Dora Bas Rivka Silver O'H The First Passover G-d sent word
through Moshe to Pharaoh that around midnight, He would kill
every first-born male in Egypt, from Pharaoh's first-born to
that of a lowly servant girl. Even the first-born animals would
be affected by this plague. This will be an occasion of
unprecedented mourning among the Egyptians, but the Jews won't
suffer so much as a dog growling at them. This will cause the
officers of Egypt to beg the Jews to leave, which they will.
After Moshe departed from Pharaoh, G-d told him that, true to
form, the monarch wouldn't listen, which gives Him reasons to
perform great wonders in Egypt. G-d then commanded the first
Passover. First, He decreed that Nisan, the month in which the
Exodus was about to occur, would be the first month of the year
for Jews. (Some people are confused as to why Rosh Hashana - the
"Jewish New Year" - occurs in the seventh month. They really
mark completely separate things.) Moshe communicated to the
people that, on the tenth day of the mo