The mitzvot of Bo

The commandment of sanctifying the new month

Positive · Exodus 12:2

The mitzvah ensures that Israel keeps God's festivals in their proper seasons - Pesach in the spring and Sukkot at the harvest. Israel counts its months by the moon, and the lunar year is almost eleven days shorter than the solar one, while grain and fruit ripen by the sun. Without the intercalation of years the festivals would drift from their seasons, so the matter was entrusted to the greatest sages of the generation, for it demands great wisdom.

The commandment to slaughter the Pesach sacrifice

Positive · Exodus 12:6

The root of this mitzvah is that Israel should always remember the great miracles God performed for them at the exodus from Egypt. The memory does not remain a thought alone; every year it becomes a real deed, an offering slaughtered at the very season in which we went out to freedom.

The commandment of eating the meat of the Pesach sacrifice

Positive · Exodus 12:8

As with the slaughter of the Pesach offering, eating it too comes to remember the great miracles God performed for us when He brought us out of slavery. Eating it on the night we went out to freedom fixes that memory in a deed, not in words alone.

To not eat the Pesach sacrifice uncooked or boiled

Negative · Exodus 12:9

This mitzvah too comes to remember the exodus from Egypt. Princes and nobles are accustomed to eat roasted meat, which is a choice dish, while ordinary people cook what little meat they have in order to be filled by it. We, who eat the Pesach in memory of going out to freedom to become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, should eat it as free men and nobles. Moreover, the roast recalls the haste in which we left, when there was no time to wait for it to cook in a pot.

To not leave from the meat of the Pesach sacrifice

Negative · Exodus 12:10

Here too the main thing is the memory of the miracles of Egypt. Kings and nobles have no need to keep food from one day to the next, and what is left of their feast is burned as something no longer wanted. So we act with the Pesach, to fix in our hearts that at that time God redeemed us, we went out to freedom and were granted royalty and greatness.

The commandment of disposing of chamets

Positive · Exodus 12:15

The root of this mitzvah is to remember the miracles done for us in Egypt, as with the Pesach offering. When we remove the chametz from our homes, we recall that we left there in haste and there was no time for the dough to rise.

The commandment of eating matsah

Positive · Exodus 12:18

The root of this mitzvah is what was said of the Pesach offering - to remember for all generations the miracles God performed for us at the exodus from Egypt. Eating matzah on the night of Pesach turns that memory into a deed repeated every year, and not only a story.

That chamets not be found in our possession on Pesach

Negative · Exodus 12:19

The mitzvah comes so that we always remember the miracles done for us at the exodus from Egypt, as with the Pesach offering. It recalls in particular what happened to us at that hour - in our haste we baked the dough as matzot, for we could not delay until it rose.

To not eat from anything that has chamets in it

Negative · Exodus 12:20

The root of this mitzvah is as with the other prohibitions of chametz - the memory of the exodus from Egypt and the haste in which we left. The Torah kept us so far from chametz that it forbade even food in which chametz is merely mixed, in order to strengthen the matter in our hearts.

That we not feed of the Pesach sacrifice to an apostate Jew

Negative · Exodus 12:43

The Pesach offering is made in memory of the miracles of Egypt and as a sign that at that time we came under the wings of the Divine Presence and entered the covenant of the Torah and of faith. So it is not fitting to feed from it one who has done the opposite, left the community and denied the faith. This is simple reasoning that needs no further proof.

That we not feed of the Pesach sacrifice to a stranger or a resident

Negative · Exodus 12:45

The Pesach offering comes in memory of our freedom and of the faithful covenant we made with God. So it is fitting that only those who have completed their entry into the faith should benefit from it, and not those who have not yet come with us into the full covenant. From the same root the uncircumcised is also kept from eating it.

Not to take out from the meat of the Pesach offering outside

Negative · Exodus 12:46

This mitzvah too is in memory of the miracles of Egypt. Because we became free men and masters, the Pesach is eaten in the place of the group and is not taken outside, in the manner of kings whose whole meal is eaten in their palace with their people. Only the poor, when they prepare a great feast, send portions out to their friends, because it is a novelty for them.

To not break a bone from the Pesach sacrifice

Negative · Exodus 12:46

It is beneath the dignity of princes to gnaw on bones and break them; that is the way of the hungry poor. Every year, at the time when we became a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, it is fitting that we do deeds that show the high level to which we rose. And the great principle is that a person is shaped by his deeds - his heart and thoughts follow what he does, and so the many mitzvot that recall the exodus from Egypt fix it in our souls forever.

That an uncircumcised man not eat from the Pesach sacrifice

Negative · Exodus 12:48

The root of this mitzvah is as with the resident and the hired worker. The Pesach is a memorial of our freedom and of our entry into the covenant with God, so it is fitting that only those who have come with us into the full covenant should eat of it.

The commandment of sanctifying the firstborn in the Land of Israel

Positive · Exodus 13:2

God wished to grant us the merit of a mitzvah with the first of our produce, so that we know that everything is His, and a person has nothing in the world except what God apportions to him in His kindness. After much toil, when a person finally merits a first fruit, dear to him as the apple of his eye, he immediately gives it to his Creator and releases it from his own possession. The mitzvah also recalls the great miracle God performed for us when He struck the firstborn of Egypt and saved us from their hand.

To not eat chamets on Pesach

Negative · Exodus 13:3

The root of this mitzvah is as with the other mitzvot of Pesach - always to remember the miracles God performed for us at the exodus from Egypt. Refraining from chametz throughout the festival reminds us of the bread that had no time to rise, and of the haste in which we went out to freedom.

That chamets not be found to us on Pesach

Negative · Exodus 13:7

Here too the root is as with the other mitzvot of Pesach - the memory of the exodus from Egypt. When no chametz is found anywhere in our possession for the whole festival, the entire home becomes a reminder of the redemption, and through the deed the memory is fixed in the heart.

The commandment to recount the exodus from Egypt

Positive · Exodus 13:8

The exodus from Egypt is a great foundation and a strong pillar of our Torah and our faith, so it is no wonder that we were given many mitzvot about it, and we mention it constantly in our blessings and prayers. It is a clear sign and proof that the world was created, and that there is an eternal Creator, who wills and is able, who made everything and can change nature as He wishes, as He changed it for us in Egypt. This memory silences the deniers and establishes the faith that God's providence and power extend over the whole and over every detail.

The commandment of the redemption of a firstborn donkey

Positive · Exodus 13:13

The mitzvah comes so that Israel should always remember the miracle God performed for them at the exodus from Egypt, when He struck all the firstborn of the Egyptians. Scripture likens the Egyptians to donkeys, and so it is specifically with the firstborn donkey that the memorial of this miracle was set.

The commandment of beheading a firstborn donkey

Positive · Exodus 13:13

The root of this mitzvah is as with the redemption of the firstborn donkey - the memory of the miracle in which God struck the firstborn of Egypt, whom Scripture likens to donkeys. The mitzvah completes the mitzvah of redemption, so that every firstborn donkey becomes a memorial of the miracle, whether it is redeemed or not.