spirit

torah portion

The Shackles
Of Birth Order

W

hy is the killing of the
firstborn the final, and
most significant, plague?
True, it brought death into every
household, rattling Egypt at its foun-
dations; but certainly the plagues
of hail or fire in blocks of ice falling
from the sky or total, crippling dark-
ness for three days and nights were
With the birth of the Jewish people
not inconsequential demonstrations
in the book of Exodus, a revolution-
of God’s power. Any of these plagues
ary concept emerges on the world
could have dealt a knockout punch
stage: The prevailing rule of the
to the most cold-hearted of dictators. firstborn rapidly comes to an end. If
What, then, is it about the killing of
you’re born an Egyptian, you had the
the firstborn that proved most effec-
right to enslave; and if you’re born a
tive?
Hebrew, you became a slave.
I suggest that it is because it
From the moment it began its
destroyed a certain institu-
ascent in the world,
tion of ancient culture that
Judaism’s message has been
God found objectionable:
that an individual’s merits
primogeniture, the primacy
are more important than
and veneration of the first-
an individual’s genealogy.
born. Turning to the earliest
Therefore, the killing of the
pages of Genesis, we find the
firstborn of the Egyptians
theme of the firstborn early
not only strikes terror in
in the Torah, when sibling
the heart of every house-
rivalry between Cain and Abel Rabbi
hold
member, it also tolls
Shlomo Riskin
is translated into the rejec-
the death knell for the
tion and acceptance of their
revered institution of the
respective sacrifices to God:
firstborn.
The hypocritical gift of the
The Talmud states: “You shall
firstborn Cain is rejected while the
therefore observe My statutes, and
more sincere offering of the younger
My ordinances, which if a human
Abel is accepted.
(adam) does, he shall live by them
Abraham’s eldest son, Ishmael,
…” Rabbi Meir says that the Torah’s
must step aside for the younger Isaac choice of the word “human” means
because the former is a metzahek — a that a non-Jew who observes the
scorner and an adulterer, which ren-
Torah and mitzvot is as great as the
ders him unfit for the birthright. Of
high priest.
Isaac’s two sons, Esau must give way
This revolutionary and fundamen-
to Jacob because the former scorned
tally democratic message is one of
the birthright, first by selling it for a
Judaism’s great lessons for humanity.
mess of pottage and then by taking
This concept, so central to the idea of
Hittite wives.
the Exodus, can and should empower
Jacob also has a firstborn, Reuben,
all people, Jews and non-Jews alike, to
but having “moved” his father’s
throw off their shackles of genealogy
bed either in an attempt to deter-
and birth order, and attempt to attain
mine with whom his father would
true freedom. Ultimately, only those
sleep after the death of Rachel or a
who dream the impossible will ever
euphemism for illicit relations with
achieve the incredible. •
his father’s concubine, he is deemed
unfit. In his place, leadership passes
Shlomo Riskin is chancellor of Torah Ohr
to Judah and Joseph.
Stone and chief rabbi of Efrat, Israel.

Parshat Bo: Exodus
10:1-13:16; Jeremiah
46:13-46:28.

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February 2 • 2017

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