PASSOVER INSTITUTED.

“And HaShem spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: 'This month
shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to
you.” Exodus 12:1&2.
Q: This Month. What month?
A: The month is Nissan. Also called Abib.

“Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the passover lamb.
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and
strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of
you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. For HaShem will pass
through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on
the two side-posts, HaShem will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer
to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an
ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.” Exodus 12:21-24.
Q: What ordinance?
A: The ordinance is Passover.

“And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which HaShem
did for me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon
thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the law of HaShem may be in
thy mouth; for with a strong hand hath HaShem brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt
therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.” Exodus 13:8-10.
Q: What shall we tell our son in that day?
A: The Story of Exodus! How HaShem personally, with a mighty hand liberated our
fathers from the bondage of Egypt. As it is written: “And it shall be when thy son
asketh thee in time to come, saying: What is this? that thou shalt say unto him: By
strength of hand HaShem brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage; and
it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go that HaShem slew all the
firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man, and the first-born of
beast; therefore I sacrifice to HaShem all that openeth the womb, being males; but all
the first-born of my sons I redeem. And it shall be for a sign upon thy hand, and for
frontlets between thine eyes; for by strength of hand HaShem brought us forth out
of Egypt.”
Exodus 13:14-16.

Israel is indeed redeemed by God as His inheritance for ever. And He has not dealt so
with any other nation. In the words of Moses our teacher:
“For ask now of the days past, which were before thee, since the day that God
created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven unto the other, whether
there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? Did
ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou
hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the
midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a
mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that
HaShem your God did for you in Egypt before thine eyes? Unto thee it was shown,
that thou mightiest know that HaShem, He is God; there is none else beside Him. Out
of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee; and upon
earth He made thee to see His great fire; and thou didst hear His words out of the
midst of the fire. And because He loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them,
and brought thee out with His presence, with His great power, out of Egypt, to drive
out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to
give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day;” Deuteronomy 4:31-38.
Amen.