Bo!

The name of this week's portion is Bo, בוא, meaning enter or go, which reflects what the L-rd says to Moshe in the first verse: Go to Pharaoh. As parents living in Israel we learned this important word early on, even though we used it incorrectly.

In modern Hebrew the word bo (pronounced like bow & arrow) means come, and you use it to call your son or a group of children or people. But when addressing your daughter you use the feminine form, boy, בואי (as if that's not confusing enough, the Hebrew word for she is he, היא). For the first month or so we yelled, "BO!" to Cassidy to get her to hurry up, only to discover that we were using the masculine form -- probably pretty confusing to Hebrew speakers as they looked at our long-haired, pink-skirted daughter. With the help of Cassidy's teacher we realized בואי was the appropriate term, and we now use it quite often, and correctly.

So, Bo, chaverim (friends) let's study the portion this week...