Bo (parsha)

Bo (parsha)

Bo (בֹּא — in Hebrew, the command form of “go,” or “come,” and the first unique word that God speaks in the parshah, in Exodus 10:1) is the fifteenth weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the third in the book of Exodus. It constitutes Exodus 10:1–13:16. Jews read it the fifteenth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, generally in January or early February.

The parshah tells of the last three plagues on Egypt and the first Passover.

As the parshah describes the first Passover, Jews also read part of the parshah, Exodus 12:21–51, as the initial Torah reading for the first day of Passover, and another part, Exodus 13:1–16, as the initial Torah reading for the first intermediate day (Chol HaMoed) of Passover. Jews also read another part of the parshah, Exodus 12:1–20, which describes the laws of Passover, as the maftir Torah reading for the Special Sabbath Shabbat HaChodesh, which falls on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, the month in which Jews celebrate Passover.