Episode Details

By Your Blood You Shall Live: How the Mezuzah Keeps the Exodus Alive 

This Pesach, a simple question turned into a deep journey. The Torah tells us in
Parshat Bo:    

“You shall take the blood and place it on the lintel and the two doorposts…”  

  “And Hashem will pass through to
strike Egypt… and He will see the blood… and He will not allow the destroyer to
enter to strike.”  

 “You shall observe this matter as a
decree for yourself and for your children forever.” 

וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה לְחָק־לְךָ וּלְבָנֶיךָ
עַד־עוֹלָם. (שמות י”ב, כד) 

So,
the question is obvious: What is this eternal mitzvah of placing blood on our
doorposts? 

We
did it once in Egypt. We talk about it every year at the seder. But we never
actually do it again. Why not?  

Based
on the Teachings of The Shvilei Pinchas:  

The
Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh and the Chatam Sofer both ask: if it’s supposed to be an
eternal statute, where’s the ongoing practice? The Ramban and Ibn Ezra suggest
it refers only to the korban Pesach, not the blood on the doors—but the flow of
the pesukim makes that difficult, as we see the command for the future korban
Pesach in the next paragraph.  

Adding
to that question, let us ask what is the blood that was placed on the door?  

The
command we received required each family or household of Benai Yisrael four
days before the exodus on Shabbat Hagadol, to take a sheep for the korban. We
must keep in mind that this wasn’t a private ritual—it was a public act of
defiance. The sheep was the Egyptian god, and Bnei Yisrael were told to tie it
to their bedposts for four days. Imagine trying something like this in India
today where they worship cows in some places or even taking an in adamant
object like a large cross from the church and tying it to your bed in a deeply
Catholic country a century ago—not as decoration, but with the stated intent to
slaughter it, smear its blood on your door, and burn it in front of the
believers. That’s what our ancestors did in Egypt. It wasn’t just an act of
sacrifice—it was an act of both defiance and identity. Facing their oppressors,
they declared: We are no longer yours. We belong to Hashem. 

But
let us recall the pasuk from Yechezkel.  

 “By your blood you shall live.” 

וָאֹמַר לָךְ בְּדָמַיִךְ חֲיִי; וָאֹמַר לָךְ בְּדָמַיִךְ
חֲיִי. (יחזקאל ט”ז, ו) 

Why
the repetition? 

And
when do you recall most often saying this verse?