RAV KOOK PARSHAS BO

Translated and abridged by Rabbi Chanan Morrison Parshat Bo "Moses told the people: Remember this day that you have left Egypt, the place of slavery." (Ex. 13:3) The word zachor ('Remember') is not in the imperative tense (z'chor!), but in the infinitive absolute form. This grammatical form indicates that the Torah is not merely commanding us to remember and commemorate the anniversary of the Exodus from Egypt. Rather, zachor implies a state of being. It describes us as a people who always remember this historic date. Why? Ben-Gurion and the Mayflower In 1936, the Peel Commission questioned David Ben-Gurion, then head of the Jewish Agency, concerning Jewish rights to the Land of Israel. Ben-Gurion gave the following reply: 'Three hundred years ago, a ship called the Mayflower set sail to the New World. In it were Englishmen unhappy with English society and government, who sought an uninhabited coast to settle and establish a new world. They landed in America, and were among the first pioneers and builders of that land.