Bo – Entering the Lion’s Den

The opening word, Bo, instructs Moses to ‘come’ to Pharaoh, come right into the lion’s den, not just ‘go’ up to him casually. This is a lesson in dealing with personal faults. Don’t approach them academically from a spiritual distance. Come up to them ‘real close’ to deal with them. The opening word of our Parsha Bo, means to ‘come’ – Moshe Rabbeinu is instructed by G-d to ‘come’ to Par’oh and warn him to free the Jewish people. Would it not have been more appropriate for Moshe to have been instructed to ‘go’ to Par’oh, not ‘come’ to him? Here we learn an important principle in self-development. When introspecting for personal faults, it’s not enough to adopt an academic posture and simply understand the shortcoming.  One must enter right into the ‘lion’s den’ -‘come’ right in, not just ‘go’ ‘sightseeing’ for it. Moshe was told to ‘come’ right into Pharoah’s palace and confront him on ‘home ground’ not just ‘go’ up to ‘reception’ and wait. That’s the approach we need to take with our personal faults – tackle them in their origin to eradicate their cause, not just go around bemoaning them. Approach your faults right up close!