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<div>Parashas Bo discusses the bringing of the Korban Pesach, and its implications for the building of the Jewish nation. Rav Hirsch writes (in part) the following about Pesukim 12:3 - 6 which are
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<p><strong>ג</strong> דַּבְּרוּ, אֶל-כָּל-עֲדַת יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר, בֶּעָשֹׂר, לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה: וְיִקְחוּ</p>
<p>לָהֶם, אִישׁ שֶׂה לְבֵית-אָבֹת--שֶׂה לַבָּיִת</p>
<p><strong>ד</strong> וְאִם-יִמְעַט הַבַּיִת, מִהְיוֹת מִשֶּׂה--וְלָקַח הוּא וּשְׁכֵנוֹ הַקָּרֹב</p>
<p>אֶל-בֵּיתוֹ, בְּמִכְסַת נְפָשֹׁת: אִישׁ לְפִי אָכְלוֹ, תָּכֹסּוּ עַל-הַשֶּׂה.</p>
<p><strong>ה</strong> שֶׂה תָמִים זָכָר בֶּן-שָׁנָה, יִהְיֶה לָכֶם; מִן-הַכְּבָשִׂים וּמִן-הָעִזִּים,</p>
<p>תִּקָּחוּ.</p>
<p><strong>ו</strong> וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת, עַד אַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה; וְשָׁחֲטוּ</p>
<p>אֹתוֹ, כֹּל קְהַל עֲדַת-יִשְׂרָאֵל--בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם.<br>
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<p>Man’s right to independence, equality, freedom, and private property;<br>
ties of blood kinship and free choice, which gather people together<br>
and separate them into separate households — this is the foundation<br>
of the state built by G-d.</p>
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Now, this right is a dividing element, placing individuals and households<br>
firmly on their own feet and securing them against intrusion from<br>
the outside. What, then, is the binding element that, in the Jewish state,<br>
should bind one household to another, so that the individual families<br>
will join to form one society? Is it to be — as in other state-building<br>
systems — considerations of necessity, of mutual need, of weakness,<br>
that should wrench the individual from selfish isolation and suggest to<br>
him that his concern for his own welfare should make him concerned<br>
about his neighbor’s welfare also?</p>
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To be sure, the Divine system of state-building is also based on<br>
mutual need, but it is a need springing from abundance, a need to do<br>
one’s duty: </p>
<p>וְאִם-יִמְעַט הַבַּיִת— such is the law that is to build the Jewish<br>
state. <strong> It is not the poor that need the rich, but the rich that need the</strong><br>
<strong>poor.</strong> Let him whose own household is too small to take in the blessings<br>
God has bestowed upon him seek out his neighbor, so that his neighbor<br>
may supply him with additional souls to benefit from his abundance<br>
and thus help him fulfill his duty. God can provide for the poor without<br>
the help of the rich. But without the poor, the rich cannot fulfill their<br>
life’s purpose. In the Jewish state, it is not considerations of persona<br>
need, but a sense of duty, <em>Mitzvah</em>, that should join one household to another,<br>
uniting the individual entities into one national community. Only<br>
such a society, secured by <em>Mishpat</em> and united by <em>Tzedakah</em>, will give rise to a<br>
formal national structure that will become </p>
<p>קְהַל עֲדַת-יִשְׂרָאֵל (v. 6).<br>
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