Parshas Bo - Parsha Stumpers

פרשת בא

Parsha Stumpers and Something to Think About

1. In the name of this week's Parsha there is a hint to the number of makkos and what they were. What is theרמז ?

2. After Pharoah tells Moshe, “Never come back...”, Moshe says, “You have spoken well, I will never come to you again”. How could Moshe say this? How did he know that Hashem wouldn't command him to back to Pharoah?

3. Throughout the Torah and Gemara we find many examples where the Hashem or tzadikim go out of the way to ensure that no appearance will be given off that could mislead others to think erroneously. For example, when Hashem was going to destroy s'dom, Avraham argued that if there is even one righteous person, then Hashem must save the whole city because otherwise people will think that Hashem does not rule with justice. Additionally we find this concept a few times in this week's parsha. For example, there is a reference when Pharoah tells Moshe that he sees “ra'ah” will be with them in the midbar (desert)....later in the Torah by the eigel ha'zahav when Hashem was going to wipe out klal yisroel, Moshe argued that Hashem could not do that because then perhaps the Mitzriyim will say that it was “ra'ah” that did it. Also, there is a famous rashi and gemara berachos regarding Moshe switching the lashon to “כחצות” instead of "בחצות” to ensure that the mitzriyim would not accuse him of being a liar if the makas bechoros wouldn't occur precisely at midnight. Another example is the gemara in shekalim which discuss that the kohanim could not have cuffs on their pants or have pockets lest them be accused of taking money from the beis hamikdash. It seems from all these examples that even in extreme circumstances we are so careful to make sure to give off a proper appearance even when it means making an exception to dong the right thing. Considering all this, how will we deal with the following rashi in this week's parsha: Rashi mentions that by makas bechoros every house had many people who died. Rashi goes so far as to say that the mitzriyim started saying, “this is not like the other decrees/makkos of Moshe because here he said that only the bechorim would die and yet everyone seems to be dying!” Why in this circumstance did Hashem do the correct thing and kill the bechorim despite the fact that it looked like HE was killing random mitzriyim? Why suddenly was He not afraid that Moshe would be called a liar? When do we use this principle of remaining נקי and when should we put that aside?

4. In the introduction to meseches s'machos, R' Yochanan says that although Hashem “hit” the bechorim of Mitzrayim at night, they did not really die until the next morning. Where in davening is there a רמז to this?

5. What is significant about the dogs barking?

6. Why didn't Dasan and Aviram die during makkas choshech ?

7. How do we know to wear Tefillin on the left hand? What is the significance of wearing it on the left hand?