Bo, בֹּא "Come!" Exodus 10:1-13:16

To Redeem A child

Poetic notes on Bo*

Let every Pharaoh hear

and let every nation hear

This is what God says,

“Israel is My firstborn”

Israel is My heir,

the heir to the new heavens

and the new earth

which I will make

What is said to Pharaoh

is said to all the nations of the earth

This is what God says,

“Rejoice with My people,

Oh, you nations!”

If you oppress them

and will not let them serve Me,

you will have two witnesses against you,

the new moon and the finger of God

But when you saw that your firstborn

was not God’s firstborn heir,

you turned to self-pity, like Esau

Esau’s false sense of entitlement

was the sink hole into the molten mountains

of his self-pity

Ishmael’s false sense of entitlement

was the kernel of anger germinating in Esau’s mind

Adam’s false sense of entitlement

was the kernel of arrogance

germinating in Ishmael’s heart

In every way acknowledge God’s Passover,

and He will direct your paths

Let the lion child acknowledge HaShem’s Passover

from where she lies upon the rise

and surveys the plains of the Torah,

the galut and geula as envisioned by God

Let the eagle child acknowledge HaShem’s Passover

from where he flies over the skies,

to spot with his eye the redemptive currents of life

flowing on earth and in heaven

in observance of God's Torah blueprint

Let the ox child acknowledge HaShem’s Passover

from where his mind plows the furrows of time,

to prepare the way of Mashiach

When he comes he will bring the new moon

Let the human child acknowledge HaShem’s Passover

from where she reaches freely

for the fruit of every tree

first planted in the garden of God,

that was commanded for food,

which is the Torah of God’s mitzvot,

the mana of the children of Israel,

to share her fruit with all the animals of heaven

and all the angels of earth

Let all children acknowledge His Passover

in all their lessons in all their seasons,

and the God of the Passover will direct their paths

Justice will well up as primordial springs of water

Righteousness will flow down,

a continuous stream of eternal life

upon the heavens and the earth

In recent times the child has needed

to be wrapped in a threefold cord,

with mother and father on earth

and with redemptive wrappings

of God from Above

As all creation spins and topples,

our Father in heaven lays claim to Israel,

in order to bring living light out of hopeless darkness,

delivering life out of death,

that every child might learn and know the Passover,

that the God who is one

might be one in their heart

and between their eyes,

that they might be one as He is one