SECOND TIME AROUND

“There were men in the camp who were impure by means of a corpse, and they were unable to offer the paschal lamb on that day; and they approached Moshe and Aharon on that day. Those men said to him: We are impure by means of a corpse. Why shall we be deprived and not present the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the children of Israel? Moshe said to them: Stand, and I will hear what the Lord will command you.” (Bamidbar 9:6-8)

Almost a full year had passed since the Israelites left Egypt. At the beginning of the month of Nissan, Hashem commanded Moshe to instruct the people to offer their Pesach sacrifice on the 14^th of the month. This would be a somewhat different procedure to the one they followed on the eve of the Exodus (see Shmot chapter 12). In Egypt, the Hebrews had to set aside the lamb (or goat) for the Pesach sacrifice on the 10^th of Nissan; they had to slaughter it on the fourteenth day of the month and place its blood on the doorposts and lintels of their homes; they were required to eat the meat of the offering with matzo and maror while wearing their travelling clothes, with their staffs in their hands. There was no communal altar and no priests.   In the wilderness, the Children of Israel would bring their paschal lambs to the Tabernacle. The cohanim would place the blood, as well as some of the animals’ fats, on the altar. The carcasses were then returned to the person or group who would roast them whole and eat them that night with matzo and maror while retelling the story of the Exodus.  

Moshe dutifully conveyed this mitzvah to the nation. It was then that some anonymous people stepped forward with a predicament. They had come into contact with a corpse. They were thus impure and could not approach the sanctuary to offer their paschal lamb. They wondered aloud why they would now be discriminated against and not be able to offer the lamb with everyone else. Waiting a day or two was not an option because the Pesach sacrifice may only be offered on the fourteenth day of Nissan, Erev Pesach.  Moshe did not have an answer for them and he told them to wait while he consulted with Hashem.   Hashem responded (Bamidbar 9:10-12), “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: When any man shall be impure by means of a corpse, or on a distant journey for you or for your generations, he shall offer the Paschal lamb to the Lord. During the second month (Iyar), on the fourteenth day in the afternoon, they shall offer it; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. They shall not leave it until the morning, and they shall not a break a bone in it; in accordance with the entire statute of the paschal lamb they shall do it.”

This is Pesach Sheini (the second Passover) or Pesach Katan (the small Passover), “one of the few instances in the Torah where a commandment is introduced as a divine solution to a human request” (Rabbi Steinsaltz, Weisfeld Edition of the Humash). Exactly a month after the ‘regular’ Pesach offering takes place, those who missed it due to impurity or distance are to bring their offering on the fourteenth of Iyar. Like the regular Pesach sacrifice, this offering is consumed with matzo and maror. Although the participants may not consume chametz with the offering, they are not required to rid their homes of leaven (Rashi, verse 9).   Rabbi Dovid Lichtenstein, host of the Halacha Headlines podcast, points out that when rabbis and educators teach the passage of Pesach Sheini, they often refer to it as a “second chance.” They will use this episode as a springboard to point out that the Torah believes in giving people an opportunity to rectify their mistakes and make amends. Although this principle is certainly true – it is at the heart of the concept of teshuva (repentance and return) – it is not actually related to Pesach Sheini. He offers a very compelling reason: The Talmud (Sukkah 25a-25b) records a number of suggestions regarding the identity of these anonymous people. Rabbi Yose HaGlili was of the opinion that they were the men who carried Joseph’s coffin from Egypt into the wilderness; Rabbi Akiva said that they were none other than Mishael and Eltzafan, the cousins of Nadav and Avihu, Aharon’s sons. When Nadav and Avihu tragically perished on the day the Tabernacle was inaugurated, Mishael and Eltzafan had to remove their bodies from the sanctuary where they died. Rabbi Yitzchak disagrees and explains that they were regular members of the Israelite camp who had recently lost a relative and buried the corpse. Regardless of who is correct, what they all have in common is that the people concerned were performing a mitzvah. However, the performance of that mitzvah (tending to a dead body) prevented them from doing another mitzvah, the Pesach sacrifice. No one erred or sinned or made a mistake. Hence, the concept of a ‘second chance’ is not relevant.

Thus, Rabbi Lichtenstein explains that Pesach Sheini teaches that when a person makes a sacrifice and does the right thing, but that choice prevents him or her from engaging in another positive act, his or her sacrifice is not in vain. Consider the following example: a father misses a sports match of his son. The child may be very disappointed and upset with his father considering that the man spent the day in the office. However, the reason why the father remained at work was to finalise a deal that would offer better financial security for his family. Sometimes the sacrifice might be small and sometimes, very large. Consider a person who passes the opportunity to take a good job in one city in favour of a less-desirable job in another city that has a more robust Jewish community. He could have remained in the first city and purchased a large family home and a fancy SUV. He could have provided his family with much better material possessions. But then they would have missed out on an enhanced Jewish experience. Thus he made a trade-off: spiritual growth for financial security.

Throughout our lives we make decisions of this sort. And when we do, we may be plagued with guilt because our choice prevented us from performing a good deed we really wanted to do. Pesach Sheini is the Torah’s way of validating such choices. No good deed, when performed sincerely and correctly, can have negative effects. Hashem looked upon the men who were impure with love and respect. They had performed a mitzvah and were saddened by the fact that their actions prevented them from doing another mitzvah. In effect He said to them, “Your sacrifice was worthy. Your actions were correct. And you lost nothing, for I will give you a chance to offer the Pesach sacrifice in a month’s time.”

Lee, Chani Merryl & Naomi join me in wishing you Shabbat Shalom!

Rabbi Liebenberg. This week’s YouTube message: https://youtu.be/L9n5rQ72Ti4?si=zxwHLZTF-QU6MxNi