Rosh Chodesh Sh'vat- בא: to come or to leave?

Today we begin the Hebrew month of Sh'vat. The Torah portion is "Bo/בא" or "Come" in Hebrew.

Despite the name of the Torah portion - about coming - the story is actually about the 10 plagues, and ends with the Jews leaving Egypt. Why is it that we call the Torah portion "Come" when we are going?

In his commentary, Rav Aryeh Kaplan distinguishes between the interpretations of בא with the explanation - "Go. Literally, "Come." Alternatively, this may be an idiomatic use of the word come."

We have here a word whose meaning cannot be predicted from the meanings of the constituent words. Instead, we are required to look at the bigger picture. Where were they arriving at the end of their journey? This Torah portion is the physical beginning of the Jews’ trip from Egypt to Israel.

The definition of 'come' is to approach or move toward a particular person or place while the definition of 'go' is to leave a place; depart. The Torah specifies that this action, coming to Israel, is a progressive action. Coming to Israel is not dependent on where you are coming from, which shows the importance of Israel in the big picture of the Torah and the Torah portion.

A trip is not special due to its origin. What is special is where you end up. Thus the name of the Torah portion specifies this, with the name "Come" or "בא" .

Have a happy Rosh Chodesh Sh'vat and we hope to help you "Come" to Israel in the near future.

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