Questions for Bo

 1. Name one of the makkos that began with the East Wind, changed to the West Wind, and ended with a great drowning in the Yam Suf.

2. Two mitzvos in this parsha are described as "אות." What are they. What two other mitzvos in the Torah are described as אות

3. What mitzva requires that you wear shoes while doing it.

4. When we eat Korach, we are required to do הסיבה. (Heseiba is a Mitzva Derabanan.) Korach is Matza, Maror, and Korban Pesach. This implies that we are supposed to eat the Korban Pesach be'heseiba.  Was this true by the first Korban Pesach, in Mitzrayim? Was it possible to eat that Korban בהסיבה?

5. There are certain words that appear only once in all of Tanach. There is one word that appears hundreds of times in Tanach, and its meaning is well known, but only once in Tanach, in our parsha, it has a completely different meaning. What is that word. I want to emphasize that this is very rare.

6. We have a mesora that the Jews in Mitzrayim did not assimilate culturally; they firmly retained their distinctive names, language, clothing. Where do we see that once they left Mitzrayim and received the Torah this was less important.

7. We all know that we eat Matza as we did at the time of Yetzias Mitzrayim on the first Pesach. But we also eat Matza because of Sukkos. Why is that true?

 

1. Arbeh.

10:13 and 19

וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת מַטֵּהוּ עַל אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וַה’ נִהַג רוּחַ קָדִים בָּאָרֶץ כׇּל הַיּוֹם הַהוּא וְכׇל הַלָּיְלָה הַבֹּקֶר הָיָה וְרוּחַ הַקָּדִים נָשָׂא אֶת הָאַרְבֶּה

וַיַּהֲפֹךְ ה’ רוּחַ יָם חָזָק מְאֹד וַיִּשָּׂא אֶת הָאַרְבֶּה וַיִּתְקָעֵהוּ יָמָּה סּוּף לֹא נִשְׁאַר אַרְבֶּה אֶחָד בְּכֹל גְּבוּל מִצְרָיִם.

2. Dam on the mashkof, Tefillin. 

Shabbos and Milah.

3. Eating the Pesach in Mitzrayim.12:11,  נַעֲלֵיכֶם בְּרַגְלֵיכֶם

4. Absolutely not. The Pesach Mitzrayim had to be eaten בחפזון, and everything about חפזון  is a stira to heseiba.  We don't do חפזון, so we can do הסיבה.  

12:11

וְכָכָה תֹּאכְלוּ אֹתוֹ מׇתְנֵיכֶם חֲגֻרִים נַעֲלֵיכֶם בְּרַגְלֵיכֶם וּמַקֶּלְכֶם בְּיֶדְכֶם וַאֲכַלְתֶּם אֹתוֹ בְּחִפָּזוֹן

None of this is possible when you’re doing הסיבה . The Gemara in Pesachim 96a says that

דאמר קרא: ״ואכלתם אותו בחפזון״. ״אותו״ נאכל בחפזון, ואין אחר נאכל בחפזון.

As for my statement that eating Pesach Doros requires heseiba, see the discussion in Rivevos Ephraim IV Siman 238 . He brings a Bach in 475 that pretty clearly assumes yes. Then he discusses whether Hillel's korach was with or without the Korban. He says that from the Rambam and Rabbeinu Chananel it appears that the sandwich was only matza and marror, which is, of course, incredible and not credible, but it would take away the raya to heseiba from the Korach.

5. נא.  When I asked the question, I repeated that "the word is very, very, rare" or "exceedingly rare" about five times, and it did not help.

6. In 12:35, it says

וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עָשׂוּ כִּדְבַר מֹשֶׁה וַיִּשְׁאֲלוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם כְּלֵי כֶסֶף וּכְלֵי זָהָב וּשְׂמָלֹת

What good are Semalos if they weren’t going to wear them? Possibly, they would use the material, or put them on the children. Or, as Rav Moshe says, once they left Mitzrayim and had a Torah, distinguishing themselves based on language, names, and clothing, was no longer important.

It is important to mention that the first mention of לא שינו on clothing is in Medrash Lekach Tov, which is a likkut of Medrashim, and many believe that שמלותם is likely a mistake, and should have said שמותם. See תורה שלמה מילואים לפרשת וארא עמ' קטז אות ב .  

But it doesn't matter, because rishonim and many achronim quote such a Medrash, so it is part of the canon, like הלכה בידוע שעשו שונא ליעקב.  Torah shebaal peh is also something.  But Reb Moshe says this svara, that this was only important before we had taryag mitzvos and dinim that distinguished us, so we needed these things to remember our that we are unique and to prevent assimilation.  See Igros OC V:64.

7. 12:37-9  

וַיִּסְעוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵרַעְמְסֵס סֻכֹּתָה כְּשֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת אֶלֶף רַגְלִי הַגְּבָרִים לְבַד מִטָּף. וְגַם עֵרֶב רַב עָלָה אִתָּם וְצֹאן וּבָקָר מִקְנֶה כָּבֵד מְאֹד. וַיֹּאפוּ אֶת הַבָּצֵק אֲשֶׁר הוֹצִיאוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם עֻגֹת מַצּוֹת כִּי לֹא חָמֵץ כִּי גֹרְשׁוּ מִמִּצְרַיִם וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לְהִתְמַהְמֵהַּ וְגַם צֵדָה לֹא עָשׂוּ לָהֶם.

The Matza they ate in Mitzrayim was only because of the lechem oni aspect. Lo Hispik had not happened  yet. But the Matza we eat ledoros is also because כי לא חמץ כי גרשו ממצרים ולא יכלו להתמהמה, and making that matza took place in Sukkos.