Bo

Bo, the name of the parsha, is taken from Exodus 10:1 and means “Come [to Pharaoh]”.

All of Egypt’s firstborn are slaughtered at the stroke of midnight on the fifteenth day of the month of Nissan, and the last three of the Ten Plagues are visited upon the land: a swarm of locusts consumes all the crops and vegetation; a dense, palpable darkness covers the land.

God orders that the first commandment be given to the Israelites, which is to create a calendar based on the moon’s monthly rebirth.

In order for God to spare the Israelite dwellings when He comes to slay the Egyptian firstborn, the Israelites are also told to bring a “Passover offering” to Him. This entails slaughtering a lamb or kid goat and applying its blood to the doorposts and lintels of every Israelite home. That evening, matzah (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs are to be consumed with the roasted meat from the offering.

Pharaoh’s resistance is ultimately broken by the death of the firstborn, and he figuratively expels the children of Israel from his kingdom. They go so quickly that they don’t have time for their dough to rise, and the only food they bring is unleavened. A promise promised to Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with vast wealth is fulfilled when they ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold, money, and clothing before they go.

Every year on the anniversary of the Exodus, the children of Israel are ordered to devote every firstborn, remove all leaven from their possessions for seven days, eat matzah, and share with their children the tale of their rescue.

As a reminder of the Exodus and their resulting devotion to God, they are also required to wear tefillin on their head and arms.

Parashat Bo is composed of 106 verses, 207 lines, 1,655 Hebrew words, 6,149 Hebrew characters, and is written on a Torah scroll. Jews typically read it in January or the first few days of February, on the fifteenth Sabbath following Simchat Torah. Jews also read Exodus 12:21–51, the first Torah reading for the first day of Passover, and Exodus 13:1–16, the first Torah reading for the first intermediate day (Hol HaMoed), as the parashah also recounts the first Passover. Exodus 12:1–20, which outlines the Passover regulations, is also read by Jews as the maftir Torah portion of the Special Sabbath Shabbat HaHodesh, which falls on Rosh Hodesh Nissan, the month in which Jews observe Passover.