I’ve been getting many questions about Mashiach lately; I assume this is because of the complicated times we are currently enduring. As with the Exodus we read about in Parshat Bo, we seek a path to salvation. Yet many people feel bewildered when they mull over the concept of the Mashiach, especially the way it’s presented in some circles. They approach me with questions about details they’ve heard about, and their anxiety about losing all the modern features of life that have developed in the last couple of thousand years since the Temple period. Will we have pizza, Starbucks, or Whole Foods? And what about technology such as smartphones? Will we have a smart Beit Hamikdash, so to speak? Or will the world regress to ancient times? I think the answer is that we have no specific idea what the world will be like when Mashiach comes, but we know that it will build on all the developments human beings have experienced up to that point. I believe this idea is expressed succinctly in the name of our parsha – Bo.
I like to refer to the teaching of the Shlah HaKadosh, who explains that a parsha title is not merely a convenient label. The title itself is a one-word synopsis of all the ideas in the parsha.
But how is it possible that this week’s parsha, which covers the monumental detailed events of the Exodus, is encapsulated in just one 2 letter word, Bo?
It’s no mere coincidence that when the Rambam discusses the Mashiach, he uses the same type of wording: I believe with complete belief in the coming of the Mashiach, B’viat haMashiach, which stems from the root Bo, to come. He concludes by saying Even though [the Mashiach] tarries, I will wait for him daily, that he will come, sheyavo, – rooted in the same word as Bo.
Moreover, when the Gemara explains that the Exodus was predestined from the beginning of time, it uses the phrase Meshumar u’ba. Meshumar means It is kept hidden, which expresses that the Exodus was embedded in Creation. But why add the word u’ba, it [meaning the salvation of the Exodus] is coming?
I think it is because our parsha focuses on the commandment to remember the Exodus, and in this context, the word remember has a very specific connotation – it means remember through speech.
The Rambam, in elucidating the mitzvah found in our Parsha to recount the miracles and wonders wrought for our ancestors in Egypt on the night of the fifteenth of Nisan, "Remember this day on which you left Egypt" (Exodus 13:3), refers to the verse teaching us about the Shabbat kiddush and Havdalah – "Remember the Sabbath and make it holy" – as an obscure parallel source for the commandment to tell the Passover story at the seder. Just as we are commanded to speak about the Sabbath, so too must we remember the Exodus, the story of our liberation, by verbalizing it.
Our commemoration on Pesach must be spoken, and as the Haggadah states, "kol hamarbeh lisaper harei zeh mishubach," meaning the more we speak, the more praiseworthy we are. Numerous examples emphasize the importance of speech, starting with the very name of the holiday. As the Tikunei Zohar explains, when breaking the word for the holiday, Pesach, into two syllables, "peh-sach," it means “talking mouth.” We are commanded to tell the story out loud and ask questions aloud; it is not enough to simply read or contemplate its meaning silently.
Perhaps the reason for this requirement, as we mentioned in Parshat Reeh, lies in the contrast between sight and sound. While sight enables us to visualize a picture all at once, with speech, we must re-experience the Exodus step by step. By its very nature, speaking about the Exodus forces us to relive the painstaking process of our redemption, one step at a time.
Bo is therefore teaching us that one reason God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and didn’t let us out with one stupendous plague was to ensure that we experienced our redemption as a process, not merely as a sudden burst of good fortune.
And that is the reason for all those references to the variations of Bo: b’viyat, sheyavo, uba, – because Bo implies emergence, an ongoing, step-by-step process of redemption.
Just as each of the 10 plagues was vital to the Exodus, we should remember that every detail we experience throughout our individual and collective lives is a necessary step leading to the arrival of Mashiach. That’s why we explained in Parshat Vayechi that it might send the wrong message to chant, We want mashiach now; we don’t want to wait! Because life is like a movie – we know it will end, but we don’t sit through a movie simply to get it over with. The point is to engage in the entire film, to discover all the nuances of how the movie builds to its conclusion. In other words, the point is to wait.
That is what Parshat Bo teaches us about the Exodus and our redemption as well. We know it will be glorious when the Mashiach comes, but we cannot know the details in advance; we need to patiently wait for Mashiach. One thing is certain, though -- the world God brings will be the culmination of every detail in the lives we’ve lived in history, including the remarkable progress we’ve experienced in every facet of life. And no matter how those details emerge, like with the Exodus, we are promised that we don’t have to worry, because, in the end, it will be a wonderful time to be alive.
Eliezer Hirsch