The Key to Redemption

The Key to Redemption

Dr. Zvi Shimon

Passover commemorates the redemption of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and their release to freedom to worship their God. Only following the last of the ten plagues of Egypt, the slaying of all Egyptian firstborn, the most severe of the plagues, does Pharaoh finally allow the Israelites to leave in order to worship God. This tenth plague differs from the rest not only in its severity but also in the events preceding it. The Israelites no longer sit passively witnessing the mighty hand of God. This time, they must perform the commandment of the Paschal lamb before God's smiting of all the firstborn of Egypt.
 
What is the significance of the Paschal lamb? A close examination of the details regarding the Paschal lamb in Egypt reveals a deep meaning behind the commandment. Many of the laws regarding the Paschal lamb performed by the Israelites on the night of their redemption resemble the regulations governing the future offering of sacrifices in the temple. Other sacrifices also require a one year-old animal (see Leviticus 12:6, 23:12, Numbers 6:12, 7:15). The requirement that the lamb not be cooked but rather roasted over a fire parallels the burning of sacrifices on the altar (compare Leviticus 1:8). Similarly, the prohibition of leaving over from the Paschal lamb is similar to the prohibition regarding temple offerings (see Leviticus 22:29, compare ibid. 7:15 ff.). There is one additional similarity. All animal sacrifices in the temple involved the dashing of the slaughtered animal's blood onto the altar (see, for example, Leviticus 1:5). Here, too, God provides instructions regarding the blood. However, in this case, they do not prescribe the dashing of blood of the consumed animal onto an altar; there is no altar on which to dash the blood. Rather, the blood must be spread on the doorposts and lintel of their houses. Based on all the similarities we mentioned between the Paschal lamb and sacrifices in general, our sages' commentary regarding the sprinkling of the blood of the Paschal lamb is not surprising:
"We learn from here that they had three altars in Egypt: the lintel and the two doorposts."(Mekhilta on 12:7)

The lintel and the doorposts of Israelite homes on which the blood of the lamb was sprinkled served as altars for the Israelites in Egypt. Consequently, their houses must be regarded as temples. It is not the home, per se, which saved the Jews in Egypt. Rather, it is the consecration of the home as a temple which ensured their salvation. The home and the Jewish family which revolves around the service of God and the performance of His will protected the Jews from the calamities taking place in Egypt. The Israelites who, by virtue of the spreading of the blood of the Paschal lamb on their doorposts managed to transform their homes into a "mini-temple," were worthy of being redeemed.
Just as the Jews in Egypt transformed their homes into "temples" for the service of God, we, too, must strive to do the same.