Pesach Sheni – The People's Petition/2/en

Pesach Sheni – The People's Petition

Exegetical Approaches

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Request for Special Dispensation

The petitioners were requesting a special dispensation due to extenuating circumstances of either a personal or national nature.

Sources:ChizkuniBemidbar 9:7About R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach, SefornoBemidbar 9:7About R. Ovadyah Seforno, Or HaChayyim #1Bemidbar 9:7About R. Chayyim b. Atar, Meshekh ChokhmahBemidbar 9About R. Meir Simcha of Dvinsk

Who were the petitioners? According to this position the people could have been anyone whose impurity stemmed from dealing with a dead body for the purposes of fulfilling a mitzvah (be it from burying a "מת מצוה", caring for the bodies of Nadav and Avihu or carrying Yosef's casket).¹ The petitioners question why it is fair that the performance of a good deed should have negative consequences and thus request a special dispensation: that their impure status be ignored.²

"אֲשֶׁר הָיוּ טְמֵאִים" – The passive language of this phrase could support the idea that the petitioners had not become impure by their own volition, but rather as a consequence of fulfilling a commandment.

What role were they requesting? The impure were requesting that they be able to participate in the entire rite just like the rest of the nation.³

Halakhic precedents – Since impurity can be nullified  in a case when the majority of the community is impure, there is a precedent for ignoring a person's true status and simply considering them pure.

"בְּמֹעֲדוֹ"

"בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא"

Why was Moshe unaware of law? According to this position, it is understandable why Moshe did not know how to respond to the petition.  The people were not asking him to clarify a matter of law but rather to override the law and so he needed Divine permission to acquiesce.

Comparison to request fo Benot Zelaphchod

Is the request granted? Though Hashem does not allow the people to override the laws of impurity, He finds a different way that the people can still offer the Pesach by making an alternative make-up date in Iyar.  In addition, he widens the special dispensation to include not only those who missed out due to involvement in a mitzvah, but anyone who had a valid reason (distance/ impurity) not to bring the Pesach in Nissan.

Hashem's response

Uniqueness of Pesach – It is possible that Hashem grants a second chance specifically for the Pesach due both to its great importance and the fact that it is a unique rite that can only be performed once a year.

Focal point of Pesach: sacrifice or eating?

When were laws of impurity given?

When is the request being made?

Claim that Impurity was Not an Impediment

Purified in Time for Leil Pesach

The people were requesting that they be able to participate in the Pesach rite since by nightfall, when the Pesach was to be eaten, they would already be pure.

Sources:R. Yitzchak in Sifre Bemidbar9:6-8About Sifre Bemidbar and Bavli SukkahSukkah 25a-bAbout the Bavli, RashiBemidbar 9:7Gittin 60aAbout R. Shelomo Yitzchaki, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBemidbar 9:1,6-7,10About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RambamHilkhot Korban Pesach 6:2Hilkhot Korban Pesach 7:1About R. Moshe b. Maimon, RitvaSukkah 25aAbout R. Yom Tov b. Ashbel, RalbagBemidbar 9:6-8About R. Levi b. Gershom, Or HaChayyim #3Bemidbar 9:7About R. Chayyim b. Atar

Who were the petitioners? The questioners were people who had become impure on the eighth of Nissan, so that the seventh day of their impurity fell on the fourteenth.

"בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא" – R. Yitzchak learns from the phrase "וְלֹא יָכְלוּ לַעֲשֹׂת הַפֶּסַח בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא" that it was specifically on that day (the fourteenth) that they could bring the Pesach.  The following day, however, they would have been able to.

Could Partake Via Agent

Sources:AbarbanelBemidbar 9:1About R. Yitzchak Abarbanel

Sacrifice Supersedes Impurity

Sources:NetzivBemidbar 9:3,10About R. Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin

Plea for Make-up Date

Sources:Akeidat Yitzchak74About R. Yitzchak Arama, Or HaChayyim #2Bemidbar 9:7About R. Chayyim b. Atar

¹ See the various opinions in Bavli Sukkah 25a-b.  Meshekh Chokhmah assumes that the petitioners were specifically those who bore Yosef's casket.  As this act should have been especially meritorious, (and relevant to the nation as a whole) the people were bothered why it should lead to their losing out on the possibility of sacrificing the Pesach.

² Seforno alludes to the idea that performing a mitzvah is supposed to lead to more mitzvot (מצוה גוררת מצוה).  In this case, though, it leads to a transgression.

³ Due to their special circumstances they ask to be viewed as pure, and thus no different than anyone else.