A word from the Rebbe on this week's parashah, Parashat Bo. In Parashat Bo we learn that before the Yidden went out of Mitzrayim, Hashem commanded them to bring the קרבן פסח, to take a sheep and shecht it, and put the blood on the doorposts, and then eat the meat. And the way the pasuk says, you have to eat the meat of this sheep צלי אש, it has to be broiled in fire, and then the Torah specifies ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו, the head and the feet and the insides, the stomach, has to be all together. So the Rebbe explains, what is the spiritual meaning of this idea that it says that the קרבן פסח has to be burnt, the sheep has to be burnt ראשו על כרעיו ועל קרבו, the head and the feet and the insides?

So the Rebbe explains as it follows: The קרבן פסח was a sheep. Sheep was the עבודה זרה of Mitzrayim, that was the idol of Mitzrayim. So burning the קרבן פסח, roasting the קרבן פסח in fire represents burning of the idol, of the עבודה זרה of Mitzrayim. And what the pasuk says, when you destroy the עבודה זרה, it has to be completely. And the עבודה זרה, which seemed to be, which was an עבודה זרה, has to become a קרבן פסח להשם. You have to transform the עבודה זרה, chas veshalom, that it should turn into something holy. And it has to be completely. Why? Because by עבודה זרה there's a din, עבודה זרה is אסור במשהו, it's forbidden any little bit. Like this, other prohibitions, other things which are forbidden, there's a difference if it has a certain measurement or has less than the measurement. It's not so severe if it has less than the measurement, less than a כזית, less than a כביצה, רביעית, whatever, certain issurim, most issurim have shiurim. And then if it's less than the shiur, it's not as severe. By עבודה זרה there's no such thing. עבודה זרה is assur, forbidden, במשהו, which means any little drop of עבודה זרה. And that's what the pasuk says here, when you take the קרבן פסח, which means you take the עבודה זרה of Mitzrayim, you're going to burn it and change it over into a korban to Hashem, you have to remember it has to be through and through. The lashon the Rebbe used was durach un durach, through and through, every little bit of it, from top to bottom through the middle. And that's what the pasuk said has to be ראשו, the head, go all the way down to the feet, and everything in between has to be burnt in the fire, because avodah zarah has to be destroyed completely from top to bottom. And that the Rebbe explains in more in a practical way. Avodah zarah, we know, means if you give any importance to others, other things, other people or other things, other than Hashem. You have to realize everything is from Hashem, everything is Hashem, there's nothing else. And if you think of something else being also as a metzius, as a being for itself on its own, that is avodah zarah.

Now in this avodah zarah that you give chashivus, importance to other things could be all kinds of ways, but the pasuk gives an example of three things, because these are the three general things, general ways a person could feel that there are other things important. The head: the head represents the seichel, the person's intellect, their rationale. There are some people that their seichel, their rationale is their avodah zarah. Whatever they think is right and understand in their mind, that's right, that's what they have to do, disregarding whether Hashem wants it or not, their rationale is their avodah zarah. So the pasuk mentions you have to burn the head, the head of the avodah zarah. If your head is an avodah zarah, you got to burn that, and you have to know that that's not what controls. The head, your rationale is not what counts; what counts is the Eibershter. Then there's a certain type of avodah zarah which represented by the feet. The feet means you do what you want, the feet trample over things. If I want, whatever I want to get, I don't care what else, I'm going to do it. I'm going to go, feet represents going, I'm going to go to get it no matter what, not caring if Hashem wants it or Hashem doesn't want, that's another type of avodah zarah, that my feet, that I go and do everything that I want. Then there's another type of avodah zarah, and that's represented in the קרבו. קרבו means the insides of the person, which is the digesting system, etc., etc. That is represents the food, and a lot of times when we say food we don't only mean food, we mean the whole livelihood. Sometimes we find that a person's livelihood, his parnassah, which also means getting the money, is included in his food. And by some people that's their avodah zarah, running after whatever I feel, whatever taavah I have to want, whether it's physical food or it's money that I'm looking for and all these things, that's what counts for me, that's my avodah zarah, chas veshalom. So the pasuk says you got to get rid of it all. And that's what the pasuk picks, when it tries to tell us you got to get rid of avodah zarah from top to bottom, it picks three examples: the head, which means to get rid of your own understanding, thinking that I'm going to do what I understand, and that's going to be the top, that's the avodah zarah; or the feet, meaning I'm going to go and step over everything, whatever I want, I'm going to not care at anything and I'll do it; and then running after money and after food and after all these taavot, that can be an avodah zarah. So the pasuk says צלי אש, you have to burn it in fire, the avodah zarah of ראשו and כרעיו and קרבו, and turn that over to be transform it to a korban to Hashem. And when you realize that, that was the zechut that the Yidden had to go out of Mitzrayim, cause it says before they went out of Mitzrayim, the Eibershter gave them two special mitzvot: the mitzvah of milah and the mitzvah korban Pesach, and the reason for the mitzvah of korban Pesach is because this represents the transformation of all details of avodah zarah to become holy.