BO: GO! And Come! Join the Mixed Multitude

BO! “GO!”
Rabbi Angela Buchdahl

With this one word, God sends Moses back to Pharoah in Egypt. And with the wrath of the last 3 plagues, Pharaoh finally relents and lets the enslaved Israelites go.

Now BO is a funny Hebrew word, because it not only means GO, it also means the opposite: COME. We sing it every week in L’cha Dodi, welcoming the sabbath bride with BO-I kallah BO-I kallah.

COME sabbath bride. We don’t tell her: GO! So in parshat BO, as we begin our journey to liberation and becoming a nation, are we supposed to GO or COME?

It’s both.

Because we clearly GO out of Egypt. But as we become a nation, we are also inviting people to COME with us.

How do we know this? Because Exodus 12:37-38 tells us that at least 600,000 Israelite slaves left by foot, and additionally – an erev rav, a “mixed multitude” went up with them. In other words, a vast number of us did indeed GO. But we also invited others to COME with us.

I have spoken about this erev rav, this “mixed multitude,” before. Who were they? The rabbis over the centuries have many interpretations, not all of them complimentary. But renowned medieval commentator Rashi says that the mixed multitude were righteous converts from all different countries. We said, COME, join this fledgling nation. And they came. So from the start, Jews encompassed multiple ethnicities, colors, and accents – but we are one People.

Tonight’s visit from Zach Shemper, president of Beth Israel is a reminder of that. When you saw their destruction, you gave generously so our brothers and sisters in Jackson could rebuild. That is the tug of peoplehood.

The medieval commentator Ibn Ezra says something even more radical about the erev rav, that the mixed multitude included Egyptians – the very people we would have seen as our oppressors, perhaps our enemy. But so many Egyptians were also suffering under a ruthless Pharaoh so we said BO, Come! If you want to flee this narrow place, and find security, self determination, and liberation, join us. Because this project of redemption – we cannot do it by ourselves. We need the mixed multitude of the Jewish people AND we also need the mixed multitudes beyond us –our allies and friends in this work.

I feel so fortunate that over the 2 months of sabbatical Central gave me, I got to meet the erev rav: our extensive Jewish family around the country, as well as the mixed multitudes of people who are not Jewish but want to share in building a more redeemed world for all of us.

A few snapshots from the tour: I was at Sixth and I in Washington DC and a group of our Neighbors who are an online community, organized an in-person gathering before the talk. I walked into room of 40 Neighbors who immediately felt like family to me and to each other. They presented me with a book of DC Jewish history so I could get to know THEIR Neighborhood, and shared some stories of what the online community has meant to them.

My parents were able to join for that talk and after were mobbed by people asking them to sign books. Many of you met my parents. You know they loved that.

I had the joy of going to 5 college campuses, but the University of Illinois was the only one sponsored not by Hillel, but by the University itself.

They hosted the large event in Krannert Hall, the Lincoln Center of Champagne Urbana. I was in conversation with Vice Chancellor Gioconda Guerra Perez and the former provost, Dr Ollie Watts Davis: two powerhouse women of color who spoke with me about the way my Jewish story resonated with theirs as well.

Dr Watts Davis, who also sings and directs the Black chorus had recently given a performance entitled: I’m a Stranger Here Myself. It was beautiful to be reminded that it is not just Jews who know the heart of a stranger and want to build a world of belonging.

Dr Davis’s daughter. Charity, surprised me by learning the Hashkiveynu. My African-American sister joined me in a Jewish prayer, so beautifully, the first time Hebrew had ever been sung in that hall. The Jewish students who attended said they never felt such belonging –to see Judaism featured this way on their campus.

I led an hour of spiritual reflection at the Rothko Chapel in Houston. It has been a gathering space for religious leaders, civil rights activists and thinkers for over 50 years. It’s a meditative space surrounded by 14 large scale Rothko murals. Providing a stillness that moves you. My friend Imam Abdullah Antepli was recently installed as the new President of the Rothko Chapel and we engaged in a heart-opening, no-small-talk conversation about how we as Jewish and Muslim leaders must build bridges between our communities and remind ourselves that there are modern day Pharaohs that we need to fight together.

I went to the historic campus of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. As Jews moved to West LA, Wilshire built Westside campuses, but their original sanctuary is downtown, now surrounded by LA’s Koreatown. The renovation of their downtown campus included a social services center which offers legal aid, dental care and food assistance to their neighbors. Rabbi Nickerson not only invited me to do a book talk at Shabbat services, but suggested we invite the Korean community for a conversation first.

But days before my visit, the synagogue was the target of protesters who stormed a community event, shouting antisemitic slurs and causing property damage. At the gathering before Shabbat, with 350 Koreans and Jews in the room, the head of the Korean federation spoke first saying: “I was at the recent event, which was about community safety. And I saw the way the Jewish community was attacked, for things they are not responsible for. And I want to say the Korean community stands with our Jewish neighbors. And we cannot have security in our community unless we come together to create more belonging for all of us.”

It was an amazing gathering of worlds coming together. And many of Wilshire’s Korean neighbors stayed afterwards for their first Shabbat services. 

These are just a few of the highlights of 45 talks in 27 cities.

Thank you. You gave me the opportunity to BO, to GO out into the wider community. To meet our extended Jewish family, and to meet the mixed multitudes who are our allies and friends.

I got to say COME, let’s leave this narrow place we’re in right now. We can journey to a promised land, where we celebrate our mixed multitude and find empathy for our stories and help every one of us find belonging and home.