ויאמר ה' אל משה ואהרו, this paragraph had been revealed to Moses prior to the instructions about the plague of the killing of the firstborn, as it must have been revealed before the tenth of the month, seeing that it contains instructions applicable from the 10th of the month onwards. The killing of the firstborn occurred during the night from the fourteenth to the fifteenth of that month. Seeing that we have a principle that the Torah is not bound to be written in chronological order of events described, this does not present a problem. Whenever the author of the Torah did not want to interrupt a certain subject under discussion, one way of achieving this was to ignore chronology. Another reason for this here is that the laws applicable to the month of Nissan should appear consecutively without interruption or digression.

בארץ מצרים, “in the land of Egypt.” Seeing that this chapter contains a number of commandments, it was necessary to write where these commandments were issued - some at Sinai, others at the Meeting Tent, and still others in the Plain of Moab. [Whenever no mention is made of where a commandment was issued, we can assume that it was first issued at Mount Sinai, though not necessarily communicated to the people at the time it was issued. Ed.]

לאמר, “go and tell them immediately.”

החדש, “the month;” every first day of the month is referred to as חדש in the Torah (Bible?) whereas the entire month is called ירח, “moon.” The reason that the first day of the month is called חדש, “new,” is because it represents the renewal of the moon’s orbit.

הזה, this refers to the month known as ניסן in the Hebrew calendar. [How do we know this without having it spelled out for us? Ed.] The Torah describes the month in which the festival of huts falls, when the harvest has been brought in, as occurring at the time of the equinox. Exodus 34,22). It describes the festival of weeks as occurring during the early harvesting season for wheat, (same verse) and it describes the time when the Passover festival (matzot) occurs as being during the spring season, or more precisely as the month of the spring equinox. (Exodus 34,18) From all this it is clear that in order to comply with all these data the Sukkot festival can only occur during the month of Tishrey, and the Passover festival can only occur during the month of Nissan. [It is spelled out even more clearly in the Book of Esther 3,7, “on the first month which is the month of Nissan.” Ed.]

הזה. Why did G-d have to use the word “this”? Moses faced the problem that the new moon does not become visible to us until about 18 hours into the fourth day of the month, and it is difficult to pinpoint that moment exactly. This problem has already been pointed out by the liturgist who added extra poetical text to the prayers recited on the Shabbat preceding the beginning of the month of Nissan in a poem commencing with the words: אבי כל חוזה. The poet there calls the period during which the new moon is not yet observable שלשים מרוצות, (apparently a name for standard length of races) A different explanation: Moses knew when the new moon commenced, (in the sky) but did not know from what point on it could be welcomed with the customary prayer. (Kiddush levanah) He did not know whether the correct time was when it started diminishing to the north or when it started diminishing towards the south. [The reader who is interested in the astronomical aspects of all this is referred to Rabbi Menachem Kasher’s Torah Shleymah, Genesis chapter 15 item 48 where G-d was described as instructing Avraham in some of these details. Ed.]

לכם, “for you.” This lunar calendar is not intended for the gentiles. They are to continue to use the solar calendar.

ראש חדשים, the beginning of a count of months but not the beginning of the counting of years. The 7 annual sh’mittah cycle, the 49 year Jubilee year cycle, the period of planting i.e. the seasons and harvesting, are all not regulated by the lunar calendar but by the solar calendar, i.e. relying on summer, winter, fall and spring. This has been spelled out in the Torah in Deut. 31,10: “at the conclusion of seven years, during the season of when the year of sh’mittah, 'release’ begins during the festival of sukkot.”If the first day in the month of Nissan had been intended to serve as the first day of the year, why did the Torah not command us to read the relevant passage on the holiday of Passover? This would have taught us that the month of Nissan was also the first month of the year! If the Torah describes the festival of Sukkot as occurring at the end of the year, the festival of Passover which occurs before any harvest season, cannot possibly be at the beginning of the year. Clearly, the beginning of the year occurs near the festival of Sukkot.

ראש חדשים, the first of the months. Seeing that this leaves open how many months there should be, the Torah adds: לחדשי השנה, “for the months making a up a year.”

ראשון הוא לכם, if not for this line I might have thought that when we have a leap year we should add an additional month of Nissan instead of an additional month of Adar. This would not work as the month of Nissan would also be the second month during that year. The Torah said specifically that the month of Nissan is to be (only) the first in a list of months. It did not distinguish between a year that has 13 months and a year that has twelve months. The Torah nowhere warned us against having a year of thirteen months (or more). The Torah decreed to offer the Passover during that month and called it “the first month.” It also decreed that at least part of the festival must occur during the season known as “spring,” i.e. after the spring equinox. It also decreed that the festival of Shavuot, 50 days after the beginning of Passover must occur during a season when wheat is already being harvested. (a period when the bikkurim, the first ripe fruit of the seven species for which the land of Israel is famous, may already be ready to be offered in the Temple.

ראשון הוא לכם, “it is a first for you;” from now on this will be a first month for you, the reason being that you will start counting by months as a reminder of when you received your freedom from slavery. It will forever remind you of the Good that I have done for you. Up until now, the month of Tishrey had been the first month and Nissan the seventh. This agrees with what is written in Kings I, 8,2: בירח האיתנים בחג, “in the month of the original ones “ (the patriarchs, or in the months whom the early generations of mankind referred to) as the seventh month.”Yonatan ben Uzziel translates the word איתנים as “the ancient generations of man called it the first month and now it is the seventh month.”

לחדשי השנה, “of the moons of the year.” These months commence with Nissan, followed by lyar, Sivan, etc. This is the reason why they are not listed by name but number except in the Book of Chagay, Zecharyah, Daniel, Ezra and Nechemyah, (when the people were already in exile) Prior to this when a name is mentioned, it is not these names of Persian origin but name such as Ziv, Eytanim, and Bul fall in the Book of Kings).

בעשור לחודש הזה, ויקחו להם, “on the tenth of this month, when they shall take or purchase for themselves etc.” The tenth of the month during that year was on a Sabbath. As a reminder of the fact that on that Sabbath the people collectively performed this first commandment, it has since been named שבת הגדול, “the great Sabbath.” [Compare an article on this subject in the miluim to Torah shleymah by Rabbi Menachem Kasher of blessed memory Ed.]

ויקחו להם איש שה, “they shall take for themselves, each, a lamb;” the significance of the animal “lamb” is that this was the zodiac sign of the month of Nissan. It was the sign that served as deity of good fortune to the Egyptians and would now forever become the reminder of good fortune to the people of Israel. By adopting this symbol and slaughtering a lamb as a sacrifice instead of worshipping it, the Jews demonstrated their faith in their G-d. They thereby neutralised any good fortune this constellation had ever had portended for the Egyptians.

שה לבית אבות, “one lamb for each family.” Residents of the same house must share a lamb, regardless of their family ties[, unless additional lambs are needed, and then they can take two or more].

שה לבית, “one lamb per house.” Having at least one lamb in each house was to demonstrate compliance with God's command to kill and eat an Egyptian deity.

תכוסו על השה, “you shall be numbered;” (contribute financially to the purchase of the lamb.) The commandment is repeated to teach that the sacrificial animal is ritually disqualified if it was not slaughtered specifically for the people in that house who had become partners or been invited for eating of it. (Pessachim 78)

שה תמים, “a lamb without blemish;” a Jew could not take an animal that was not in perfect physical condition and be considered as having fulfilled his duty. He might have been tempted to do so in order to escape the wrath of the Egyptian from whom he had purchased it by saying that he had not taken an Egyptian deity, since surely the Egyptians do not worship blemished animals, nor female animals or overage, weak animals, so that he had not committed blasphemy in their eyes. The Torah spells all this out by writing: “unblemished, male, less than a year old.” [The Egyptians would raise the price of these animals when aware that the Israelites would use it in the service of their G-d. The Torah wanted the Jews to pay the price of such animals, although at that stage, they could have simply taken the animal without paying for it, as they no longer were afraid of their former masters.] These had realised that they were not able to save their animals from the Israelites as long as these were still in their city. If they could not save their animals from the Israelites while in their own cities, how much less would they be able to do so outside their own domains.

בן שנה, “within the first year of its life.” We have proof that this is the meaning of the expression: בן שנה, from when the princes offered their offerings during the consecration rites of the Tabernacle in Numbers 7,15 and elsewhere, as the Torah there describes each of these lambs as בן שנתו, “during the first year of its life.” At the end the Torah repeats that they offered 12 lambs each “in the first year of its life,” i.e. בני שנה.

והיה לכם למשמרת, “this lamb shall be carefully watched over by you (for possible blemishes). According to Rashi, G-d commanded the Israelites two commandments prior to their qualifying for redemption. They had to slaughter (release blood and put it on their door posts, and they had to give up some blood of their own bodies by circumcising themselves). This is referred to in Ezekiel 16,6 when the prophet refers to their having remained alive due to these categories of blood. Yonatan ben Uzziel translates that line in Ezekiel as: “by means of the blood of circumcision and the blood of the Passover sacrifice I will redeem you.”

והיה לכם למשמרת עד ארבעה עשר יום, “you are to keep it under close observation until the fourteenth day.” According to the view that examining for a blemish in the eye requires thirty days, that scholar may refer only to temporary blemishes which are apt to heal; here the examination is to determine if there is a visible blemish of any kind. A different interpretation: if the animal was purchased from a gentile the examination period is thirty days. Here where the Israelites already had animals in reserve in anticipation of going into the desert to offer sacrifices, at least cursory examinations had already been made prior to the commandment. Therefore an additional four days was adequate.

עד ארבעה עשר יום, “in order to annoy the Egyptians who had to sit by unable to interfere while the Israelites prepared to kill their deities.” These animals were kept tied up where everyone could see them for four days. They would hear the animals bleat and were powerless to do anything about it. If we needed proof for this assumption it is found in the words: לחודש הזה “(only) during this month.” This means that this commandment was a commandment to be performed only once in Jewish history, [as we are a people that shuns cruelty to animals, so much so that we are commanded to unload the donkeys of even an enemy, if we see that it broke down under too heavy load. (Exodus 23,5) Ed.] What follows the words: לחודש הזה, “for this month,” are rules applicable only to the Passover prior to the Exodus.

ושחטו אותו, “they are to slaughter it.” It was to be slaughtered regardless of whether the fourteenth of the month of Nissan was a weekday or a Sabbath. [I fail to see the relevance in this verse of that rule, seeing that we speak only about the Passover offered in Egypt, not about subsequent Passovers. Discussion of future observances of the Passover does not start until verse 14. Ed.] The author raises the rhetorical question of how to make the words: “he who desecrates it (the Sabbath) shall be executed” (Exodus 31,14), as applying only to the activities other than the actual slaughtering of the Paschal lamb. [The instruction of ושחטו אותו, which sounds as if the whole congregation was commanded to participate in the slaughtering, an obvious impossibility, was inserted only because Moses had told Pharaoh that if the Israelites were to offer sacrifices to their G-d inside Egypt the Egyptians would surely kill the people trying to do so. (8,2) In the event, they did slaughter the animals inside Egypt and were not stoned to death by the Egyptians. G-d had to give this specific instruction so that the Israelites would not be afraid to do so, quoting Moses’ own words. Ed.]

ושחטו אותו, contrary to other “almost communal” offerings, this offering did not need to be accompanied by libations, and the owners did not have to perform the rite of s’michah, placing their weight with all their strength on the animal prior to its being slaughtered; neither did the slaughterer have to perform the heaving of the animal prior to its being slaughtered.

ושחטו אותו כל קהל עדת ישראל, “the entire congregation of the Jewish people shall slaughter it.” This commandment cannot be delegated to a fellow Jew to be performed on his behalf, so he cannot claim that he did not do anything. They must all be partners (financially) in performing this commandment.

בין הערבים, “in the hours after the labourers have completed their daily chores.”

ולקחו מן הדם ונתנו, “they are to take some of its blood and put it, etc;” not with the fingers but by means of some hyssop branches and leaves that have been dipped into it. Moses has elaborated on this procedure in verse 22. Whatever details have been omitted in this paragraph were added in the second paragraph.

על שתי המזוזות, “on the two upright posts,” on either side of the entrance;”

על המשקוף, “on the lintel;” the word משקוף is a derivative of וישקף “he looked down.” The lintel faces the empty space of the door and “looks” down into it. The reason for this was seeing that not all the Egyptians had become aware of what was going on, now that they saw these markings at the entrances to the homes of the Israelites they would realise how the Israelites had desecrated their sacred symbols. An alternate explanation: the blood on the entrances of the homes of the Israelites should form the equivalent of the letter ח, in order to protect the entrance so that the destructive force which would kill the firstborn inside would not carry out that command. The letter ח is reminiscent of Yitzchok blessing Esau with the words על חרבך תחיה, “you will live by your sword.” (Genesis 27,40). On the other hand, the letter ח could be a symbol of חיים, life. [It hardly pays to speculate. Ed.]

על הבתים, not “above” the houses but בבתים “attached to the houses.” The word על appears in that sense in על צבאותם, “with their respective armies,” or as in Genesis 27,40.

ואכלו את הבשר בלילה “they are to eat the meat during this night;” at the time when all people are at home.

בלילה הזה, “during this night.” (On the night between the 14-15th of Nissan.)

צלי אש, “roasted on the fire;” so that the fragrance of the meat will assail the noses of the Egyptians and they will reflect on what is happening to their deity.

על מרורים, “together with bitter herbs.” This was to drive home the memory of the many years their lives had been embittered by the Egyptians. This is why they were not to eat it with something sweet.

אל תאכלו ממנו נא, “do not eat from it while it is still raw,” if an Egyptian comes along do not remove it from the fire by saying that it is already well done while in effect it is still rare; you might be induced to say something like that out of fear; therefore I command you not to be afraid.

ובשל מבושל, “nor eat it boiled in water;” according to the plain meaning of the text the prefix ו in the word: ובשל is superfluous; the line means: “please do not eat it boiled in water to hide what it really is.” I want you to roast it on the fire in order that it achieve maximum visibility and smell.

the word נא introduces a request as opposed to a command.

ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו, “its head, legs, and entrails over the fire.” Here too the word על means “with.” Even at the time it is being roasted it should be whole, not cut up. This too is to ensure maximum visibility.

לא תותירו ממנו, “do not leave any leftovers from it;” if you were to do so, no one would know when it had been consumed.

באש תשרופו, “you must burn in the fire by morning (in the event you were forced to leave something over). The point in all this is to demonstrate your disdain of the lamb as a deity.

וככה תאכלו אותו, “and this is the manner in which you are be dressed when eating it;” you will not sit at a table all ready to enjoy a feast, but will act in haste. Other sacred portions of the sacrifice must always be consumed by treating the meal as a gift from G-d with great respect and with evident enjoyment. Some commentators understand the word בחפזון, “in haste,” as applying to the manner in which the whole meal, including the leavened bread and the bitter herbs is to be consumed. It is to be wolfed down indicating that the person consuming this meal is in a great hurry. The reason that the bitter herbs are to be eaten as an integral part of the course is to enable the consumer to eat it faster. The three constituent items to be consumed symbolize: slavery redemption, and freedom. The bitter herbs symbolize the slavery; the unleavened bread symbolizes freedom and the meat of the Passover symbolizes the act of redemption,being saved. At the time when the Passover lamb was being consumed the firstborn Egyptians were being killed. אל תאכלו ממנו נא “do not eat any part of it while not thoroughly roasted;” by eating meat that has not been thoroughly roasted or boiled, a person is liable to disgorge it involuntarily, resulting in some of it remaining uneaten until morning. ובשל מבושל במים, “nor thoroughly boiled in water;” boiling meat takes longer than roasting it; on that night speed was of the essence. The expression: ויבשלו את הפסח, in Chronicles II35,13, does not refer to “boiling;” this is why the word: במים is not mentioned there. It merely means that the meat of the Passover had been thoroughly roasted and made fit to eat. כי אם צלי אש, “but only roasted on the fire;” the reason that roasting meat is faster than boiling it, is that there is no other element separating it from the fire, such as water or another liquid. It must not be boiled in water or any other liquid even after having been roasted on fire; this is the reason why the expression כי אם צלי אש, has been repeated. (in verse 9) It must not be boiled in a pot (its own juices) even if no other liquid has been added. All of these details have been spelled out in the Talmud in tractate Pessachim folio 41. The manner in which the Torah writes these prohibitions is not analogous to the manner in which the type of woman a High priest must not marry is described in Leviticus 21,12, as here only negative commandments are listed, whereas there the negative commandment is linked to the positive commandment of the High priest marrying a virgin. [I am abbreviating here a little, as I feel the author digressed a little, his remarks being addressed only to Torah students of an advanced level. Ed.] At this point the Torah does not again repeat the words: ”do not eat.” The Torah’s point here is to forbid dividing preparation of the meat of the Passover meal into two or more courses, as this would negate the condition that it be eaten in haste. It does not mean that the entire entrails must be consumed They must only be roasted together with the rest of the meat in order to ensure that there would not be edible parts of the animal left by morning. It is not the custom of people who plan to undertake a journey on the following morning, as did the Israelites, to plan to leave over part of it to be consumed on the next day. This is why the Torah demands that in the event of there being such leftovers at the morning, they have to be burned to ash immediately. If that were not done, these leftovers of a sacred meal would be consumed by dogs, a most unfitting treatment for meat of a sacrifice. Alternately, the leftovers would be thrown into the garbage, an equally demeaning treatment of sacrificial meat. Concerning the Torah writing the words: עד בקר, “until morning” twice, Rashi writes that this means (concerning Passover meat for subsequent years) that seeing that morning would be part of a festival day on which burning other than for the purpose of eating the result is forbidden, the leftover must not be burned until the morning thereafter. There is no reason to raise an objection by saying “why did the sages of the Torah not apply the principle of the positive commandment to burn the leftover to override the negative commandment not to light a fire, so that the leftovers could be burned without delay? Answer: we know that the observance of the festival is itself also rated as a negative commandment in Leviticus 23,39 ,ביום הראשון שבתון, “the first day of the festival is a day that includes work prohibition” (similar to that of the Sabbath)? We have a rule that a positive commandment cannot override a negative commandment when that negative commandment is accompanied by a positive commandment in addition.

ומקלכם בידכם, “with your walking staffs held in your hands.” These staffs were used to urge on the donkeys as we find in Numbers 22,27: ויך את האתון, “Bileam struck the sheass.”

ואכלתם אותו בחפזון, “you are to eat it in haste.” You were slated to leave Egypt in a hurry.”

פסח הוא לה, “it is a Passover offering for the Lord.” The reason that the offering is called “Passover,” is because G-d passed over the houses of the Israelites marked with the blood of the lamb when killing the respective firstborn inside them. The fact that you had performed all the activities He had demanded of you, enabled the attribute of Justice to skip your homes. We encounter something similar in a prayer composed by Moses in Deuteronomy 26,15: השקיפה ממעון קדשך מן השמים, “look down (benignly) from Your holy residence, from heaven;” (recited by the farmer who announced that he had complied with all the tithes applicable to his harvest)

“and against all the deities worshipped in Egypt;” this is to be understood in the same way as when G-d said to Moses that He had appointed him as an elohim in relation to Pharaoh in 7,1, or as in Samuel II 7,23: אשר הלכו אלהים, “which G-d set out, etc.;” the word describes a terrestrial superpower as compared to a celestial superpower. [My words, Ed.] This power is higher than the Pharaoh of the land. Another explanation: בכל אלהי מצרים - against all the ministers of Pharaoh.

אעשה שפטים, “I will execute judgments.” These will be of a physical nature, causing pain. Compare Chronicles II24,24, ואת יואש, “and upon Yoash they inflicted punishments.” In every house where there was a biological firstborn he was killed; in a house which did not have a biological firstborn, the most senior person was killed. In this verse the word elohim is not to be understood as a deity, as it is impossible to inflict physical pain on something which is not made of flesh and blood, and which is not alive. Rashi here understands the words אלוהי מצרים as referring to idols made of wood or molten metal cast in a form.

והיה הדם לכם לאות, “the blood (on your door frames) will serve as symbol on your behalf;” it will signal that you kept G-d’s commandments. A different interpretation: “the blood will serve as a reminder to G-d that the Egyptians have spilled your blood.”

וראיתי את הדם, “as soon as I will see the blood, etc.” Even though the blood of the Paschal lamb was smeared on the doorposts inside their homes and as such not visible from the outside, everything is visible to G-d. The following is in response to the question of how the angel could see this even though G-d could see it. The text sounds as if G-d is speaking about Himself. The fact is that once G-d has appointed an angel as His executor, that angel assumes the role of the One Who has appointed him, and when the Torah Speaks of: “when I see,” the reference is to the emissary whom G-d appointed. He is entitled to use that description as applicable to himself while on that mission. The author’s point about the role of the messenger, i.e.angel, is proved when the Torah speaks of G-d not giving the destroyer permission to kill Jewish firstborn. The part of the Exodus story which was orchestrated by G-d personally, without the help of any angels, was that of taking the Jewish people out of Egypt. This is emphasised in the haggadah of Passover where the author writes, quoting Deuteronomy 26,8: ויוציאנו ה' ממצרים, “the Lord took us out of Egypt,” and the author of the haggadah adds; לא על ידי מלאך “not by means of an angel;” לא על ידי שרף, “not through a higher ranking angel called seraph; ולא על ידי שליח, “and not by means of any other agent at His disposal;. אלא הקדוש ברוך הוא בכבודו ובעצמו, “but only the Holy One blessed be He, in His glory, personally.

”ופסחתי עליכם, “I will pass over you; “the word פסח is a variant of פסע; it appears again in the same sense as here in Kings I 18,26: ויפסחו על המזבח, where the prophet Elijah mocked the priests of the Baal and they jumped over the altar again and again to no avail.

לכם לזכרון, “for you as a remembrance.” Prior to this verse the Torah dealt with Passover that the Israelites sacrificed and ate while in Egypt. From here on we have the legislation dealing with how to commemorate this event annually for all future generations. Whereas in Egypt, this ritual was a condition in order to bring about the redemption, from now on it would serve as a reminder of who it was who gave us freedom, not Pharaoh, neither did we gain freedom by our own efforts, but our freedom is due exclusively to the direct intervention of G-d personally in our fate.לדורותיכם חקת עולם, “for your generations as an everlasting statute.” According to Rashi, the last two words were added seeing that the word לדורותיכם, without a number, could be understood as the customary minimum plural mode, i.e. only two generations. You might counter that we have been taught in the Talmud Baba batra foliol20 that this is an instance the word לדורותיכם by itself is to be understood as an unlimited number of generations, so how could Rashi have written what he did? We must therefore understand Rashi as telling us that the word לדורותיכם even without the additional words חקת עולם, “an everlasting statute,” always means just that[, as opposed to other nouns which appear in the plural mode].

שבעת ימים מצות תאכלו, “you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days.” Rashi tackles the problem that in Deuteronomy 16,8 the Torah writes that we are to eat unleavened bread for six days, whereas the seventh day is to be observed as the last day of the festival. This, according to Rashi, appears to teach that on that day no more unleavened bread need be eaten, as long as no leavened bread is eaten. How do we know that even during the first six days the eating of unleavened bread is also voluntary? It is learned from a certain rule applied to exegesis of the written text of the Torah, known as: דבר שהיה בכלל ויצא מן הכלל ללמד, לא ללמד על עצמו יצא, “when something had first been included in a general proposition, and then appears to have provided for an exception to that proposition only in order to teach something additional, this new instruction does not only apply to the new situation cited as example, but applies to the proposition as a whole.” In other words, all the seven days on which unleavened bread was to be eaten is contained as a proposition in our verse. The verse cited from Deuteronomy now came to teach an additional dimension of the proposition first legislated in our verse here. Having heard that eating unleavened bread on the seventh day is not obligatory, it follows that neither is the commandment to eat unleavened bread for six days. It was written only because eating leavened bread is prohibited during all the seven days. In order not to mislead us into believing that even on the first night of the festival the eating of unleavened bread is also “only” voluntary, the Torah wrote a special verse commanding the eating of the meat of the Passover offering together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs on that evening. [It is easy for us nowadays to remember this, as we recite a special benediction when eating unleavened bread only at the seder table on the first night. As far as the other meal times during the festival are concerned, if we wish to deny ourselves the pleasure of eating bread, we are free to do so. The line: בערב תאכלו מצות, spells out the duty to eat unleavened bread on that night. (Exodus 12,20) שבעת ימים מצות תאכלו, “you will eat matzot for seven days.” These seven days are symbolic of what our author terms the quarter month which was the duration of most of the plagues; שבעת ימים מצות תאכלו, this commandment is valid for all future generations and is an appendix to the words in verse 14 preceding it that חוקת עולם תחגהו, “you are to celebrate it as a festival forever.” These words could not possibly have referred to the unleavened bread the Israelites had eaten in Egypt, for even though the amount they had baked apparently lasted them for 61 meals each (30 days) it was eaten as a fulfillment of a commandment only on the first night.

אך ביום הראשון תשביתו, “but on the first of these seven days you shall put away all leaven”. According to the plain meaning of the text, תשביתו plural mode of שבת, as in Genesis 2,2: ויכל אלוקים ביום השביעי, “on the seventh day G-d had completed, etc.” it is impossible to interpret that verse as G-d having been busy with creative activity. He clearly had completed that activity by the evening of the sixth day. On the seventh day He found that His work had come to an end. In our paragraph the Torah repeats the same approach. The words: you shall put away all leaven on the first day, mean that you have to complete your preparations for the festival before it begins on the evening after the 14th day of Nissan. As soon as the festival begins day dawned, all leaven had already been put away by now.

כי כל אוכל חמץ, “for anyone eating leavened matter, etc.” the Torah had to spell out the penalty for eating leavened matter during these seven days, as otherwise people would have thought that while they had to eat unleavened bread on the first night, and were expected to eat unleavened bread during the whole seven days, they could also eat leavened matter if they so chose. If they were to be allowed to do so, the impact of subsisting on unleavened bred for seven days would be lost on them. Therefore the Torah added: ולא יאכל חמץ, “nothing leavened must be eaten.”

מקרא קדש, “a holy convocation.” According to its translation into Aramaic, this expression means: מארע קדיש, “a festival.” On that day holy things occur.כל מלאכה לא יעשה בהם, “no creative kind of work may be performed on these days. This formulation, according toRashi, includes that no gentile perform such work on behalf of or for the benefit of a Jew. If that were correct, the Torah would have legislated for the gentiles, and this would contradict the statement in the Talmud Shabbat folio 150, that asking a gentile to perform work for you on the Sabbath is a Rabbinical and not Biblical prohibition.

בהם, “on them.” On the first and the seventh day of the festival, these types of work are forbidden to be performed.

אך אשר יאכל לכל נפש, “However (work needed) for preparing the food for the person is permitted to be performed also on those two days. The reason why the Torah had to add this line is because it had written previously that כל מלאכה, every manner of work is prohibited on these two days, it had to spell out the exception to that rule. On another occasion (Leviticus 23,7) where the festivals are discussed, the work prohibition was mentioned already with the term מלאכת עבודה, the type of menial work performed on the week days, instead of the Torah writing: כל מלאכה “all manner of work.” The Torah wishes us to know that preparing food is not considered “menial work.” The only days on which even this kind of work is forbidden are the Sabbath and Yom Kippur, (which is also called Sabbath) [and had been forbidden in the desert before the Torah had been given as soon as the manna had fallen on the sixth day. Ed.]

לכל נפש, “for every soul,” according to Rashi the word “for all,” includes preparing food for one’s domestic animals. When the Talmud in Beytzah folio 20, interprets the word לכם for you (pl) to include your dogs, the reason is that the dogs are able to forage for themselves and it is not making animals suffer if they are not being fed, or if food is not prepared for them on that day. Seeing that this is so, we might have thought that the domestic animals that cannot forage for themselves and depend on their owners for their food we would be able to provide for on the festivals, the Torah therefore had to write לכם, “for yourselves,” (you prepare food on the festivals but not for the gentiles (as they are able to look after themselves). Both verses are necessary as I might have thought that while it is forbidden to prepare food for a gentile independently, it is permitted a to add extra amounts for gentiles to that which you are preparing for your own family, the Torah writes לכם, i.e. only for your own family not for gentiles.

ושמרתם את המצות, “you shall observe the commandment to eat unleavened bread on these days for the future.” We find this formulation being use in this sense also in Numbers 28,2 in connection with the daily communal offering where the Torah writes: תשמרו להקריב לי במועדו, ”make sure that you offer it at the time appointed for it.”

עד יום עשרים ואחד, “until (incl.) the twenty first day (of the month).” Rashi asks why the Torah had to spell this out seeing we can count to seven? He answers that seeing the Torah had previously written the word: ימים, “days.” I might have thought that only the daylight hours are meant. By telling us until which date of the month this commandment is applicable, I know that it also applies during the nights. Where do we have another example of the same formulation being used to make that point? Answer: in verse 1 in our chapter. If we are to answer seeing that we are left with the question that what Rashi answered should already have been written on that verse, one might venture the thought that there are commandments for which a reward is promised if it is performed, and one is punished for the mere failure to perform the commandment. An example would be the failure to eat matzah on the first night of Passover. On the other hand, no penalty is incurred if one does not eat any more matzah on the remaining days of the festival. If one eats matzah every day of the festival, although one could have avoided it without penalty, one still receives full credit for observing what the Torah had formulated as a commandment. This is so even if one ate the matzah only on the seven nights of the festival. However, if one ate matzah during the last eight or nine days of the month of Nissan, one does not accumulate additional credit as the period for which one qualified had concluded on the twenty first day of Nissan. To make this abundantly clear, the Torah wrote:בראשון בארבעה עשר יום לחודש בערב תאכלו מצות עד יום האחד ועשרים יום לחודש בערב, “On the first day, the fourteenth of the month in the evening until the twenty first day of the month in the evening you are to eat matzot.”

שבעת ימים שאור לא ימצא בבתיכם, “for seven days no leaven shall be found in your homes. This verse is meant to enlighten us about the proper meaning of the words in verseביום הראשון תשביתו שאור מבתיכם :15If translated literally, it would mean: “on the first day you are to get rid and destroy all the leaven that you own from your houses.” However, it is clear that this must occur not on the first day of Passover but before, at least on the day before at noon, after which the blood of the sacrifice called Passover can be offered on the altar. The seven days following that day are equal in all respect concerning the laws governing leaven, in that no leaven must be capable of being found in a Jew’s house (if it is his). It had to be gotten rid off or destroyed already on the day prior to the 15th of Nissan. Some commentators therefore understand the plain meaning of the text as: “you do not need to have leaven on hand to facilitate the rising of your dough already when you prepare your dough which is to be eaten on the first night of the festival.” This precaution is necessary, as the penalty for eating leavened products is so severe, i.e. karet, being cut off from your people spiritually, permanently as stated in verse 19. The precaution therefore is to remove the leaven prior to, not only at or after the onset of the festival. You may not even eat a product which contains a mixture of leavened and unleavened dough.

בכל מושבותיכם תאכלו מצות, “you are to eat unleavened bread in all of your dwellings.” The reason why the Torah uses the expression: בכל מושבותיכם, “wherever you will be at home,” is because this commandment applies equally in the land of Israel and outside of it. This is distinct from eating of the Passover lamb, a law which can be fulfilled only in the land of Israel and at a time when offerings can be offered in the Temple or at least on the Temple Mount.

ויקרא משה לכל זקני ישראל, Moses called upon all the elders of Israel;” previously the Torah had phrased this as: דברו אל כל עדת ישראל, “speak to the whole congregation of Israel” (verse 3) Why the difference? The commandment to own or partly own the lamb destined to become the Passover offering applied equally to every Israelite. The commandment to slaughter this animal applied only to the elders. Ordinary people, i.e. laymen, were not to perform the act of slaughtering for fear that they might disqualify the animal through an error on their part.!

משכו, “draw out!” The meaning is to include as many members of the family into participating in the eating of one lamb so that there would be no leftovers. We find the root משך used in this context in Judges 4,7, where Devorah tells Barak that she will arrange that as many warriors as possible will be pulled together to the river Kishon, so as to present a good target for his attack. [Barak was to swoop down from Mount Tabor. Siserah’s chariots would be useless in the river. Ed.] The Torah repeats the instruction to slaughter the lamb, because it had to tell us about the bunch of hyssop that was to be dipped in the blood and smeared on the doorposts of the houses and the lintels. Also it had to tell us because of the end of the verse where the people inside the houses are warned not even to step outside until morning.

והגעתם אל המשקוף ואל שתי המזוזות, “and apply some to the lintel and to the two doorposts.” In verse 7 of this chapter the Torah had issued these instructions in the reverse order, i.e. to apply the blood to the two doorposts and the lintel.” The reason for this is to teach us that the order in which this ritual was performed did not matter.

ולא יתן המשחית, “and He will not allow the Destroyer to, etc.; ”when our sages in the Haggadah said that the line: ועברתי בארץ מצרים, means that G-d personally will carry out the killing of the firstborn, not any category of angel, (compare verse 12) they meant that He would not delegate an angel to perform this task but would perform it Himself, personally.

?מה העבודה הזאת לכם, “what do you mean by this rite?” other rituals are governed by certain times of the year. The cutting of the omer must take place on the 16th of the month of Nissan; as this is the time when the barley harvest begins; the two loaves of wheat is to be offered on the 50th day after the first day of Passover; the four species of plants are to be used ritually on the 15th day of Tishrey because this marks the conclusion of the harvest of summer fruits. But this ritual of applying the blood of the offering to the doorpost on the 14th day of Nissan is the exception as that day has no other significance. [I find this interpretation difficult, as the ritual described was not ever again performed after the Israelites left Egypt. So why would future generations raise a question about a ritual that their fathers did not perform? Ed.] “You are to say that it is part of the ritual of the Passover offering;”

בנגפו את מצרים, “when He smote Egypt;” on the night of the 15th of Nissan;”

ואת בתינו הציל, “while at the same time saving our houses (from that plague). As a commemoration of this miracle we perform these rites.”An alternate interpretation: The question of the children in future generations does not apply to the rite of smearing blood on the doorposts but applies to the insistence that the meat of the Passover offering may be consumed only after having been roasted on the fire, and not when boiled in water, or half raw; a requirement that does not apply to the meat of any other sacrifice.

The answer of the father is that this was a reminder of the haste in which all this had to be done, and roasting is the quickest way to make raw meat edible. ויקוד העם וישתחוו, the people upon hearing this bowed low and prostrated themselves. This was a rite indicating that the party performing it accepted the instructions the Torah described in this chapter. It was an internationally accepted way of indicating acceptance of a command.

ויהי בחצי הלילה, “it was precisely at midnight;” actually this paragraph should have been written immediately following chapter 11,verse 10, when the Torah reported that Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go as demanded by G-d through His agents Moses and Aaron. If the Torah had done so, all the plagues would have been recorded in their proper sequence. The reason why the paragraph about the new moon was inserted in the middle of the list of the plagues was to alert the reader to how the firstborn Israelites escaped that plague when the Destroyer had targeted Egypt.

בחצי הלילה, וה׳ הכה כל בכור, “at midnight when the Lord smote every firstborn, etc.” elsewhere (Numbers 3,13) the wording used by the Torah about this plague was as follows: “on the day that I smote every firstborn;”Rabbi Yochanan comments on this apparent discrepancy that although G-d smote the firstborn at midnight, the souls of those firstborn were still convulsing in their bodies until morning (Compare Torah shleymah item 499 based on an ancient version of Tanchuma) The reason for this was so that the Israelites would know with what plague G-d had killed the firstborn. Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedot, commenting on the same verse said: whenever a verse or phrase in the Torah commences with the word: 'וה, it refers to Hashem accompanied by His counselors. This teaches that prior to carrying out this punishment the heavenly Court (presided over by Hashem, of course) debated the merits of it. The decree was issued by the entire Court.

מבכור פרעה, “commencing with the firstborn son of Pharaoh,” (the highest ranking firstborn). The Torah hints that Pharaoh himself was also a firstborn. He was kept alive so that “he could declare G-d’s name throughout the world” (Exodus 9.16). If he was not killed on this night it was in order for him to see how, through his obstinacy, a substantial part of the Egyptian males were killed in one single night. (Mechilta Pisscha chapter 13)

היושב על כסאו, “who was meant to sit on Pharaoh’s throne in due course.” We find a similar formulation in Kings II 3,27: ויקח את בנו הבכור אשר ימלוך תחתיו, “he took his firstborn son, the one who was supposed to rule in his stead;”Some commentators understand our verse as the conclusion of a description how G-d employed the four most basic materials in the universe as having had a part in the plagues visited upon Egypt. These elements are; water, wind, fire and earth. The two first plagues involved the use by G-d of the water, i.e. blood in the Nile river basin and the frogs, which had their habitat in water. The next two plagues involving vermin and free roaming beasts were symbolic of the element earth, (dust). The wild beasts are described by the Torah during the six days of creation as תוצא הארץ נפש חיה, “let the earth produce living creatures.” (Genesis 1,24) The two middle plagues, i.e. pestilence and infectious boils (#3 and #6) # 3 was produced through utilizing the air, (wind) i.e. pollution in the air, and #6. The boils were produced through Moses polluting the air with soot of a furnace. The hail and the locusts were initiated through stormy winds. Finally, the plague of killing the firstborn originated in heaven (where human life originated) (The upper waters?) The darkness likewise originated in heaven, where light, the first visible part of the universe, originated. The Egyptians therefore had been punished by all the elements that make up the globe that we live on, including the region known as outer space. These ten plagues had been orchestrated by Hashem, Moses, and Aaron. The first three plagues were the direct result of Aaron and Moses’ staff. They produced changes in the lowest region of our universe by employing the basest of the four elements of which the universe consists. Two were using water and one used earth as its medium. Moses orchestrated the next three plagues, utilising higher ranking elements in the atmosphere, corresponding to the fact that he ranked higher as a prophet than did his older brother Aaron. They were: hail, locust, and darkness. Moses demonstrated his control of the surface of the earth and the airspace surrounding it. G-d orchestrated the four plagues of wild beasts roaming unrestricted and killing. The pestilence killed livestock, just as the plague of killing the firstborn. Finally, the plague of שחין, was orchestrated by Moses, Aaron and Hashem; The former threw soot into the air and Hashem, when the former threw soot (totally sterile matter) “Hashem converted it into most harmful and painful boils on the Egyptians’ skins

ויקם פרעה לילה, “Pharaoh arose during the night;” the word לילה here describes a state of mind, both he and his advisors were as if blindfolded with shock. (Compare commentary in Torah sh’leymah, item 526 on this verse). Rabbi Natan taught that there was not a single house in which not at least one Egyptian had died. At first glance this statement sounds almost incredible, for surely not every house harboured a firstborn. The Egyptians would mark a house in which a firstborn had died with a portrait or statute of the deceased and put it on a pedestal inside the house in which he had lived as a kind of memorial. On this night all of these had been shattered at the time G-d struck the firstborn. This day now became as tragic for them as the day on which that particular first born had died and they had buried him. This was not all; the Egyptians now buried their most recent dead (firstborn) in their own houses and the dogs found ways to drag out these corpses and to gorge themselves on their flesh. As a result, their relatives felt as badly as they had on the day they had buried them. (See Yalkut Shimoni Sh’mot Remez 208.5)

ויקרא למשה ואהרן, “he had Moses and Aaron called to the Palace;” seeing that we have been told in 10,28: that Pharaoh had commanded Moses to leave his presence, he was now forced to countermand himself and beg Moses to come to him as soon as possible.

גם צאנכם גם בקרכם, “also your flocks and your herds” (you may take with you). The repetition of the word גם is a hint that Pharaoh gave the Israelites also part of his own as well as of his ministers’ flocks and herds to take along. Thus Moses’ prediction that not only would the Israelites sacrifice some of these animals for their G-d, but they would include animals formerly owned by Pharaoh and offer these at his request. (Compare 10,25)

כלנו מתים, “we are all about to die;” the word מתים here has to be understood as an activity, i.e. as if the Torah had written: כלנו הולכים ומתים, “we are all progressively dying.” The Egyptians remembered that Moses had warned that if the Israelites could not perform their rituals, their G-d would punish them with the sword and with pestilence (5,3) [They reasoned that the G-d of the Hebrews would not only punish the Hebrews who had failed to honour Him (not through a fault of their own) but that He would certainly punish the ones who had prevented them from serving Him. Ed.]. When an Israelite would say to an Egyptian that he should wait until he would give back to him any valuable object that he had “borrowed,” he would tell him not to bother but to keep it. By doing so he hoped that his life would be spared.

צרורות בשמלותם, “bundled up inside their garments.” This line is the reason why we have the practice of wrapping the afikomen” in a serviette or tablecloth after breaking it and saving it for being eaten at the end of the Seder meal.

על שכמם, “over their shoulders.” The donkeys of the Israelites were already loaded with so much “loot” that they could not burden the animals with additional weight.

וה' נתן את חן העם, “and the Lord had disposed the Egyptians favourably towards this people;” this is how He fulfilled what He had said to Moses in Exodus 3,21, when He told him that the Israelites would not leave Egypt emptyhanded.

ויסעו בני ישראל מרעמסס סוכותה, “The Israelites journeyed from the city of Ramses in the direction of Sukkot.” The whole people first had first assembled in Ramses; this was the city where they had performed most of their slave labour in that year and from there they left as free people. [before the onset of the plagues when they had taken a “rest.” Ed]

סכותה “toward Sukkot”, Rabbi Nechemyah said that the suffix ה in this word substitutes for the missing prefix ל.

ויאפו את הבצק, “they baked the dough;” they did this at Sukkot, which was their first waystation.

כי גורשו מצרים, “for the Egyptians had literally been expelling them; ”עוגות מצות, into matzah cakes. Why did the Torah bother to give us these details? In the future observance of the Passover would become conditional on a number of rituals having been observed before one could participate in that celebration. The Torah explains that on this occasion the only requirement had been that they eat unleavened bread, and the Passover “festival” was a one day affair due to the Egyptians having chased the Israelites out of their homes. We commemorate this during the Seder evening by reciting that we eat the matzah because “the dough of our fathers did not have time to become leavened before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself to them and redeemed them.”

ליל שמורים הוא לה, “it is a night of vigil for the Lord;” this is a reference to how G-d protected the Israelites from being harmed by the Destroyer when He struck Egypt. It is also a night of vigil for the Israelites for all future generations, a night on which they should not go to sleep; this is an allusion to the story told in the haggadah about the five scholars in Bney Brak who spent the whole night reminiscing about the wonders and the miracles which G-d performed on that night.

שמורים, the first time this word appears it describes an event awaited that had not yet occurred; the second time it describes commemoration of an event that occurred in the past. An alternate interpretation: the expression: ליל שמורים is a reminder to observe the anniversary of that night, and warns us not to forget to eat the Passover on that night. The root שמר occurs elsewhere in that context also, for instance: תשמרו להקריב לו במועדו, “be mindful to offer it at its appointed time.” (Numbers 28,2, the daily communal offering)

זאת חקת הפסח, “this is the statute of the Passover;” this paragraph is of relevance for all future generations.

לא יאכל בו, “he must not eat thereof. (the gentile)” Compare a similar formulation i.e. (addressed to the outsider in the third person instead of directly) והנותר בבשר ובלחם, “and anything left over either from the meat or the bread, etc.” (Leviticus 8,32)

מקנת כסף, “or acquired through purchase;” slaves whose bodies are owned by an Israelite (and who have been circumcised) may partake of the annual Passover. It also includes: women and children living at home [and provided for by their father].

ומלת אותו אז יאכל בו, “when you circumcise him, then he may eat of it.” The reason why this is a repeat is to tell us that there is no waiting period after the circumcision. If for some reason the foreskin grew back, such a slave is not disqualified from eating of the Passover, as long as he had been ritually circumcised once. The same applies to slaves owned by a priest in whose home sacrificial meat or tithes called t’rumah may be served on a daily basis.

תושב, “a resident stranger;” this is how Rashi understands the word תושב here. The legal status of such a “resident” stranger applies when he undertook to observe the seven universally applicable laws for disobedience to which any human being is culpable. Such a person is allowed to eat meat from animals that did not die through ritual slaughter. Interestingly, when the same word appears in Leviticus 25,47, he explains it as: a Jewish servant (sold by the court for having stolen and not repaid). Some commentators say that the word תושב here refers only to eating of the Passover, whereas in Leviticus is refers to the eating of the tithes called t’rumah.

בבית אחד יאכל, “it (all of it) must be consumed in one house;” according to the plain meaning this means that the Passover lamb must be consumed in the house of the owner. No parts of it may be sent to friends or acquaintances. When one consumes something in a hurry one does not have time to attend to such niceties. These considerations are only in place when one sits down to a meal that has been carefully prepared and is consumed at one’s leisure. This is also one of the reasons why the Torah forbade any Israelite to leave his home during that night until morning.

ועצם לא תשברו בו, “you must not break a single of its bones.” In other words, it is forbidden to eat any of its marrow. Looking for marrow is also one way of delaying your departure when you are summoned, and you have to be ready to leave your house at a moment’s notice. Every person invited to participate in that meal is to take his portion and not waste time about breaking bones and extracting marrow. A different interpretation of the prohibition not to break a bone: The Torah had commanded to eat the meat of the Passover על השובע, i.e. at the conclusion of the meal so that it is what brings on the feeling of having been satiated. In that way, the last taste in our mouth on that evening is that of the roasted meat of the lamb. If we were to break bones and suck out the marrow, the last taste of the evening would be that of marrow. Some commentators understand the expression: על השובע, as meaning that there should be a big enough portion for everyone at the table so that they would be satiated without having to look for the marrow in the bones before becoming satiated. Some people reject this interpretation as too far fetched, as the Torah only needed to write positively, “eat to your heart’s content,” instead of negatively: “do not break a bone of it.”When looked at in connection with the laws governing the פסח שני, the observing of the Passover rites a month later if one could not observe it on the 14th of Nissan for a legitimate reason, the Torah writes that all the rules applying to that substitute are identical to those that apply to the Passover on the fourteenth of Nissan. (Numbers 9,12.) However, in spite of this, the Torah adds there in the same verse that not a bone of the lamb must be broken. This shows that there must be a different reason than those we have mentioned for why this rule was added. We must therefore assume that not only bones that contain marrow are included in this legislation but also bones that do not contain marrow. If there is meat less than the size of an olive attached to such a bone, it must not be “broken, i.e. treated as if it contained marrow and the owner wishes to gnaw it clean. This is what we have learned from tractate Pessachim folio 85. [In other words: while on the one hand we are commanded not to leave anything over, we must also not treat that lamb as if it saved us from imminent starvation. Ed.]

כל עדת בני ישראל יעשו אותו, “the entire community of the Children of Israel is to perform it. (that commandment).” The lesson from this verse is that also in future generations this is a communal commandment, but participation is not limited to immediate family members. (Compare Malbim). [The word “also” in the version of the commentary is an obvious error, as the Passover in Egypt was specifically restricted to the members of each household. Ed.]

ועשה פסח, “and he wishes to perform the commandment of participating in the Passover ritual;”

והיה כאזרח הארץ, ”so that he will feel as if a natural born Jew (from birth);” the example is meant to portray a gentile who upon hearing the history of the Jewish people has decided to convert to that religion/nation; it might be thought that since his forefathers did not suffer servitude in Egypt he could not do so; the Torah therefore states that as soon as he has undergone ritual circumcision his past history has been wiped out and he is treated as if he had been born a Jew and shared their suffering throughout the ages. Just as a natural born Jew who for a valid reason was unable to observe the Passover in the month of Nissan has been granted a second chance, so has the new convert who could not observe it before conversion.

וכל ערל לא יאכל בו, “no uncircumcised person must eat of it.” Being uncircumcised is considered as being physically repulsive, ugly, as we have learned in the Talmud Pessachim, folio 96.

תורה אחת יהיה, “one Torah (law) there shall be.” The word Torah appears here as masculine (יהיה) after first having been described as feminine (אחת). Usually it appears only as feminine.[In the opinion of this editor, this type of incongruity is always a reminder that the Torah could not have been written by a human being, as a human being would not want to be guilty of such grammatical inconsistency. Such “errors” would long ago have been “edited” out. Ed.]

הגר הגר בתוככם, “the stranger that resides amongst you.” The term refers to a proselyte who has been converted by a competent court, as opposed to one who has taken a legal shortcut to conversion.

ויעשו כל בני ישראל, “all the Children of Israel performed, etc.” here as well as in 8,14, it is impossible to translate this line literally, i.e. that every single member of the Jewish people performed the Passover ritual, (minors and babies included); the meaning is simply that the Jewish people ever since, annually performed the ritual of the Passover. We find similar “inaccuracy” in Exodus 8,14, where the Torah wrote: ויעשו כן החרטומים, which literally translated would mean: “the sorcerers performed the same miracle.” Had they been able to perform the same miracle or even to reverse it, they would not have been ”sorcerers.”

ויהי בעצם היום הזה, “it was on that very same day;” these words have to be read as linked to what the Torah wrote in verse 41 where it described the departure of the Jewish people from Egypt in the same terms. If proof were needed that this is the correct interpretation, compare Numbers 3,13: כי לי כל בכור ביום הכותי כל בכור וגו', “for every firstborn Israelite belongs to Me, since the day when I smote all the firstborn of Egypt, etc.”