Parsha Points To Ponder

QUESTIONS

1)Why does the Torah teach that IT WILL BE GOOD FOR YOUR CHILDREN specifically with regards to the command not to eat blood? (12:25)

2)Why does the Torah say OBSERVE AND LISTEN to all of its commands? (12:28) Shouldn’t the order be the other way around since first a person hears the commands and then one observes them?

3)How can the Torah state that the fulfillment of the Pesach laws is to enable us to remember the day we left Egypt ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIVES? (16:3) After all, these commands will insure that we remember that great day on Pesach, itself, when we perform these laws but not the rest of year!
ANSWERS

1)The Kli Yakar explains that the reason why the Torah doesn’t allow eating blood is because ingesting blood leads one to develop negative character traits. That, in turn, would certainly impact one’s children as well. Thus, the Torah relates that refraining from eating blood will BE GOOD FOR YOUR CHILDREN as opposed to the negative results which would result from eating it.

2)The Ohr Hachayim answers that OBSERVE refers to keeping the Torah laws which the people already knew and LISTEN refers to the Rabbinic laws which were not yet known. Thus, the order is correct.

3)The Seforno teaches that the words SO YOU WILL REMEMBER THE DAY YOU LEFT EGYPT ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIVES refers back to the entire section dealing with the laws of Pesach. This section began with the command to OBSERVE THE MONTH OF THE SPRING. (16:1) This command instructs us to make sure that Pesach always falls out in the Spring. Since we follow the lunar calendar, every few years we must add a month to the Winter to insure that Pesach falls in the Spring.  Why don’t we simply follow the solar calendar thereby automatically having Pesach in the Spring every year and we would not have to OBSERVE THE MONTH OF THE SPRING through leap years? The words ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIVES answer this question. G-D wants us to OBSERVE THE MONTH OF THE SPRING to make sure that throughout the entire year we are calculating and deciding whether or not there needs to be a leap year thereby forcing us to think about the day we left Egypt every day of the year and not just on Pesach.

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