19 Jan PARASHAT BO: “WITH OUR YOUTH & WITH OUR ELDERLY WE SHALL GO”
Upon hearing Moshe’s warning of the eighth plague, the plague of locusts, which would destroy all the crops in Egypt that survived the plague of hail, Pharaoh expresses a willingness to let Beneh Yisrael leave Egypt. A curious dialogue then ensues between Pharaoh and Moshe.
Pharaoh tells the leader of the Israelites, “Go worship Hashem your G-d,” but he then immediately asks, “Who are the ones who are going?” (10:8).
Moshe replies, “With our youth and with our elderly we shall go – with our sons and with our daughters, with our sheep and with our cattle we shall go, for we have a festival to Hashem!” (10:9). Pharaoh then rejects Moshe’s demand that both young and old be allowed into the wilderness to serve G-d.
How are we to understand this exchange?
The Malbim (Rabbi Meir Lebush Ben Yehiel Michel, 1809-1879) offered an insightful explanation of these verses. Pharaoh, like many ancient pagans, believed that there was a G-d of good and a G-d of evil. Unable to accept the fact that a single divine power brings both goodness and evil upon people, the pagans concluded that there must be two separate, competing G-ds, one of which brings goodness, and the other brings evil. According to this belief, we need to bring sacrifices to only the G-d of evil, in order to placate him and win his favor so he does not cause us harm.
This explains Pharoah’s question. He assumed that if Beneh Yisrael were going to worship the G-d of evil, thus requiring them to bring their sheep and cattle, then they should not bring their youngsters, who would be frightened by the service of an evil, threatening divine power. If, however, the nation was going to worship the G-d of good, then it is understood that they would bring their children, but there was no reason to bring sheep and cattle, because sacrifices are not necessary when serving the G-d of good.
Moshe therefore responded to Pharaoh, “With all youths and with our elderly we shall go” – we will take their youth with us, but, nevertheless, “with our sheep and with our cattle we shall go” – we are ALSO bringing our animals as sacrifices. The reason, Moshe explained, is that “we have a festival to Hashem.” Our G-d, he told Pharaoh, is the G-d of “Havaya,” the one G-d who governs all of existence. We believe that there is but one G-d who is responsible for everything that takes place on earth, and that there is no difference between what we perceive as “good” and what we perceive as “evil” – it is all “good,” brought about by the one, true G-d.
When we worship G-d, we acknowledge that He is the one who brings prosperity and good fortune, and also the one who brings illness and poverty. And there is no contradiction whatsoever between the two, because we firmly believe that whether or not we understand it, all that the Almighty does is, ultimately, pure goodness. This is the belief we take with us when we go to serve Hashem, and the belief which we seek to impart to our children whom we happily and joyously include in this national spiritual endeavor of Abodat Hashem (serving G-d)!