Two Minute Torah Podcast

Bo 5772 by Rabbi Rafi Rank

Bo, the name of this week's parshah, means "Go." This should be easy to remember as Bo rhymes with "Go." Bo came to mind recently as I opened the annual White House season's greeting card which was signed by the president, Michelle, their two children and Bo, the family dog, who did sign the card in English next to a paw print. And so, Bo is the name of this week's parshah, and also the name of our nation's first dog, which may seem to you as two unrelated facts, but important nonetheless.

In parashat Bo, Pharaoh seems initially disposed to a temporary Israelite exodus and famously asks Moshe, mi vami haholkhim—Who exactly will go? (Exodus 10:8). And Moshe answers that everyone will go. Pharaoh counters by saying that only the men need go and thus inadvertently brings on the plagues of locusts and darkness.

Pharaoh desperately summons Moshe back to the palace and relents—OK, everyone can go with the exception of the animals. But Moshe counters by saying that the animals are needed. Pharaoh throws Moshe out of the palace, thus setting the scene for the tenth and most horrific of the plagues.

Need I tell you the end of the story? The Israelites leave—men, women, children, flocks and herds, and an erev rav, a mixed multitude (Exodus 12:38), whom tradition has identified as non-Jews, forced laborers, or people on the margins of Egyptian society. Pharaoh finally has his answer as to who exactly will go: a colorful conglomeration of Jew and non-Jew, of human and animal lives, which leads us all to an existential question.

When we go, with whom do we go? Who's part of our group and whom have we excluded? With whom do we see ourselves connected and with whom do we not? One of the most important stories of our people is a story that establishes a deep connection between ourselves and all the living beings that surround us. We are all connected.

And that's the reason why I loved the White House season's greeting card. Where the Obama's go, so goes Bo. And if we have evolved to such an understanding that we have a special relationship to care and protect the animal world, how much more so for the erev rav, the people on the margins of society, the handicapped, the developmentally disabled, the elderly, the unemployed, the sick, or the poor. Mi vami haholkhim—With whom do you exactly go? When it's time for you to go, think parashat Bo.