bo:
sholem aleichem,
Welcome to 2022! For better or worse, time does keep moving.
A short note this week, starting with a common question: if g-d knows who all the Israelites are, why did they need a special mark on their doors to avoid the final plague?
Bahya ben Asher says that the point of the blood on the doorposts was to dramatically and visibly emphasize to the Egyptians the safety of the Israelites and the power of haShem. I have a hard time believing that the death of all their firstborns was insufficiently emphatic, but I can understand this as a kind of marker of peoplehood -- especially since this Torah portion also brings us the gift of the calendar, a major moment in the formation of a peoplehood. A calendar, a sacrificial rite to visibly distinguish you from those around you....throw it in the mixer and out pops a people.
I'm not sure this is the whole story, though. Since there is no need of such a mark for g-d to know to pass over the Israelite houses, for me the purpose of the mark must be to let Israelites bring Egyptians into the protective fold. As much as markers of identity can be exclusionary, they can also be inclusionary, especially markers that can be adopted by anyone. Every opportunity to mark ourselves as different is also an opportunity to bring other people in. (Insert here a lengthy queer drash about this that I don't have the mental energy to express right now).
It is possible, of course, that an Egyptian performing this rite would achieve nothing, that this is merely a test of Israelite obedience. But I don't think so. There's a contradiction in the text of this Torah portion. We read that haShem himself will smite the Egyptians, but also that upon seeing this sign of blood he will "not let the Destroyer [hamashchis] enter and smite your home." In Daas Zkenim, the contradiction is resolved like so:
We must therefore understand the verses to mean that what is meant is that the angel of death by himself was not authorised to perform his duties on that night, only in conjunction with the Lord Himself. The Lord never acts alone, but is always accompanied by an angel or angels.
I think this is less about haShem stopping the angel of death from performing his duties, and more about haShem not wanting to act alone. Because I don't think the Destroyer is an angel, I think the Destroyer is us. I think the destroyer is anyone who knows a blood-rite to extend safety and shelter and decides to keep it to themselves. I think "The Destroyer" is everyone who has the power to save others and chooses not to. HaShem does not act alone to kill and destroy, we are collaborators in all these deaths.
Happy new year, I suppose,
ada