I'd like to share a beautiful lesson from Parashat Bo, which we can actually apply to every day of our lives. At the end of Parashat Bo, the Ramban talks about how many of our Mitzvot are there to remind us of Yetziat Mitzrayim. He says, One who purchases a mezuza for a single zuz and affixes it to his entrance, and has its message in mind, has already acknowledged the creation of the world, the knowledge of Hashem and His Providence, prophecy, and his belief in all aspects of the Torah. This is beside the fact that God's kindness is great to those that fulfill His will, and He brought us from the state of slavery to freedom.
It’s interesting (and possibly difficult to understand), that the Ramban includes Yetziat Mitzrayim as one of the beliefs which are expressed through Mezuzah, given that the mezuzah makes no mention whatsoever of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Furthermore, the Rambam
does not mention Yetziat Mitzrayim when he talks about the Mezuzah.
Nonetheless, many years ago I saw a Mehilta that says that because they put the blood of the Korban Pesach on the doorposts and lintels when they left Mitzrayim, we put the mezuzah on our doors- to remind us of that blood. So therefore the Mezuzah does remind us of Yetziat Mitzrayim. When you walk out of your home and you kiss the Mezuzah, you should be thinking of the protective power that the blood had.
And the Mehilta adds that if the blood, which was only a temporary mitzvah, protected the homes so that the Destroyer would not enter, surely the Mezuzah, which has God's name on it and is a mitzvah forever, will protect us.
So let us focus on the protective power of the blood: Rabbenu’s Bachye says, on Shemot 12,13 that the blood does not prevent a plague. Rather, it teaches us that one who believes in Hashem, with a total belief, and relies on Him, and is not afraid of Paroah and his decrees, and is ready to publicly slaughter their idol (which was a sheep), and not only slaughter it, but put the blood on the doorposts, that person becomes a Sadik through his Bitachon, and therefore he's worthy of being protected from the plague.
So that is the the power of the of the mezuzah. The mezuzah goes back to the blood, which goes back to bitachon. When we kiss the mezuzah, we remind ourselves that Hashem is in charge, and we rely on Him, and that protects us.
As we’ve said before, the Bet Yosef had a magid/a type of an angel that came to a night and told him hiddushim. The Bet Yosef asked this magid a question: What do I need this blood for?
God knows what's going on. Furthermore, blood is a sign of death. There's a story in the Gemara about people who were going to be saved- they had a certain ink spot on their forehead, and the people that were supposed to die had a blood spot on their forehead. So blood is a symbol of death. Why would you put a symbol of death on the door?
And he says this is the secret: God wants us to rely on Him, and therefore God said, put the blood on the doorpost.
And, the blood was on the inside, not on the outside. So when you looked at the blood, you might think, Blood is scary. It's a bad sign, it's a bad omen. But instead we say, “No. I don't care about bad signs and bad omens- just the opposite. I'm going to rely on my Creator and He's going to save me.”
And the merit of that Bitachon saved them. They were able to look beyond blood as a bad sign with bad predictions. They didn’t care about signs or predictions.
And when God sees that, that is the merit that's going to save us. Specifically the negative.
This is a tremendous Bitachon takeaway- that even in a situation where it's extremely bleak, when I do the will of God and I rely on Him, I will be protected. That is what we're supposed to be thinking when we kiss our Mezuza.
And I could say the same thing about the Mezuza- it might not be a good thing. It's a way for the goyim to pick out Jews, when they see mezuzah on the door. So, if anything, it's showing who we are. But we rely on Hashem, and He is going to protect us.
Have a wonderful day.
