בארץ מצרים לאמר, seeing that this is a paragraph containing a great deal of legislation, it was important to state that this legislation was legislated when the Israelites were still in Egypt. The other commandments of the Torah were communicated to Moses/people either at Mount Sinai, the Tabernacle, or in the wilderness of Moav, shortly before Moses’ death. [there were also some at Marah, on the way to Mount Sinai. Ed.]

'בארץ מצרים לאמר החדש הזה וגו, according to the view of Rabbi Yehoshua in Rosh Hashanah 11 who holds that the earth was created in the month of Nissan,

לחדשי השנה, “whenever I will say to you that some festival is to occur in the ‘eight’s or ninth month,’ the number refers to Nissan being the ‘first’ month relative to this.” According to Rabbi Eliezer, who holds that the earth was created in Tishrey, we would have to understand the plain meaning of the text as follows:

החודש הזה לכם, even though other nations do not know the institution of “new moon,” you will have such an institution, so that the months can be numbered by ordinal numbers, i.e. “the second, the twelfth,” etc. (compare Esther 3,7) This is the month from which you will begin dating important events in your history/calendar, for this is the month in which you attained your freedom as a people. Whenever the Torah refers to an event by naming the month in which it occurred or would occur, the ordinal number used is relative to this month, the month of Nissan, which rates as the “first” month. This is spelled out even more clearly in Exodus 19,1 בחודש השלישי לצאת בני ישראל ממצרים, “in the third month, after the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt.” The date of the Exodus from Egypt remained uppermost in the way our prophets recorded important historical events, as for instance, in Kings I 6,1 when the completion of Solomon’s Temple is dated as having occurred in the 480th year after the Exodus from Egypt.

לבית אבות, members of several families residing in the same house were in the habit of taking their meals together. They had to do this as the Passover offering could not be split up and consumed in more than one house. שה לבית, this means it was to be consumed in the same house, as per verse 15.

ואם ימעט, in the event they are unable to eat it all at one sitting.

במכסת, “the number of.” We have a similar expression meaning the same in Numbers 31,37 ויהי המכס לה' מן הצאן. The letter מ in the word מכס is not a prefix just as it is not a prefix in the word מלך, but is a basic component of the noun. The construction במכסת is similar to the construction of במתג ורסן in Psalms 32,9 where the meaning is “with a bit and bridle.” It is also parallel to the expression שכבת הטל, “a layer of dew” in Exodus 15,14. On the other hand, the word תכוסו is derived from the root כסס, similar to the word תסובו which is derived from the root סבב. (Joshua 6,4). This word תכוסו in our verse is not related to the word מכס in Numbers 31,37 at all. Even if we were to consider the letter מ in the word מכס as a preposition or other addition of some kind, so that it would not be part of the noun just as the letter מ in the word מצוה, “commandment,” is not pat of the actual noun which is derived from the root צוה, or as the letter מ in the word מקנה is not part of the noun, the root of which is קנה, or words such as מעשה or מראה, the letter מ would only camouflage the root כסה, being parallel to such roots as עשה and ראה. Those roots, however, normally have an abbreviated vowel after the first root letter that has been omitted, as in תקומה from קם or תשובה from שב. In our verse, however, no such abbreviated vowel appears to signal that a root letter has been omitted.

המשקוף, the upper lintel which is visible to all when one enters though the door. The word appears in a context of viewing something in Genesis 26,8 וישקף אבימלך, when the King of the Philistines, acting like a peeping Tom, found out that Yitzchok and Rivkah were man and wife. Commentators who consider the word משקוף as relating to sounds made when the door hits the frame owe us other proof of such uses of the word in classical Hebrew texts. [a swipe at his grandfather Rashi. Ed.]

'ואכלו את הבשר בלילה הזה צלי אש וגו, every reference to the eating of this meal reflects the haste with which it had to be consumed.

נא, I believe this means a type of frying in a pot but in its own juice (including the blood) not involving water known as צלי קדר, not roasting directly on the fire, as required by our verse here [so that the blood drips off. Ed.].

פסח הוא לה', to insure that G’d’s angel killing the firstborn will bypass the houses with the sign of the blood on their door-frames.

אעשה שפטים. This was because the Egyptians had put their trust in these deities; G’d had to demonstrate their utter helplessness to help themselves, much less those who worshipped them. It was an indirect response to Pharaoh’s insolence in asking “Who is Hashem, etc.?” (5,2)

תחגוהו; the construction with the (chataf) kametz is in order when the root is חגג; a similar example would be Job 40,22 יסובוהו ערבי נחל, “the willows of the brook surround him.” There too, the root is סבב with a double consonant. On the other hand, when the root is חגה, as for instance in other examples of the ה"י categories of verbs such as כלה, or צוה, the correct vocalisation would be with the vowel patach i.e. techaguhu as in kaluhu, or tetzavu.

אך אשר יאכל לכל נפש, the permission to cook on the festivals is the reason that the work prohibition in connection with festivals is always worded as כל מלאכת עבודה לא תעשו instead of כל מלאכה לא תעשה as on the Sabbath or Day of Atonement, which means: “no manner of work must be performed, [preparation of food involving use of fire being included. Ed.]

ושמרתם את המצות, to eat them on this day as a memorial.

'כי בעצם היום הזה הוצאתי, וגו, as a result their dough did not have time enough to rise before baking, resulting in it becoming cakes of unleavened bread. It was all due to the haste of being expelled (compare verse 39)

בכל מושבותיכם תאכלו מצות, even outside the city of Jerusalem, although the Passover itself must not be slaughtered outside Jerusalem.

למשפחותיכם, a variation of verse 3 where the wording had been לבית אבות.

בסף, a small basin. The word occurs again in Kings II 12,14 as ספות כסף, “silver bowls.” It occurs also in Esther 2,21 as שומרי הסף where its meaning is less clear, more likely meaning ”threshold.”

לא תצאו, seeing that the sign of the blood on the doorposts is the only thing which protects you.

מה העבודה הזאת?, which is so different from all other festivals in so many respects?

אשר פסח, “who skipped over.”

בחצי הלילה, while they were eating their Passover offering.

היושב על כסאו, who would have sat on his throne if he had lived.

וברכתם גם אותי, as if the Torah had written וגם תברכו אותי, “and also bless me.”

בצקו, a construction from the root בצק, just as כתפו, “his shoulder,” is derived from the root כתף.

משארותם, the container in which the dough is placed while it is allowed to rise before being baked. We know this from Deuteronomy 28,5 ברוך טנאך ומשארתך, “blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.” Just as the טנא is the basket in which fruit are placed, so משארת is the bowl in which the dough is kneaded. The Torah in Deuteronomy uses these two items as prototypes for G’d extending His blessing to the utensils used by the Jewish people in pursuing their daily efforts at securing their livelihood.

נתן את חן העם, to give them as outright gifts what they asked for. G’d had predicted all of this to Moses already in Exodus 3,21

וישאילום. The Egyptians are subject in this, i.e. they lent, or gave outright as gifts, after the Israelites had asked. The Egyptians gave it in such a way that the recipients were not expected to return it to the original owners. In this context, the one who asks for something is considered the active party whereas the one who responds to the request is considered the מפעיל, in this instance the “giver.”

וינצלו את מצרים, the Israelites had asked for precious jewelry and fancy garments which they used to dress up their children in. The expression is used again in Exodus 33,6 after the sin of the golden calf when the Jews had to divest themselves of their jewelry which they had obtained at the time of the revelation at Mount Sinai. [at that time it had been jewelry of a spiritual nature, i.e. the phylacteries. Ed.] At any rate, the expression וינצלו refers to jewelry.

ערב רב, an expression describing a mixed assortment, as we find it in Psalms 106,35 ויתערבו בגוים, “they mixed freely with the gentiles, assimilated.”

עוגות, for the term bread applies only to dough which had been baked in an oven. [According to our author on Exodus 29,2 anything baked in an oven is called לחם, bread, even if it contains a fair amount of oil. Ed] Seeing that this “bread” had not been baked in an oven but was baked by the sun, it is not called לחם, but עוגה, “cake.”

כי לא חמץ, it had not become fermented. This formulation, i.e. as an adjective, is also found in connection with Pharaoh when the Torah spoke about כבד לב פרעה, usually translated as “Pharaoh’s heart was tough,” when what is meant it that Pharaoh toughened his heart. Similar constructions are found in Genesis 27,14 אהב אביו, “his father had come to like.” The same is true of Kings I 1,1 והמלך דוד זקן, which though we normally translate this as “and King David was old,” really means “King David had allowed himself to age.” These formulations which sound like mere adjectives, are more than that, they describe what led to the present state of something or somebody.

וגם צידה (לדרך) לא עשו להם, this is why in short order they would have to complain of the need for bread and water. [seeing that they had not been given an opportunity to take along provisions. Ed.]

ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים (עד סוף) שלושים שנה וארבע מאות שנה, counting from the time when G’d spoke to Avraham at the covenant between the pieces. At that time Avraham was 70 years of age (according to Seder Olam). On the other hand, the “400 years” commenced when Avraham had fathered Yitzchok at 100 years of age. I have explained all this in my commentary on the covenant of the pieces.

ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים (עד סוף) שלושים שנה וארבע מאות שנה, after the birth of Yitzchok. At any rate, out of these 400 years the Israelites resided in Egypt for only 210 years at the tail end of the 430 years mentioned at the beginning.

(2) IT WAS ON THAT VERY DAY, ETC. And nevertheless, they dwelled in Egypt for only the last 210 years of the 430 years.

ליל שימורים הוא לה', G’d had been anticipating this night ever since the days of the patriarchs in order to have the opportunity to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. For the Jewish people, on the other hand, this night now became a night to be remembered

לרורותם, for all their future generations. The expression

שמורים, represents an element of “waiting for something.” It is used in this sense in Genesis 37,11 ואביו שמר את הדבר, “his father waited to see what would happen in this matter.”

ועצם לא תשברו בו, as a symbol of the haste in which it must be eaten.

וכל ערל, A Jew whose brother had died from the after-effects of the circumcision and has therefore not been circumcised himself must not eat from this offering. (Compare Rashi)

'ויהי בעצם היום הזה וגו, although this has been mentioned once, it is repeated because G’d gave instructions to Moses concerning the sanctifying of the Jewish firstborn forthwith on the very day the Exodus took place.