View source for Pesach and Chag HaMatzot – A Two for One/0

<aht-xml>

<page type="Summary">
<h1>Pesach and Chag HaMatzot – A Two for One?</h1>

<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>Every year, beginning on the 15th day of Nisan, we joyously commemorate our exodus from Egyptian bondage. We memorialize the Paschal sacrifice, eat matzah, abstain from chametz, and celebrate for seven days (or eight days outside of Israel). Most of us refer to this holiday as Pesach. Yet, a close reading of Shemot 12 suggests that the original Pesach was neither a seven day holiday, nor did it start on the 15th of Nissan. It was rather a one day event, quite distinct from the seven day holiday referred to in the verses as Chag HaMatzot.</p>
<p>What is the relationship between these two institutions of Pesach and Chag HaMatzot, and when did they merge and become a single entity?<fn>Compare to the case of Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret at the other end of the holiday cycle.  There, too, the one day holiday is partially merged with the seven day festival.  However, in the case of Shemini Atzeret, the one day festival gradually took on a more independent identity, as it morphed into Simchat Torah.</fn> What historical factors may have been involved in this transformation?</p>

<h2>The Biblical Evidence</h2>
<p>An examination of all of the Biblical verses which mention either Pesach or Chag HaMatzot, indicates that they are two distinct entities:<fn>See <multilink><a href="ChizkuniVayikra23-5" data-aht="source">Chizkuni</a><a href="ChizkuniVayikra23-5" data-aht="source">Vayikra 23:5</a><a href="ChizkuniBemidbar33-3" data-aht="source">Bemidbar 33:3</a><a href="R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach (Chizkuni)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach</a></multilink> who underscores how the Torah distinguishes in its usage between the terms Pesach and Chag HaMatzot.</fn></p>
<ul>
<li><b>Original command</b> – <a href="Shemot12-1" data-aht="source">Shemot 12:1-20</a>, which contains the initial command to celebrate the holidays, refers explicitly to two separate commemorations, with different dates, characters, laws, and reasons:
<ul>
<li>Pesach (12:2-13) - a one day event during which we sacrifice a lamb to commemorate our rescue from the Plague of the Firstborn.</li>
<li>Chag HaMatzot (12:15-20) - a seven day holiday whose essence is the abstention from chametz and the eating of matzah as a reminder of the process of our redemption from Egypt.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><b>Transmission of the command</b> – When Moshe transmits the laws of the two celebrations to the nation, he does so separately. The laws of the Paschal sacrifice are relayed immediately in <a href="Shemot12-21" data-aht="source">Shemot 12:21-28</a> with no mention of the seven day holiday. The laws of Chag HaMatzot, on the other hand, are first relayed only after the Exodus, in <a href="Shemot13-3" data-aht="source">Shemot 13:6-7</a>.</li>
<li><b>Pesach Sheni</b> – When <a href="Bemidbar9-1" data-aht="source">Bemidbar 9</a> describes the sacrificing of the Pesach in the second year in the wilderness and provides an opportunity for those who were unable to observe the Pesach in its proper time to do so a month later (פסח שני), mention of Chag HaMatzot and its accompanying laws is conspicuously absent.</li>
<li><b>Additional texts</b> – Other verses which speak of the two celebrations similarly distinguish between the two. See <a href="Vayikra23-5" data-aht="source">Vayikra 23:5-6</a>, <a href="Bemidbar28-16" data-aht="source">Bemidbar 28:16-17</a>, <a href="Ezra6-19" data-aht="source">Ezra 6:19-22</a>, <a href="DivreiHaYamimII30-15" data-aht="source">Divrei HaYamim II 30:15-21</a>, <a href="DivreiHaYamimII35-17" data-aht="source">35:17</a>.<fn>In <a href="Yechezkel45-21" data-aht="source">Yechezkel 45:21</a> they are combined in one verse.</fn></li>
<li><b>Sacrifice or holiday</b> – Chag HaMatzot is always referred to as a festival ("חַג"), while Pesach is generally referred to only as a sacrifice.<fn>Regarding the exceptions of <a href="Shemot23-15" data-aht="source">Shemot 23:18</a> and <a href="Shemot34-18" data-aht="source">34:25</a>, see <multilink><a href="BavliPesachim70a" data-aht="source">Bavli Pesachim</a><a href="BavliPesachim70a" data-aht="source">Pesachim 70a</a><a href="Bavli" data-aht="parshan">About the Bavli</a></multilink>.</fn></li>
</ul>

<h2>Mid 2nd Temple Period</h2>
<p>Early post-Biblical sources also distinguish between Pesach and Chag HaMatzot. However, they present both as holidays.<fn>Later Rabbinic sources also view the 14th of Nisan as a holiday on which work is forbidden. See <a href="Rama" data-aht="source">Rama</a>, <multilink><a href="Gra" data-aht="source">Vilna Gaon (GR"A)</a><a href="Gra" data-aht="source">Beiur HaGR"A Yoreh Deah 399:9</a><a href="R. Eliyahu of Vilna" data-aht="parshan">About R. Eliyahu of Vilna</a></multilink>, and <multilink><a href="NetzivVayikra23-5" data-aht="source">Netziv</a><a href="NetzivVayikra23-5" data-aht="source">Vayikra 23:5</a><a href="R. Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (Netziv)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin</a></multilink>.</fn></p>
<ul>
<li><multilink><a href="Jubilees49" data-aht="source">Jubilees</a><a href="Jubilees49" data-aht="source">Chapter 49</a><a href="Jubilees" data-aht="parshan">About Jubilees</a></multilink> presents each of the two festivals, noting how they commemorate different events.</li>
<li><multilink><a href="PhiloLawsII-XI" data-aht="source">Philo</a><a href="PhiloLawsII-XI" data-aht="source">The Special Laws II XI:41</a><a href="PhiloLawsII-XXVIII" data-aht="source">The Special Laws II XXVIII:150</a><a href="Philo" data-aht="parshan">About Philo</a></multilink>, in enumerating ten Jewish festivals of the year, lists Pesach as the fourth and Chag HaMatzot as the sixth.<fn>The omer celebration is the fifth.  In his elaboration on this list, Philo reverses the order of the fifth and sixth festivals, placing Chag HaMatzot immediately after Pesach.</fn></li>
</ul>

<h2>Late 2nd Temple Through Today</h2>
<p>In this stage, there is a blurring of the lines distinguishing the two holidays, and their names become interchangeable.</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Josephus</b> – When paraphrasing and interpreting Biblical texts, <multilink><a href="Josephus2-14" data-aht="source">Josephus</a><a href="Josephus2-14" data-aht="source">Antiquities 2:14:6</a><a href="Josephus2-15" data-aht="source">Antiquities 2:15:1</a><a href="Josephus3-10" data-aht="source">Antiquities 3:10:5</a><a href="Josephus" data-aht="parshan">About Josephus</a></multilink> speaks of the celebration of the Paschal sacrifice on the 14th of Nisan, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread which succeeds it, celebrated from the 15th of Nisan and continuing for seven days.<fn>In Antiquities 2:15:1, though, Josephus says that the Feast of Unleavened Bread is celebrated for eight days.  It is unclear whether the eight day figure is referring to the total of the two holidays together or includes the extra day of Chag HaMatzot celebrated in the Diaspora (where Josephus was writing).</fn> On numerous occasions throughout his works, however, <multilink><a href="Josephus10-4" data-aht="source">Josephus</a><a href="Josephus10-4" data-aht="source">Antiquities 10:4:5</a><a href="Josephus14-2" data-aht="source">Antiquities 14:2:1</a><a href="Josephus17-9" data-aht="source">Antiquities 17:9:3</a><a href="Josephus18-2" data-aht="source">Antiquities 18:2:2</a><a href="Josephus20-5" data-aht="source">Antiquities 20:5:3</a><a href="JosephusWars2-1" data-aht="source">Wars of the Jews 2:1:3</a><a href="JosephusWars5-3" data-aht="source">Wars of the Jews 5:3:1</a><a href="Josephus" data-aht="parshan">About Josephus</a></multilink> notes that the Jews of his time referred to Chag HaMatzot as Pascha.<fn>For further discussion, see J. Rosenthal, "Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread", JJS 3 (1952): 178-180.</fn></li>
<li><b>Tannaitic and Amoraic literature</b> – In both the Mishna<fn>See <multilink><a href="MishnaTaanit1-2" data-aht="source">Mishna Taanit</a><a href="MishnaTaanit1-2" data-aht="source">Taanit 1:2</a><a href="Mishna" data-aht="parshan">About the Mishna</a></multilink>, <multilink><a href="MishnaChaggigah1-3" data-aht="source">Chaggigah</a><a href="MishnaChaggigah1-3" data-aht="source">Chaggigah 1:3</a><a href="Mishna" data-aht="parshan">About the Mishna</a></multilink>, and <multilink><a href="MishnaArakhin2-3" data-aht="source">Arakhin</a><a href="MishnaArakhin2-3" data-aht="source">Arakhin 2:3</a><a href="Mishna" data-aht="parshan">About the Mishna</a></multilink>.</fn> and Babylonian Talmud,<fn>See <multilink><a href="BavliSukkah47a" data-aht="source">Bavli Sukkah</a><a href="BavliSukkah47a" data-aht="source">Sukkah 47a</a><a href="Bavli" data-aht="parshan">About the Bavli</a></multilink> and <multilink><a href="BavliChaggigah9a" data-aht="source">Chaggigah</a><a href="BavliChaggigah9a" data-aht="source">Chaggigah 9a</a><a href="Bavli" data-aht="parshan">About the Bavli</a></multilink>.</fn> the seven day holiday beginning on the 15th of Nisan is referred to as "Pesach".<fn>See the <multilink><a href="Rid" data-aht="source">Rid</a><a href="Rid" data-aht="source">Tosafot Rid Pesachim 99b</a><a href="R. Yeshayah of Trani (Rid)" data-aht="parshan">About R. Yeshayah MiTrani</a></multilink> who notes that even though the term "Pesach" is used in Biblical texts to refer only to the 14th day of Nisan, Rabbinic sources did not hesitate to call also Chag HaMatzot by the name "Pesach".</fn></li>
<li><b>Overlap</b> – The merging of the two holidays may have resulted from the overlap in their celebrations. Pesach is unique in that it begins during the day<fn>In contrast to the regular Hebrew calendar in which the night precedes the day, with regard to the Temple sacrifices, the day comes first as sacrifices are always brought during the daytime.</fn> of the 14th of Nisan and extends into the night of the fifteenth, which is simultaneously the time at which Chag Hamatzot commences.</li>
<li><b>Preference for the name Pesach</b> – It is possible that the name Pesach became the favored name of the merged holiday already during the time of the Temple, when the Paschal Sacrifice was still the main focus. This situation has persisted until modern times, despite the absence of sacrificial worship.</li>
</ul>

</page>
</aht-xml>