page_title: Bo (parsha)
section_title: Exodus chapter 12
hierarchical_section_title: Bo (parsha) / In classical rabbinic interpretation / Exodus chapter 12
caption_attribution_description: English: Woodcut for "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860. Deutsch: Holzschnitt aus "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860. Français&#160;: Gravure en bois pour «Die Bibel in Bildern», 1860. Português: Décima praga do Egito, morte dos primogênitos. Êx. 12:29-31.
context_page_description: Bo is the fifteenth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the Book of Exodus. The parashah constitutes Exodus 10:1–13:16. The parashah tells of the last three plagues on Egypt and the first Passover.
  The parashah is made up of 6,149 Hebrew letters, 1,655 Hebrew words, 106 verses, and 207 lines in a Torah Scroll. Jews read it the fifteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in January or early February. As the parashah describes the first Passover, Jews also read part of the parashah, Exodus 12:21–51, as the initial Torah reading for the first day of Passover, and another part, Exodus 13:1–16, as the initial Torah reading for the first intermediate day of Passover. Jews also read another part of the parashah, Exodus 12:1–20, which describes the laws of Passover, as the maftir Torah reading for the Special Sabbath Shabbat HaChodesh, which falls on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the month in which Jews celebrate Passover.
context_section_description: The Mishnah reported that on the fourth Sabbath of the month of Adar (Shabbat HaChodesh), congregations read Exodus 12:1–20.
  The Mishnah taught that the first of Nisan is new year for kings and festivals. And the Tosefta and a Baraita deduced from Exodus 12:2, "This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you," that Nisan is the new year for months, and they begin to count months from Nisan.
  The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer taught that God created the sun and the moon on the 28th of Elul. The entire Hebrew calendar — years, months, days, nights, seasons, and intercalation — were before God, and God intercalated the years and delivered the calculations to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as Genesis 5:1 can be read, "This is the calculation for the generations of Adam." Adam handed on the tradition to Enoch, who was initiated in the principle of intercalation, as Genesis 5:22 says, "And Enoch walked with God." Enoch passed the principle of intercalation to Noah, who conveyed the tradition to Shem, who conveyed it to Abraham, who conveyed it to Isaac, who conveyed it to Jacob, who conveyed it to Joseph and his brothers. When Joseph and his brothers died, the Israelites ceased to intercalate, as Exodus 1:6 reports, "And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation." God then revealed the principles of the Hebrew calendar to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, as Exodus 12:1–2 reports, "And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, ‘This month shall be to you the beginning of months.'" The Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer deduced from the word "saying" in Exodus 12:1 that God said to Moses and Aaron that until then, the principle of intercalation had been with God, but from then on it was their right to intercalate the year. Thus the Israelites intercalated the year and will until Elijah returns to herald in the Messianic Age.
  Rav Assi (or others say Rav Havivi) of Hozna'ah deduced from the words, "And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month," in Exodus 40:17 that the Tabernacle was erected on the first of Nisan. With reference to this, a Tanna taught that the first of Nisan took ten crowns of distinction by virtue of the ten momentous events that occurred on that day. The first of Nisan was: (1) the first day of the Creation (as reported in Genesis 1:1–5), (2) the first day of the princes' offerings (as reported in Numbers 7:10–17), (3) the first day for the priesthood to make the sacrificial offerings (as reported in Leviticus 9:1–21), (4) the first day for public sacrifice, (5) the first day for the descent of fire from Heaven (as reported in Leviticus 9:24), (6) the first for the priests' eating of sacred food in the sacred area, (7) the first for the dwelling of the Shechinah in Israel (as implied by Exodus 25:8), (8) the first for the Priestly Blessing of Israel (as reported in Leviticus 9:22, employing the blessing prescribed by Numbers 6:22–27), (9) the first for the prohibition of the high places (as stated in Leviticus 17:3–4), and (10) the first of the months of the year (as instructed in Exodus 12:2).
  Tractate Beitzah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws common to all of the Festivals in Exodus 12:3–27, 43–49; 13:6–10; 23:16; 34:18–23; Leviticus 16; 23:4–43; Numbers 9:1–14; 28:16–30:1; and Deuteronomy 16:1–17; 31:10–13.
  Tractate Pesachim in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of the Passover in Exodus 12:3–27, 43–49; 13:6–10; 23:15; 34:25; Leviticus 23:4–8; Numbers 9:1–14; 28:16–25; and Deuteronomy 16:1–8. And elsewhere, the Mishnah in tractate Zevahim taught that intent to eat the Passover offering raw (violating the commandment of Exodus 12:9) or to break the bones of the offering (violating the commandment of Exodus 12:46) did not invalidate the offering itself. The Mishnah in tractate Challah taught that anyone who eats an olive's bulk of unleavened bread (מַצָּה, matzah) on Passover has fulfilled the obligation of Exo
caption: Pharaoh Urges Moses and Aaron to Depart (woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 Die Bibel in Bildern)
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