All Dressed Up and Ready to Go
All the reasons that were given for our stay in exile have all since expired. Why has G-d kept us here anyhow? One answer: G-d wants us to enter into the Messianic period “fully and ornately dressed.” Rather than just thrust us into a new world of unadulterated goodness and holiness, unprepared, He gives us numerous opportunities to “dress” ourselves, with yet another mitzvah. Every mitzvah we do now will make us more comfortable with and receptive to the G-dly light that will shine in the Messianic Age.
Blood, Sweat and Tears
The Jewish people have already been told that they will be liberated from Egypt. Nine of the ten plagues have already been dealt. The Egyptian people are at their wit’s end.
At this point, this week’s Torah portion continues, G-d tells Moses to command the Jewish people to take a lamb and tie it to their beds on the tenth of the month. They were to keep them there, ready for the fourteenth day of the month when they will sacrifice the lamb to G-d.
In addition, they were told that only those who were circumcised would be permitted to partake of the Paschal Lamb offering.
These two Mitzvos – the Passover lamb sacrifice and circumcision – our sages tell us were given to the Jewish people at precisely this time – right before their exodus – for a good reason.
Rashi quotes the Talmudic sage, Rabbi Matya ben Charash who puts it this way:
“..The time had come for Me to keep My oath that I had made to the patriarchs, that I will redeem their children. Alas, they did not have any Mitzvos in their hands with which to be preoccupied, so that they may be redeemed, as it says, ‘And you were naked and bare [of Mitzvos].’ He, therefore, gave them then two precepts, the blood of the Paschal sacrifice and the blood of circumcision.”
The long arduous exile that was punctuated with sweat and tears, was to culminate with blood; the blood of the Paschal sacrifice and the blood of circumcision.
The question may be asked. There are so many Mitzvos G-d could have given them. Why did He choose these two specifically?
Secondly, why did He have to give them two Mitzvos? Even if they would have observed one mitzvah they would no longer have been considered “naked,” from the spiritual point of view. Could not one Mitzvah be considered a valid garment?
Removal of Two Impediments to Redemption
The Jewish people in Egypt were lacing two distinct qualities. They were firstly lacking in positive actions and were therefore ill prepared for the pro-active form of service to G-d that Sinai would have demanded of them.
Secondly, there was a deficiency in their distancing themselves from evil. Had they not altered this state of affairs, they would have then left Egypt with their evil and could not have survived as a Jewish people, whose values conform to the Torah.
To remove the two impediments to the exodus, there was therefore a need for two distinct precepts. The covenant of circumcision is the most dramatic way one shows one’s commitment to G-d and activates one’s reservoir of positive energy.
Circumcision is the only Mitzvah that actually leaves its imprint on the person permanently. Consequently, circumcision exemplifies the Jew’s unqualified and unconditional devotion to doing that which G-d wants, at all times.
The blood of the Paschal sacrifice, conversely, represented the repudiation of the negative. It was well known that the Egyptians worshipped the lamb as a g-d. By slaughtering the lamb and sprinkling its blood, thus, one demonstrated his utter abhorrence for and absolute rejection of evil.
Getting Dressed for the Occasion
The Torah tells us (and our sages reinforced the belief) that the pre-Messianic times in which we are situated now parallel the pre-Exodus period.
All the reasons that were given for our stay in exile have all since expired. Why has G-d kept us here anyhow?
One answer given is that G-d wants us to enter into the Messianic period “fully and ornately dressed.” Rather than just thrust us into a new world of unadulterated goodness and holiness, unprepared, He gives us numerous opportunities to “dress” ourselves, with yet another mitzvah. Every mitzvah we do now will make us more comfortable with and receptive to the G-dly light that will shine in the Messianic Age.
However, the fact that we are fully dressed in the spiritual sense of the word does not suffice. We have an obligation to see to it that not one Jew remains in an unprepared state.
One of the Biblical obligations is: “If you see someone naked, you shall cover him.” (Isaiah 58:7). This obligation to clothe the naked is to be understood figuratively just as it is to be interpreted literally. If someone is bereft of Mitzvos-Garments, it is our obligation to provide it for them. This is especially true in the present Messianic Era, when every garment we give to others makes u that much more ready for the final Redemption.
And if we have specialized and excelled in one category of Mitzvos, it may not suffice. The A-mighty might want u to be fully dressed to cover up all our inadequacies.
Moreover, every new Mitzvah to which we apply ourselves and every Mitzvah we provide for another Jew might be the final mitzvah that was needed for the A-mighty to say, “s’iz shoin genug-it is already enough.” There is no need to keep you here longer because every Jew had done a mitzvah, and therefore, every Jew is adequately dressed for the coming of Moshiach.
(This essay is based on the Rebbe’s discourse in Likkutei Sichos, volume 16, Parshas Bo.)
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Bo by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
