English translation — בא א

Sicha 1<pg>45</pg>

A.

"And I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night"<sup>1</sup>,

And Rashi explains "And I will pass through" — "like a king who passes from place to place, and in one passing and in one moment they are all stricken."

And the source of the explanation is in the Mechilta<sup>2</sup>,

except that there it is stated only "like a king who passes from place to place",

and Rashi adds

(and explains)

— "and in one passing and in one moment they are all stricken."

And it requires explanation: 1)

What difficulty in the plain meaning of the verse does Rashi come to resolve?

2)

What is the explanation of the parable "like a king who passes from place to place"?

3)

What is the explanation of his words "and in one passing etc."?

In the Ra"am³

he explains,

that Rashi's intention is to resolve the superfluity of the word "and I will pass through"⁴,

and the intention of the analogy to a king is,

"that his custom is to go on a straight path and he does not turn from here and from there⁵

into the alleys of the city; so too the Holy One, blessed be He, passed through the land of Egypt in only one alley, and in that passing the firstborn of Egypt were stricken, both those who were in that alley through which He passed and those who were in other alleys."

And its explanation is difficult to understand,

for in the previous verse⁶

Rashi explains: "The offering is called Pesach because of the skipping and leaping that the Holy One, blessed be He, skips over the houses of Israel from among the houses of Egypt and jumps from Egyptian to Egyptian, and Israel in the middle is saved",

and likewise in the verse after this⁷

he explained: "He would leap from the houses of Israel to the houses of Egypt, which were dwelling one within the other",

thus it implies,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, passed from house to house,

whereas according to the explanation of the Ra'em, all the content of this Rashi is the opposite,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, went only "in one alley alone",

and not in the other alleys,

and certainly not from house to house⁸.

There are commentators⁹,

that it was difficult for him what is said "in the land of Egypt" and not "in Egypt",

which implies from this that the Holy One, blessed be He, passed through the entire land of Egypt to smite "every firstborn in the land of Egypt",

that "this thing, as it were, would have required much time and would have been great,

and Moses said, 'About midnight I will go out'¹⁰

which implies that at that very moment the plague of the firstborn was

(in the entire land of Egypt)..

And on this he answered

(Rashi)

like a king who passes from place to place,

who passes without delay and hindrance because he is not afraid of the danger of the roads in fields and forests..

so the Holy One, blessed be He, in one passing and in one moment smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt and did not need to delay and pass the moment of midnight, and therefore<pg>46</pg>

It adopts the language "and I will pass through" [ל' העברה] which indicates speed"&lt;sup&gt;11&lt;/sup&gt;.

But this interpretation also, at first glance, requires examination,

For what is the assumption that the Holy One's going "throughout the entire land of Egypt" is something that "requires much time and is a great thing",

Surely it is obvious that the Holy One is above the limitation of place and time and can pass through the entire land of Egypt in one moment of midnight.

And on the other hand,

What is added by the parable of "a king who passes from place to place"?

Firstly — surely the parable is not comparable to the moral,

For after all, the going of a flesh-and-blood king is not,

Even when he passes from place to place with great speed,

At all comparable to "and I will pass through etc." which was in one moment of midnight,

Throughout the entire land of Egypt.

And furthermore, what does the parable add.

Moreover: even though "ועבר" indicates speed of movement without delays,

nevertheless the matter of "in one moment all of them are stricken" is not possible with a king of flesh and blood,

for it is obvious that he requires time to strike a multitude of people and animals etc. that are in the entire land,

and thus the explanation in Rashi does not seem to fit¹².

2.

Seemingly one can explain that Rashi comes in his commentary to resolve a difficulty that arises in the entire portion: in this verse it is stated "And I will pass through the land of Egypt etc. and I will smite etc.",

that is, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself,

and as is explicit at the end of the verse "I am the Lord" and in Rashi "I Myself and not through an agent".

And so it is implied from the following verse¹³

"And I will pass over you",

that the Holy One, blessed be He, skips over the houses of Israel etc.,

and likewise in the words of Moses to Israel it is stated¹⁴

"And the Lord will pass through to smite Egypt"; but on the verse¹⁵

"And it came to pass at midnight and the Lord smote every firstborn" Rashi explains "And the Lord,

He and His court",

and so it is stated several times in these writings in the manner of "the destroyer",

"And He will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to smite"¹⁴

and the like,

behold, the plague came through a destroyer.

And so it is explicit in Rashi on the verse¹⁶

"And you shall not go out",

"tells that once permission is given to the destroyer to harm, it does not distinguish between righteous and wicked etc.".

And this is what Rashi explains the word "ועברתי" — "like a king who passes from place to place",

for when a king passes from place to place he does not go alone but with his retinue&lt;sup&gt;17&lt;/sup&gt;,

his ministers and his servants etc.,

and even though they do everything to enable the king's journey from place to place,

everything is called after the king and not after his ministers and soldiers and the like; and so it is in our matter,

that even though the Holy One, blessed be He, was with the court and the heavenly host etc.,

nevertheless this is all included&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt;

"ועברתי etc. והכיתי etc.".

For when the Holy One, blessed be He, sends an agent and the like,

even though it is not something dependent on the will and choice of the angel and the agent,

nevertheless they are called by the name "&lt;pg&gt;47&lt;/pg&gt;

agents of the Name"; but when they go and act together with the "king",

the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself,

when He, may He be blessed, "passes from place to place",

then everything is attributed to the Holy One, blessed be He¹⁹.

But,

even though this explanation is well-suited to the language of the Mechilta "like a king who passes from place to place"²⁰,

it is difficult to explain Rashi's words thus,

who adds and explains "and in one passing and in one moment they are all stricken",

for according to the above, the main point is missing in Rashi,

for he should have said that he goes with his ministers and his servants and his troops

(and the like),

whereas Rashi emphasizes a different matter,

that "in one passing and in one moment they are all stricken"²¹.

3.

And one must say the explanation in this:

The difficulty in the language "and I will pass through" here is,

that above in the words of Moses to Pharaoh regarding the plague of the firstborn it is said²²

"Thus said the Lord, at midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh etc.",

while here

(in the words of Moses to Israel)

it is said "and I will pass through the land of Egypt".

And it needs to be understood, the intention in what is said there "I will go out into the midst of Egypt",

for at first glance,

the actions of the Holy One, blessed be He, do not require a "going out" of the Holy One, blessed be He&lt;sup&gt;23&lt;/sup&gt;.

And as it was in the other plagues,

"behold the hand of Hashem God is upon your livestock etc.",

"and Hashem will distinguish between the livestock of Israel etc."&lt;sup&gt;24&lt;/sup&gt;,

"and only you and your people with the pestilence etc."&lt;sup&gt;25&lt;/sup&gt;

— and it was not said in all these that there was a "going out" of the Holy One, blessed be He, into Egypt in order to smite them.

And it is simple,

that the deed of the Holy One, blessed be He, is in the manner of "He spoke and it was"&lt;sup&gt;26&lt;/sup&gt;,

and why is it said here "I will go out etc."?

Rather, the matter of the "going out" here means a special act for the sake of the rescue and redemption of Israel,

and as it is said&lt;sup&gt;27&lt;/sup&gt;

"and I descended to rescue them from the hand of Egypt",

and this is also the purpose of the "going out" of the Holy One, blessed be He, "into the midst of Egypt",

in order to rescue them and redeem them.

[And even though the redemption and exodus of Bnei Yisrael from Egypt was "on that very day,"

the fifteenth day of Nissan²⁸,

nevertheless,

the time of the redemption from the aspect above<pg>48</pg>

began from the night,

as is explicit in the verse²⁹

"It is a night of watching for Hashem to bring them out of the land of Egypt; this is that night for Hashem,"

"it is the night that He said to Avraham: on this night I will redeem your children"].

And this is also what is said afterwards&lt;sup&gt;22&lt;/sup&gt;

"

(I will go out etc.)

And every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die etc.",

And not "And I will smite every firstborn"&lt;sup&gt;30&lt;/sup&gt;

And similar,

Because this that "I will go out into the midst of Egypt" was not for the sake of smiting the firstborn of Egypt, but for the sake of saving Israel,

Rather, incidentally "every firstborn in the land of Egypt died".

But it is not understood what is said "And I will pass through&lt;sup&gt;31&lt;/sup&gt;

the land of Egypt etc. and I will smite every firstborn",

Which implies that the Holy One, blessed be He, passes through the land of Egypt&lt;sup&gt;32&lt;/sup&gt;

to smite every firstborn,

Especially for the plague of the firstborn.

And furthermore,

That He also passed from house to house

(In a manner that it should have said "passing over" the houses of Israel),

And as above section 1.

And therefore Rashi explains "like a king who passes from place to place",

that this is not a special journey for the sake of³³

the plague of the firstborn,

but rather "like a king who passes from place to place" for the sake of another matter³⁴.

And so in our matter,

that the journey of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the land of Egypt was for the sake of the rescue and redemption of Israel as above.

And these are the two expressions in the verse — "I am going out into the midst of Egypt",

"And I will pass through the land of Egypt" — because at midnight,

the time of the plague of the firstborn,

there were, as it were, two matters from the aspect of the Name: a category of going out for the sake of rescuing Israel,

and a category of passing through in relation to the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt.

4.

But still it is puzzling: in the verse here it continues "and I will smite every firstborn, etc."

(and not "and will die",

as it is written regarding "I will go out"),

and it implies seemingly,

that the death of the firstborn of Egypt was not in a happenstance manner but in a manner of action,

and what is written "and I will pass through etc. and I will smite etc." means a special going for the sake of this act of smiting.

And therefore Rashi continues "

(like a king who passes from place to place)

and in one passing and in one moment they are all stricken": with this Rashi emphasizes,

that the expression "and I will pass through" here teaches us not only the manner of the "going" of the Holy One, blessed be He, in Egypt

(that regarding the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt it was "like a king who passes from place to place"),

but also the manner of the smiting of the Egyptians,

for since the smiting of the Egyptians is when the Holy One, blessed be He, "passes from place to place",

therefore also the smiting itself is in a way of passing,

in a manner of "in one passing and in one moment they are all stricken",

not a smiting in a particular manner,

each Egyptian and Egyptian individually with special providence,

but they were all smitten as one³⁵.

<pg>49</pg>

And this is also the content of the parable of "a king who passes from place to place": when the king's going is for the purpose of flogging,

then the flogging of each one is considered a matter in itself coming at a time in itself,

but when the going is in the manner of a passing from place to place,

and incidentally to the passing the flogging is done,

then the passing is one passing,

and consequently also the flogging is considered as flogging in one moment.

And so it is in our case,

for since the going of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the land of Egypt was for the sake of the rescue and redemption of Israel,

and in relation to the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt it is "like a king who passes from place to place",

therefore also the smiting of the Egyptians is merely in passing,

that in this passing — which is "one passing and in one moment" — all the firstborn were smitten

(as one).

5.

And behold,

according to this emphasis in Rashi,

that the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt was "in one passing and in one moment",

there is a new depth in the entire matter of "And I will pass over you":

In the explanation of the matter

(as it appears superficially),

that the Holy One, blessed be He, descended and passed among the houses of Egypt to smite them,

and because of this another matter occurred,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, needed to pass over the houses of Israel,

but rather, from the outset,

this entire descent and going out within Egypt was only for the sake of saving Israel,

and the smiting of the Egyptians was merely a passing through.

That is to say,

that in the plague of the firstborn itself there were two categories of "going out" and "passing over": the smiting of the firstborn of Egypt was in a manner of "passing over",

"in one passing over..

all of them were smitten"; and together with this,

in order to save Israel from the destroyer,

"went out" the Holy One, blessed be He, "within Egypt",

that He descended and watched over the houses of Israel to save them,

and as Rashi explains on the verse³⁶

"And the blood shall be for you a sign etc. and I will see the blood" — "everything is revealed before Him,

but the Holy One, blessed be He, said: I will set My eyes to see that you are engaged in My commandments and I will pass over you."

And this is also the greatness of the matter of "Pesach is for Hashem",

as Rashi explains

(as above)

"the offering is called Pesach for the name of the skipping and the leaping that the Holy One, blessed be He, skips over the houses of Israel from among the houses of Egypt and jumps from Egyptian to Egyptian and Israel in the middle is saved",

for seemingly it requires explanation,

why is this considered such a primary matter,

to the extent that the offering is named for this skipping,

as it is written³⁷

"And you shall say, It is the Passover sacrifice for Hashem, who skipped over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians and saved our houses"?

Rather, in this is expressed the greatness of the virtue and belovedness of Israel before the Holy One, blessed be He,

for at the very hour that the Holy One, blessed be He, struck the firstborn of Egypt in a manner of "one stroke..

all are stricken",

a conduct in a manner of mere "passing over",

behold, in this very matter,

regarding Israel there was a category of "going out" within Egypt,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, "went out" "within Egypt" in all the streets,

in order to save each and every one of Israel,

even those who are between the houses of the Egyptians.

And this was the beginning of the redemption of Israel,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and by Himself went out to save and redeem each and every one of the children of Israel from Egypt.

6.

Explanation of the difference between the two above-mentioned conducts of "I will go out" and "I will pass through" according to Chassidus³⁸

:

The general concept of the Exodus from Egypt came about through "the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and by Himself"³⁹,

His essence and self-<pg>50</pg>

His death, may He be exalted,

and as the expression of the verse "I am going out",

I myself,

His Essence and Being, may He be exalted,

which is above the entire order of the chain of descent.

And this is also the inner reason for the fact that the smiting of the Egyptians was in a manner of automatically,

"and every firstborn shall die etc.",

in the manner explained&lt;sup&gt;40&lt;/sup&gt;

regarding the matter "He commanded and they were created"&lt;sup&gt;41&lt;/sup&gt;,

the passive form,

for from the aspect of the encompassing, everything comes not in a manner of action

("He created")

but rather as if automatically

("they were created"),

and similarly in our case,

since the plague of the firstborn was from the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and Himself,

therefore it was in a manner of "and every firstborn shall die".

And for this reason — "in one passing over..

all are lashed",

in a manner of "passing over" without division

(as above at length),

for the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and in His very Self,

behold, He makes equal and equalizes small and great.

However, all this is regarding the nations of the world,

but regarding the children of Israel, it is known,

that even from the aspect of the encompassing [light],

the affection is for the children of Israel,

and on the contrary,

specifically in this is revealed the true affection of Israel.

And as explained&lt;sup&gt;42&lt;/sup&gt;

regarding the matter of "Is not&lt;sup&gt;43&lt;/sup&gt;

Esau a brother to Jacob etc. and I love Jacob and Esau I hated",

that even from the aspect of the encompassing [light],

where "as darkness [is] as light"&lt;sup&gt;44&lt;/sup&gt;

and consequently "Esau is a brother to Jacob",

nevertheless,

"and I love Jacob and Esau I hated".

This is the matter of the Holy One, blessed be He's choice of the children of Israel not based on reason,

for although ostensibly it speaks of a level where the superiority of Israel over Esau is not apparent

(because "as darkness [is] as light"),

nevertheless,

"and I love Jacob" specifically.

And from this love "He left⁴⁵

the Holy One, blessed be He, the upper beings and the lower beings..

He chose Israel His people and took them out of Egypt, the nakedness of the land⁴⁶

the place of filth and impurity, not through an angel⁴⁷..

but the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and by Himself descended there, as it is said, "And I will descend to save them," etc.,

And this is that this love of the Holy One, blessed be He, for the children of Israel caused that the Holy One, blessed be He, descended and contracted Himself into the matters of the children of Israel,

to the extent of supervising them with individual providence and saving them.

And this is what is said, "I will go out into the midst of Egypt,"

that this is the "going out" of the Holy One, blessed be He, from His place

("The Holy One, blessed be He, left the upper beings")

and His descent "into the midst of Egypt,"

and all this in order to save Israel.

7.

And behold,

this matter,

that this descent of the Holy One, blessed be He, to save Israel,

is because of the love of the Holy One, blessed be He, for the Children of Israel

(from the aspect of the innermost aspect of the encompassing [light]),

is also expressed in the details of the miracle of "and I will pass over you,"

and as brought in Rashi⁴⁸

that even when Israel was in the house of an Egyptian, I might think he would be stricken like him, therefore it says "and there will be no plague among you,"

for at first glance it is difficult to understand,

what is the assumption that because an Israelite man was in the house of an Egyptian "he would be stricken like him"⁴⁹?

But the matter is,

that from this very fact that this Israelite man was in the house of an Egyptian on this night,

the lowliness of his spiritual state is understood.

After all that the Egyptians did to them,

and after all the plagues that the Egyptians received,

behold this man was still in the house of an Egyptian man,

and when — on this night that he was commanded to offer the Paschal sacrifice

(for his salvation),

and was warned "and you shall not go out, each man from the entrance of his house until morning"¹⁶

!<pg>51</pg>

And therefore it could be said that "he will be punished like him",

since the distinction between him and the Egyptian is not noticeable.

And nevertheless,

from the aspect of the love for each one of Israel,

behold "and He loves Jacob" specifically,

and it is not enough that the Holy One, blessed be He, saved also this Jewish man

(which is possible also through an angel),

but furthermore,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and by Himself descended to save him from the hand of Egypt.

And as above in the explanation of "I will go out in the midst of Egypt",

which was a descent and enclothing⁵⁰

in the midst of Egypt,

the nakedness of the land,

[That this is one of the reasons⁵¹

that it could not be through an angel,

because an angel could not descend into the impurity of Egypt].

8.

And from here a lesson in the service of each and every Jew in his involvement to draw close the hearts of Israel to our Father in Heaven: There are those who say that they are prepared to engage in bringing Jews closer to Torah and mitzvos,

but not to descend from their level for this.

And for example,

a person who is engaged in the study of Torah,

is prepared to study Torah also with simple people,

and even with a Jewish man who for now is distant from the Torah of God,

but under what circumstances,

when they are prepared to come to the house of God,

to the study hall and the four cubits of Torah to study with him,

but not when he must interrupt his study and descend to engage with those who are not yet relevant to enter the study hall to study,

being infants captured among the nations,

he claims,

that this involvement is not relevant to him.

And this is the lesson — "It is enough for the servant to be like his master"⁵²,

that just as the Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory and His very Self descended⁵³

to Egypt, the nakedness of the land, the place of filth and impurity, to take them out from there,

and also to such a person who is found in an Egyptian's house,

and all this in order to draw him close to Him,

and in a closeness and true unification through the Torah and commandments⁵⁴

— so must each one of the children of Israel "descend" from his level to save the children of Israel,

also children who were captured from Israel,

and even if because of this descent he soils his garments⁵⁵

(as is understood and simple,

in a manner permitted according to law).

And moreover, after the Holy One, blessed be He, said at the giving of the Torah "I am the Lord your God"⁵⁶

in the singular⁵⁷,

the Lord became your strength and vitality of each and every one of Israel⁵⁸

in whatever state and situation he is,

and they need only to reveal His true and inner will⁵⁹,

And behold the redemption of the entire Jewish people — of each and every one of Israel,

also your heads, your tribes,

and also the redemption of the Shechinah, that the Shechinah is in exile — depends on the redemption of each and every one,

for in this redemption of the future to come, not even one will remain in exile,

to the extent that even that type who were not redeemed from Egypt,

will be redeemed in the future redemption that will come through our righteous Mashiach,

And as discussed many times⁶⁰

in the explanation of the answer to the wicked son⁶¹

"If he had been there, he would not have been redeemed",

<pg>52</pg>

Derek there in Egypt would not have been redeemed,

But in our redemption from this exile⁶²

He too will be redeemed,

And through the involvement of each and every one of Israel to bring the children of Israel closer to their Father in heaven,

The Holy One, blessed be He, goes with him to assist him in this work,

And through this Bnei Yisrael are redeemed from the exile,

"And you will be gathered one by one, O children of Israel"⁶³,

through Moshiach Tzidkeinu,

who builds the Temple and gathers the dispersed of Israel⁶⁴,

immediately and truly at once.

(From the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Bo 5736)