Parsha Facts BeShalach

PARSHA FACTS - BESHALACH

Concepts

• Last three Makkos
• Why is the first law now and not at the beginning of the Torah?

People

• Moshe
• Aharon
• First-born

Places

• Mitzrayim

Animals

• Sheep

Mitzvos

20 mitzvos (9 positive, 11 prohibitions) in the Parsha (Number 4-23 of 613 Mitzvos in the Torah)

1. Courts to sanctify the new month - Kiddush haChodesh
2. To shecht the sheep for the Pesach offering
3. To eat the Pesach offering on the night of the 15th of Nissan with Matzah and Marror
4. Not to eat the Pesach raw or boiled
5. Not to leave over meat from the Pesach until the morning
6. Remove Chametz on the 14th of Nissan
7. To eat Mitzvah Matzah on the night of the 15th of Nissan
8. Chametz should not be found in your domain seven days of Pesach
9. Not to eat food containing chametz
10. Not to feed the Pesach to any apostate Jew
11. Not to feed chametz to a resident non-Jew
12. Not to take out Pesach meat from the confines of your group
13. Not to break the bone of the Pesach
14. An uncircumcised Jew may not eat from the Pesach offering
15. Sanctifying the First-born in Eretz Yisrael
16. Not to eat Chametz on Pesach
17. Chametz should not be seen in your domain during the seven days of Pesach
18. Telling the story of Yetzias Mitzrayim on the 15th of Nissan
19. Redeeming the First-born donkey
20. Killing a First-born donkey if it is not redeemed

Years from Creation

• 2448 Shvat Eighth Plague - Locust
• Adar Ninth Plague – Darkness
• Nisan Tenth Plague – Death of the First Born

Sedra-Stats

• 15th of the 54 sedras; 3rd of 11 in Sefer Shmos
• Written on 205.67 lines in a Sefer Torah; ranks 24th
• 14 parshios: 8 open, 6 closed
• Comparison Shmos to the other sedras:
• 106 pesukim - 29th of 54 (7th of 11 in Shmos); its pesukim are above average in length
• 1655 words – 21st (5th in Shmos)
• 6149 letters - 20th (6th in Shmos)

We Learn from this Parsha

When a mitzvah comes your way, do it right away. “And you should watch over the matzos.” Don’t read the word matzos מָצוֹת but read it Mitzvos מִּצְּוֹת. Just as we do not delay baking the matzah, so too we do not delay in performing a Mitzvah.