EXOD106 See [[EXOD81]] Exodus 4:10 slow AMEMEI 47

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EXOD131 See [[EXOD134]] Exodus 10:19 all AMEMEI 70

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EXOD134 Moses himself understood the concept of a united family. When Pharaoh was almost relenting and willing to send out the Jews (after the seventh plague of hail). Pharaoh asked Moses who would leave. Moses understood that leaving, even if only for a few days, had to be a family event in over to eventuate the redemption. He said, therefore, that they would leave with their children, their elders, their boys, and their girls. But Pharaoh also understood very well that a family event would serve to strengthen the Jews as a people. Therefore, he responded that only the adults, and not the children, could leave, and Moses refused this offer as inadequate.

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EXOD135 Moses understood the importance of uniting the elderly with the young. While both are important to the Jewish community, the elderly must understand that gradually the next generation will grow into positions of authority and must replace those of the previous generation.

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EXOD142 According to Rabbi Soloveitchik (Reflections of the Rav, ed. Abraham Besdin, Jerusalem: World Zionist Organization, 1979, pp. 198-99), the reason that a slave cannot testify in a Jewish court (Maimonides, Hilchut Edut 9:7) is that a slave has no real sense of time, an essential aspect of testimony. Since each day for the slave is precisely the same and there is little hope anticipation for the future, time is not dynamic and special for this person. A free individual is uniquely conscious of the concept of time. That is why, in transforming the Jewish people from the slave mentality in Egypt into a free nation, God had to make the Jews keenly aware of time in the commandments He gave them prior to leaving Egypt. The first mitzvah given to the people in Egypt, as noted earlier, was the setting up of the Jewish calendar (this verse). The lamb taken for the Paschal sacrifice had to be selected on a specific date, the 10th of the month of Nisan, (Exodus 12:3) sensitizing the Jews to that specific time. The people were also commanded to sacrifice a lamb at a specific time during the day, in the afternoon (Exodus 12:6). Even the actual eating of the sacrifice was related to time, as God commanded the people to eat the Pascal lamb in a state of haste and in readiness--loins girded, shoes on the feet, and staff in hand.(Exodus 12:11) Only a free person could have this sense of anticipation to leave, expectation related to time. Finally, the Jew had be to be sensitive to complete the eating before morning (Exodus 12:10) Thus, the entire preparation and eating of the Pascal sacrifice sensitized to the Jewish people to time and help them attain a sense of freedom.

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EXOD144 See [[EXOD142]] Exodus 12:2 month AMEMEI 283

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EXOD146 See [[EXOD142]] Exodus 12:2 month AMEMEI 283

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EXOD150 See [[EXOD142]] Exodus 12:2 month AMEMEI 283

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EXOD151 See [[EXOD142]] Exodus 12:2 month AMEMEI 283

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EXOD153 The symbol of putting the blood of the sacrifice on the doorposts once again demonstrated the unity of the Jewish home, the Jewish family. Therefore, to leave Egypt and truly become a people, the Jews first had to be united as a Jewish family.

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