Two Minute Torah Podcast

Tazria (Shabbat HaHodesh) 5768 by Rabbi Jan Caryl Kaufman

In the special maftir reading from the book of Exodus for this Shabbat – Shabbat HaHodesh, the historical consciousness of the Jewish people is forged. We have just come out of Egypt having suffered the plagues and we are now on our journey. The Mekhilta, the 2nd century CE midrash halakhah on the book of Shemot begins with this chapter because the halakhah begins here with the laws of the Paschal sacrifice – the precursor of a nation that adheres to halakhah.

As we prepare to leave Egypt, we are commanded to take a lamb and sacrifice it as a sign that we were ready to leave and begin to accept God’s mitzvoth. We take the lamb on the tenth of the month and sacrifice it on the fourteenth. What is the purpose of the four day wait? The Midrash teaches it is an et dodim – a time of love. It represents the engagement between God and the Jewish people. It is in this chapter when the Hebrews learn how to do mitzvot so they can receive the Torah and enter the Promised Land.

The Mekhilta midrash further teaches us that the children of Israel had already performed four mitzvot which made them worthy to receive the Torah – 1) they did not engage in gilui arayot (sexual misconduct); 2) they were not suspected of tale bearing; 3) they did not change their Hebrew names while in Egypt during their period of enslavement; and 4) The Children of Israel did not change their language - they continued to speak Hebrew even in exile. These are mitzvot about our identity as a Jewish people. As we prepare for Pesah, we study who we are as a people with a long history.