Parashat Bo 5772, 2012:

Achieving True Spiritual Growth

Rabbi David Etengoff

Dedicated to the sacred memories of my sister-in-law, Ruchama Rivka Sondra, my sister, Shulamit bat Menachem, and Shifra bat Chaim Alter, and the refuah shlaimah of Yosef Shmuel ben Miriam.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Torah is the interweaving of “ethical” and “ritual” laws. For example, at the beginning of Parashat Kedoshim, we are met with the general commandment to be “holy,” the mitzvah of Kibud Av v’Am (parental respect), and almost immediately thereafter by laws referring to sacrificial offerings. The juxtaposition of these commandments contains a vital message, namely, “ethics” and “ritual” are inseparable. Together they form the constitutive elements from which Judaism is fashioned.

The indissoluble interconnectivity of all mitzvot is a central theme of the Sefer Hachinuch’s philosophy of commandments. This anonymous 13th Century work sheds light, as well, on a particular mitzvah that is found in our parsha. During the Torah’s enumeration of the requirements of the Korban Pesach (Paschal Lamb), we find: “Ba’bait echad yah’achal lo totzi min habait min habasar chutzah, v’etzem lo tishbaru bo” (“In one house it shall be eaten, you may not take any of the meat outside from the house; and you shall not break its bone”). Initially, one would expect the Sefer Hachinuch to provide a purely halachic exposition regarding the breaking of the bone of the Paschal Lamb. Normally, this would encompass such elements as: What constitutes a break, and the time frame of the prohibition. Fascinatingly, however, this commandment becomes the platform whereupon the Sefer Hachinuch presents one of his fundamental concepts of Torah analysis, namely, “based upon the actions and symbolic gestures that we perform, a matter [i.e. concept, idea] will become permanently fixed in our souls [and mind].” As the Sefer Hachinuch states: