The Children of Israel, standing on the verge of the Exodus, are given the first mitzvot. After instructing Moshe regarding the establishment of the calendar, Hashem says, “Speak to the entire community of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb for each father’s house, a lamb for each household” (Shemot 12:3).

This is the Pesach sacrifice, which will become a permanent part of the festival upon Israel’s arrival in their land (verse 25). Now in Egypt however, the sacrifice serves to demonstrate the people’s courage, as they take the Egyptians’ object of worship and slaughter and eat it in the service of Hashem.

In many respects, the Pesach sacrifice as observed on the eve of the Exodus (Pesach Mitzrayim) is no different from the sacrifice as it would later be offered (Pesach l’dorot). But Pesach Mitzrayim is unique in that it must have been acquired on the tenth of Nisan (as above), it was eaten in haste (verse 11), and the prohibition against chametz (v.15) lasted for only one day (Pesachim 9:5).

Then, also there is the matter of the blood. After slaughtering the animal on the afternoon of the 14th, And they shall take of the blood which they shall apply to the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they shall eat it (verse 7). This would display the people’s final rejection of Egyptian idolatry, and the homes so marked would be spared (P-SCH) the plague that slays the firstborn (vs.12-13). When Moshe begins to impart the details of Pesach Mitzrayim, certain additional details become noticeable. He gives special instructions to the elders in the presence of all the people: And Moshe called for all the elders of Israel and he said to them, “Draw forth and take for yourselves sheep for your families and slaughter the Pesach. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop (AGUDAT EZOV) and you shall dip it in the blood that is in the basin (BASAF) and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood that is in the basin (BASAF). And you, no man of you shall leave the entrance of his house until morning” (12:21-22).

The word hyssop is an Anglicization of the Hebrew EZOV. Saadiah Gaon (882-942) identifies this as za’atar (a well-known herb in Israel today), a type of wild oregano. There are other possibilities, but it is unquestionably a lowly plant: From the cedar that is in Lebanon until the hyssop that comes out of the wall (Melachim I 5:13) means “from the greatest to the smallest.” EZOV was also used in preparing the red heifer for purification of one who has had contact with the dead (Bamidbar 19:6, 18) and in the purification of a metzora (Vayikra 14:4, 6, 49-52; Tehillim 51:9).

Ibn Ezra says Moshe is merely explaining how to apply the blood. But, is Moshe adding to Hashem’s initial command? Apparently not, because these details are incorporated into the halachah: for Pesach Mitzrayim the blood was applied to the two doorposts and the lintel using a bunch of hyssop.

Hirsch (Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, 1808-1888) says we have here an object lesson of the Oral Torah in action: “Here, right at the very first Mitzvah, we have a concrete example of Torah sheb’al peh (the spoken, traditional Torah). Here we have recorded in the ‘written Torah’ that Moses gave additional details of the procedure to be carried out, which are not mentioned above in the ‘written’ record of G-d’s commands. In the same way, at all later laws, Moses had to receive and transmit more detailed explanations which were not given in the written record of G-d’s words, which only contain a general reference to the law, and leave these detailed explanations for verbal transmission.” 

We have translated SAF as basin, as in Melachim II 12:14 and Shmuel II  17:28, and so Rashi renders it, following R. Akiva in Mechilta Bo (6, 11). But Ibn Ezra also quotes Yechezkel 40:6 and Yesha’iah 6:4 to support the view (as stated by R. Yishmael) that SAF means threshold; accordingly, the blood flowed into a channel carved in the threshold, and was then applied to the two doorposts and lintel with the hyssop. R. Akiva holds that Pesach Mitzrayim had three altars, while R. Yishmael maintains that it had four (see Pesachim 96a).

Haamek Davar (R. Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, 1817-1893) explains this passage’s focus on the elders: And Moshe called for all the elders of Israel (v. 21). Moshe singles out the elders now to insist that the important people in each group should designate the Pesach sacrifice, rather than leaving the task to the commoners, as might usually be the case: And slaughter the Pesach -- you yourselves.

As the hyssop symbolizes humility, the leaders are reminded that they too need to have more humility than others. And you, no man of you shall leave the doorway of his house until morning is also a special reminder to the leaders, who were targeted by the plague of the first- born.

Furthermore, the Midrash (Shemot Rabba 1:42, 17:3) says the two doorposts and the lintel correspond to the Patriarchs. Haamek Davar elaborates that they each represent one of the “pillars on which the world stands”: Avraham is Torah, Yitzchak is Avodah (worship) and Yaakov is Gemilut chasadim (acts of loving-kindness). The three places where the blood is applied teaches that all three pillars are necessary and interdependent. The fourth place, according to R. Yishmael, the threshold, represents Derech eretz, the common areas of life “which a person treads on”; these activities too must be dedicated to Hashem. And the leaders must set the example in all areas, Torah, Avodah, Gemilut chasadim and Derech eretz. Indeed, as Rambam teaches (Laws of Traits, chapter 5), the Derech eretz of the Torah scholar is more noteworthy than others’.

Like Moshe and the elders, it is the duty of the leaders of the generation to show the way and exemplify proper behavior.