The Shul's Blog

Blood is central to sacrifices in our tradition. When a sacrifice was offered, no matter if the sacrifice was devoted completely to God, or parts of the sacrifice were eaten by the priests or even the general population, the blood was always offered to God in its entirety. After the animal was slaughtered, its blood was poured on the altar.

The Hebrew ancients believed that the soul of man and animal was found in the blood of that being. To drink of that blood was to put oneself in danger of the most severe penalties that our faith allowed. Blood was beautiful when offered to God, but an abomination when used for any other purpose. The blood always came first and then the consummation of the sacrifice occurred.

Is it any wonder that the first plague was about blood, when the Nile River turned to blood? That event inaugurated a period of sacrifice both for the Children of Israel and for the Egyptians. The period only ended when every house in which the Hebrews lived had part of its lintel covered with blood. Those homes without blood were homes of death. And the Egyptians who followed the Children of Israel into the Sea of Reeds also ultimately met their death.

We are so far removed from the imagery and symbolism of the plagues that we have lost our sensitivity to compare the plagues to the sacrifices, which Israel offered to God from the time sacrifices were offered in the desert until the destruction of the Second Temple.

Yet, if we think carefully we can see in history a reenactment of the act of sacrifice, which was the basis of our ancient faith. Our redemption is the act of sacrifice brought from the altar to the world in which our forefathers and mothers used to live.