars, even in their hours of greatest weakness and manifestations of ugliness, to say: ‘We must go to war against them, to destroy what they build, and to uproot that which they plant’. For the development of these Kochot Hachol, the Seculars, is our responsibility. The Pidyon HaBein, the ‘sanctification of the Firstborn’, of our generation, is to purify their innate kochot(powers), to show them  proper direction and goal, restraint and order; and to influence them in the direction of hit’alut v’hitrommut, elevation and refinement.

 

Rav Matis Weinberg brilliantly connects these thoughts to the verse : “ This (Passover night ) is the night awaited (shimurim) by Hashem …which is awaited by the Children of Israel throughout all generations( Exodus 12,42)”. There are two “shimurim” here: one for G-d, one for the Jews. G-d had been awaiting this night of the Exodus from the time of Creation, as He “ sees with the Or Haganuz” from Time’s Creation, until the day when “Elijah the Prophet will come to ‘ lhashiv leiv avot al banim’, to bring peace to the world, and end all quarrels and strife” ( Rav Kook). But the second shimurim here belongs to G-d’s firstborn heir, Israel, to whom Hashem says: “ Hachodesh hazeh lachem”. The new order is: History belongs to you. You, Israel, are my heirs, and I now I bequeath to you the stage of history. Your new Liberty gives you license to run things, from the calendar, to the Holy Land. You will fix time, will set the date of the New Moon (first day of every month); and when “ I bring you into the Land of Canaan, as I promised your Forefathers so long ago, and give it to you , then: You must sanctify every firstborn to the Lord”(Exodus 13,verses 11-12).

 

This is the manifesto of Rav Kook’s “anshei amana”, men of Faith and Torah. Rav Weinberg notes that with our yearly reading of Parshat Bo, we drive into our consciousness that the choices that we free men of Israel make will make the difference in defining and creating the Israel envisioned by Rav Kook and our prophets of old.