Perashot Ahare Mot-Kedoshim 5778

Perashot Ahare Mot-Kedoshim 5778

This coming Sunday we observe the holiday of Pesah Sheni, occurring exactly one month after Pesah. This day seems to have very little practical significance nowadays, with the exception that we do not say Tahanun. What is this day all about, and what is its meaning to us today?

Exactly one year after the Exodus, on the evening of the fourteenth of Nissan, Hashem commanded Bene Yisrael to bring the paschal lamb for sacrifice, just as they did the previous year before leaving Egypt. But as the Torah recounts, "There were men who were ritually unclean...and therefore could not make the Passover sacrifice on that day. So, they approached Moses and Aaron on that day, asking, 'Why should we be deprived, and not be able to present G-d's offering in its time, amongst the children of Israel?'" [Numbers 9:6-7]. In response, Hashem instructs Moshe that a new holiday be established, Pesah Sheni or Second Passover, for those who missed the Korban Pesah due to ritual impurity or because of geographical distance.
Why does G-d give a second chance in the observance of this holiday? Normally the rule is "ones rahamana patreh," which means that the Torah exempts one who cannot fulfill a commandment due to circumstances beyond his control. If one cannot sit in a Sukkah due to bad weather, or if a person is ill on Yom Kippur and cannot fast, then the person is exempt from those missvot. 

Pesah has a special requirement which distinguishes it from other missvot. On seder night every person is obligated to see himself as one who left Egypt in the days of the Exodus. A person who does not go through this experience cannot properly receive the Torah on Shabuot. He has until Shabuot to reenact "leaving Egypt."

The Korban Pesah in the years after the Exodus was intended to motivate every person to leave his own personal Missrayim. The averot and bad habits we possess remind us that we have not yet overcome the bondage of Egypt completely. Bore Olam has graced us with an amazing second chance. One who was "impure" on Pesah has a second opportunity to redeem oneself on Pesah Sheni from being morally enslaved. 

Let's utilize the unique opportunity that is given to us to make a radical departure from our previous spiritual state and approach a new, higher level of Avodat Hashem.

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Mimoun Miller