Page:Philip Birnbaum - ha-Siddur ha-Shalem (The Daily Prayer Book,1949).pdf/35

10 my observance of this precept of tefillin be considered as if I fulfilled it with all its particulars, details and implications, together with the six hundred and thirteen precepts that are related to it. Amen.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Consecrate all the first-born to me, whatever is first-born in Israel, of man or of beast, for it belongs to me.”

Moses said to the people: “Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery; for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out of this place; no leavened bread shall be eaten. This day you are leaving, in the month of Abib. And when the Lord will bring you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivvite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, then you shall perform this service in this month: For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival in honor of the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen in your possession, nor any leaven, anywhere in your territory. And you shall tell your son on that day, saying; This is on account of what the Lord did for me when I left Egypt. It shall serve you as a sign on your hand, and as frontlets between your eyes, so that the Lord’s teaching may be ever in your mouth; for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. You shall observe this ordinance at its proper time from year to year.

“And when the Lord will bring you into the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and will give it to you, you shall make over to the Lord whatever is first-born; all the firstlings of the young animals that you will have, the males, shall be the Lord’s. Every firstling ass, however, you shall redeem with a lamb; but if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every first-born son of yours you shall redeem. And when your son asks you in time to come: What does this mean? You shall tell him: By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery; and when Pharaoh made difficulties about letting us go, the Lord slew every first-born in the