III. Torah Readings for Passover
VI. HaShem's Passover and the Firstborn
VIII. Names given to the Passover Festival
IX. Passover vs. Unleavened Bread
Pesach, Hebrew for Passover, begins on the 15th
day of the first month. The festival lasts for seven (eight days in the diaspora)
days, in eretz
On
Passover we celebrate the liberation of HaShem’s
people from Egyptian slavery and, together with it, the liberation from, and
negation of the ancient Egyptian system and way of life, the "abominations
of
Strong’s defines Passover, from its first usage in Torah, as:
Shemot
(Exodus)
+----------------------------------------------+
6453
pecach, peh'-sakh; from 6452; a pretermission, i.e. exemption; used only tech.
of the Jewish Passover (the festival or the victim):-Passover (offering).
----------------
Dictionary Trace ----------------
6452
pacach, paw-sakh'; a prim. root; to hop, i.e. (fig.) skip over (or spare); by
impl. to hesitate; also (lit.) to limp, to dance:-halt, become lame, leap, pass
over.
One of the major festivals
in the Torah is Passover. It is a holiday of rejoicing when Jews all over the
world recall their deliverance from slavery in
The
Number Four (4)
As you study the Passover, notice how often the number four shows up. The great Kabbalist, the Maharal of Prague, teaches that when something is true, it is true on every possible plane. It is true philosophically, linguistically, mathematically and spiritually.
And so we learn that the number four is the number more than any other that encapsulates the message of exile and redemption, otherwise it would not be the one used. Keep in mind that our Sages teach us that the Egyptian exile is the prototype for all future exiles (see the redemption study for more on this topic)..
We were in exile, estranged from our land and from our G-d.
Therefore, HaShem, Blessed be He, redeemed us with four:
Shemot (Exodus) 6:6
Wherefore say unto the children of
1.
I [am]
HaShem, and
2.
I will
bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and
3.
I will
rid you out of their bondage, and
4.
I will
redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:
The redemption of Shemot 6:6 is represented by the four cups of wine.
The Midrash Rabbah explains that the four cups of wine correspond to these four stages of redemption. By contrast, the Gemara says:
Pesachim
117b R. Hanan said to Raba: This
proves that Grace after meals requires a cup [of wine]. Said he to him: Our
Rabbis instituted four cups as symbolizing freedom: let us perform a religious
act with each.
The Gemara indicates that the number four expresses freedom, and connects each cup to a particular mitzva of the seder night: the first cup is that of Kiddush; over the second cup we recite the haggadah; the third cup is that of birkhat Hamazon (Grace after the Meal); and over the fourth cup we recite hallel.
4 cups of wine.
The four questions reflect, that our redemption, if we are to be redeemed, must come about when we leave exile and leave estrangement from HaShem. The question of the wise son reflects that we are only truly free when we stop serving the world and start serving HaShem:
- If we are free, why do we still eat matza -- "the bread of affliction"?
- If we want to recall the bitterness of servitude by eating bitter herbs, why do we recline like royalty?
- Why do we dip our food luxuriously in what represents our
tears?
4 questions.
This exile and estrangement from HaShem embitters the wicked son. He wants to retreat back into the comforting complacency of spiritual exile.
It mystifies the son who no longer believes in answers. We must use the empathy and compassion that a mother would have for her child to free him enough to listen.
But the same paradox frees the simple son to redefine what the experience means to him.
The freest of all is the wise son. Once the door is open, he
asks the most honest question of all "How shall I serve the God who has
made me free?"
4 sons.
The nation of
Celebrated on the
10 + 4th day of Nisan.
The women came to
His Majesty’s empty grave on the fourth day of Passover.
The Jews came out of Mitzrayim (
Bereshit
(Genesis)
The Jews came out of Mitzrayim in the 4th generation:
Bereshit
(Genesis)
We may eat
chametz on Erev Pesach only until the end of the fourth hour
("zemanis"), i.e., only within the first third of the day.
The festival of Passover is given four different names in either the Bible and in the oral Torah:
1. The Festival of Pesach - Shemot 34:25.
2. The Festival of Matzoth - Shemot 23:15.
3. The Time of Freedom and Redemption -(Mishna Pesachim 10:5).
4. The Festival of Spring - Devarim 16:1.
"four
cups of comfort which HaShem will in the future give the Jewish people to
drink."
In the first chapter of Yechezkel, the number four in various ways, appears fourteen times. As the Jews are going into the Babylonian exile, HaShem informs us that He is going into exile as well.
So, as you
study Passover, notice how intimately the number four is woven into the fabric
of this feast. Remember:
The
number four signals a
whole,
a fullness, and a completion. It signals exile, but, it also signals redemption!
Forty (40) is 10 X 4 and is therefore intimately associated with the number four. You will also see this number showing up repeatedly in the story of our exile and redemption. Some well known examples are:
Moses was 40 years in Mitzrayim, 40 years in Midian, and 40 years in the wilderness.
Moses went up on mount Sinai three different times for 40 days each.
The spies spied out the land for 40 days.
The Children of Israel were in the wilderness for 40 years.
The primary theme of Passover is REDEMPTION. The Torah
indicates that each of God's people was redeemed from
Micah 6:1-9 Listen to what HaShem says: "Stand up, plead your case before the
mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, O mountains, HaShem’s
accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For HaShem has a
case against his people; he is lodging a charge against
Unless we see the Passover as though God had personally redeemed each of us, we will fail to understand what
Passover is all about. Passover is all
about OUR redemption!
Shemot (Exodus) 13:14-16 "In days to come, when your son asks
you, 'What does this mean?' say to him, 'With a mighty hand HaShem brought us out of
As you study Passover, notice how often the Torah addresses us personally.
Every redemption of the sons of
Micah 7:12-17 In that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of
Egypt, even from Egypt to the Euphrates and from sea to sea and from mountain
to mountain. The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the
result of their deeds. Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your
inheritance, which lives by itself in a forest, in fertile pasturelands. Let
them feed in Bashan and
The Talmud also speaks of our future redemption in relation to Passover:
Rosh HaShana 11a On New Year the bondage of our ancestors in
Rosh HaShana 11b On New Year the bondage of our ancestors
ceased in
As you study prophecy regarding the "Acharit HaYamim”, the
end of days, notice the striking similarity of our future redemption, to our
redemption from
The redemption from
Thus we see that the
Targum associates the “end of days” with the seventh
day of Pesach!
Moshe himself, the greatest of the Prophets and his sister, Miriam, who was also a great Prophetess, sing / sang the “the Song of the Sea”, which according to Chazal was not focused on the event that had just transpired, the splitting of the sea, but actually on the future of the people of Israel, specifically at the time of "Acharit HaYamim," the "End of Days".
Ok, lets begin our study of Passover, by examining the traditional Torah, and Haftorah, readings that the Sages have compiled for Passover. These are the most important passages for us to remember as we look forward to our redemption. Remember that there are no Nazarean Codicil associated in this list, because the Nazarean Codicil were not yet written at the time that these readings were compiled.
Traditional
readings for Passover
Date |
Torah[9] |
Nevi'im[10] |
Ketuvim[11] |
|
|
|
|
Nisan 14 |
Shemot (Exodus) 12:21-51 |
Yahoshua (Joshua) 3:5-7 |
Tehilim (Psalm) 113 – 118 |
|
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:16-25 |
Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:2 - 6:1 |
|
|
|
Yahoshua (Joshua) 6:27 |
|
Nisan 15 |
Vayikra (Leviticus) |
Melakim alef (I Kings) 23:1-9 |
Tehilim (Psalm) 113 – 118 |
Nisan 16-20 |
|
|
Tehilim (Psalm) 113, 114, 115:12-18, |
|
|
|
Tehilim (Psalm) 116:12-19, 117, 118 |
|
|
|
(Half Hallel) |
Intermediate Shabbat |
Shemot (Exodus) 33:12 - 34:26 |
Yehezekel (Ezekiel) 36:37- 37:14 |
Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) |
Nisan 21 |
Shemot (Exodus) 13:17 - 15:26 |
Shmuel bet (II Samuel) 22:1-51 |
|
|
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25 |
|
|
Nisan 22 |
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 15:19 - 16:17 |
Yeshayahu (Isaiah) |
|
|
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25 |
|
|
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, begin late in the afternoon of Nisan 14. ait is an appointment with HaShem! The Passover seder begins after sunset on Nisan 15. Nisan 15, Passover, is therefore longer because we have added some time from Nisan 14 to Nisan 15. Lets see where this is defined in the scriptures:
Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:5 HaShem’s Passover begins at twilight on the
fourteenth day of the first month.
Shemot (Exodus) 13:4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are
leaving.
5761, September 2001
through September 2007 (approximately), marks the 3,320th anniversary of the
Exodus from
Now, lets examine a chronology of Yeshua's last week of life
as it relates to Passover: The Sages teach us that we do not celebrate Passover
because of the events which happened in
The following is the chronology of the Passover week, in the days of Mashiach ben Yoseph, which I learned from my teacher, His Eminence Hakham Dr. Yoseph ben Haggai.
* * *
EVENING (End of Nisan 12 Beginning of Nisan 13) - Tuesday Evening that year
a.. Sadducees search for Chametz
MORNING (Nisan 13) - Wednesday morning that year
b.. Sadducees burn Chametz before mid-day
AFTERNOON (Nisan 13) - Wednesday about or after
c.. Sadducees kill the Korban Pesach
------------------------------------------------------------
Evening (End of Nisan 13 Beginning of Nisan 14) - Wednesday evening in that year:
a.. Sadducees eat their Korban Pesach and have the Pesach Seder
b.. Mashiach partakes with his Talmidim of this Korban Pesach (only on this year) since the dispute on when the Korban Pesach was to be killed was for the sake of heaven (i.e. that he could eat one and die on the other).
c.. Pharisees search for the Chametz
Late Evening (Nisan 14) Wednesday night that year:
a.. Messiah is
apprehended by the
b.. Messiah is interrogated by the illegitimate High Priest and Priests and delivered to Pilate.
Morning (Nisan 14) - Thursday morning that year:
a.. Pharisees dispose of the leaven
b.. Messiah is tried by Pilate and following the counsel of the illegitimate Priests is disposed off by being sentenced to death
Afternoon (Nisan 14) - Thursday afternoon at bout
a.. Messiah dies hanging on a Roman cross at Maqom Gilgulet for sedition
b.. Pharisees are killing their Korban Pesach
c.. Mashiach is hurriedly laid in a borrowed tomb
------------------------------------------------------------
NISAN 15 - CHAG MATSAH (one day only in Eretz
Evening (Ending Nisan 14 and Beginning of Nisan 15) - Thursday evening of that year
a.. Pharisees eat their Korban Pesach and have their Pesach Seder
Morning and afternoon of Nisan 15 - Friday morning and afternoon of that year
b.. Proper embalming of Messiah
c.. Door of tomb is sealed by order of the Kohanim with a great stone
------------------------------------------------------------
NISAN 16 - SHABBAT CHOL HAMOED PESACH
Evening (Ending Nisan 15 and Beginning Nisan 16) - Friday night of that year
a.. Kabbalat Shabbat for all (Sadducees, Pharisees and Nazareans) - no work allowed
Evening (Ending Nisan 16 and Beginning Nisan 17) Saturday evening of that year
a.. Messiah is risen from the dead sometime during Shabbat
b.. Havdallah (many of the prayers in this service concern the topic of resurrection - and the ritual of extinguishing (transporting) a life (light) from the day (dimension) which is all Shabbat and injecting it into the dimension of time of the living on earth - the sea of wine on the dish)
------------------------------------------------------------
NISAN 17 - Yom Rishon [Chol HaMoed Pesach]
Evening (Ending Nisan 16 and Beginning Nisan 17) Saturday evening of that year
a.. Pharisees cut the first of the first fruits and start counting the Omer since the previous day was Shabbat
b.. Sadducees also start counting the Omer
Dawn - Early morning Nisan 17 - Sunday morning that year
a.. Women visit the tomb
b.. Big earthquake
c.. Soldiers guarding the tomb flee for their lives and inform the corrupt Kohanim of that time
d.. Women are informed by an angel not to fear and that their Master has risen
e.. Miriam is asked not to touch him since he is "not yet ascended (presented) to the Father"
Morning service Nisan 17 at the
a.. The Omer is waved by the High Priest before Ha-Shem at the Bet HaMikdash
b.. Messiah ascends through the 7 heavens (figurative of the seven days) and composed like the ashes of the red heifer of "ESH" (fire) and "MAYIM" (water) and which purify him from his state of ceremonial uncleanness to present himself as the wave offering (first of the first fruits) before Ha-Shem's throne of Glory. Offering accepted.
Afternoon Nisan 17 - Sunday afternoon of that year
a.. Mashiach returns back that same day to earth and again transverses through the seven heavens (a figure of the seven days a person unclean by touching a corpse must wait before being purified, and composed like the waters of the Red Heifer of Aish (fire) and Mayim (water) and is purified once more).
b.. "That very day" His Majesty appears to two of his very terrified Talmidim on the way to a village about seven miles from Yerushalayim called Amma'us and chats and teaches Torah to them.
------------------------------------------------------------
IYAR 18 - LAG BAOMER
Morning/Afternoon
After a period of 40 days teaching his Talmidim after his resurrection (2 Luqas (Acts) 1:3), Mashiach ascends finally to the heavens (2 Luqas 1:6-11), awaiting his return at the time appointed by Ha-Shem, Most Blessed be He!
In the Jewish year of 3828 on the ninth day of the month of
Av, the Romans destroyed the
When His Majesty King Yeshua was Lag B'Omer in age (thirty-three years of age) his body (temple) was put to death by the Roman execution of the cross.
I believe that when Yeshua ascended, He was fulfilling His obligation to send us a Comforter to instruct us in all wisdom. Amen and therefore triumph over Nebuchadnezzar and Pilate ...
Notes:
a.. Nowadays, and after the calendrical reform at the hands of the Pharisees who sit on Moshe’s seat of authority, the calendar has been so engineered as to prevent the counting of the Omer according to the Pharisees to ever coincide with the counting of the Omer according to the Sadducees as it happened that year.
b.. Our contention is that in that year in which the events of the death of His Majesty took place (before the calendrical reform) the counting of the Omer occurred coincidentally on the same day for both Pharisees and Sadducees.
c.. We further contend that the dispute concerning when to eat the Korban Pesach (the night beginning, or the night ending the 14th of Nisan) was one for the sake of Heaven, and which G-d allowed so that His Mashiach could eat and partake of the Korban Pesach of the Sadducees and die at the same time that the Perushim were killing their Korban Pesach as Hakham Shaul (himself a Perushim) informs us in 1 Cor. 5:7.
Because Nisan 15 is appointed
as a day for redemption, we ought to be able to see other Torah events which
have the same themes as the redemption from
Event |
Delivered
from: |
Scripture |
|
|
|
Abram leaves |
The exile in |
Bereshit (Genesis) 15:6-16 |
Abram goes to |
Egyptian bondage and exile |
Bereshit (Genesis) |
Angels visit Abraham |
Circumcision pain |
Bereshit (Genesis) 18:1-18 |
Angels visit |
The |
Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1-29 |
Isaac is born and is Bound |
Jews delivered from death |
Bereshit (Genesis) 18:1-10 |
Yeshua is born and is bound |
Gentiles delivered from death |
Marqos (Mark) |
In the Haggadah we read of the following Passover events:
Of old, You performed many miracles
by night. At the beginning of the first watch of this night.
To the righteous convert (Abraham)
You gave victory when there was divided for him the night.
You judged the king of Gerar
(Abimelech with death) in a dream by night.
You frightened the Aramean (Laban) in
the dark of night.
The first-born children of the
Egyptians You crushed at
They did not find their host when
they arose at night.
You swept away the army of the prince
of Charoshes (Sisera) with the stars of night.
The blasphemer (Senacherib) had
planned to raise his hand against
The idol Bel was overthrown, with its
pedestal, in the darkness of the night.
To Daniel, in whom You delighted, the
secret vision was revealed at night.
He who caroused from the holy vessels
(Belshazzar) was slain on that same night.
From the lions' den was rescued he who
interpreted the meaning of the terrors of the night.
Haman bore hatred in his heart and wrote
proscriptions at night.
You began Your triumph over him when You
disturbed the sleep of his king at night.
You will tread the wine-press to help those who
ask the watchman, 'Ah, when will there be an end to the long night?'
He will exclaim, like a watchman and say"
'Morning will come after this night.'
Bring near the day (with the coming of Mashiach),
that is neither day nor night.
Show, Most High, that Yours is the day as well as
the night.
Appoint watchmen to Your city (
Illumine as with the light of day, the darkness
of the night.
The following is said on the second night of Pesach. On the first night, skip the next passage.
You displayed wondrously Your mighty powers on Passover.
Above all festivals You elevated Passover.
To the Oriental (Abraham) You revealed the future
At his door You knocked in the heat of the day on Passover.
He satiated the angels with matza-cakes on Passover.
And he ran to the herd, symbolic of the sacrificial beast of Passover.
The Sodomites provoked (God) and were destroyed by fire on Passover.
You swept clean the soil of Moph and Noph (
God, You crushed every firstborn of On (In Egypt) on the watchful night of Passover.
But Master, Your own firstborn, You skipped by merit of the blood of Passover.
Not to allow the Destroyer to enter my doors on Passover.
The beleaguered (
Midian was destroyed with a barley cake from the Omer of Passover.
The princes of Pul and Lud (
He (Senacherib) would have stood that day at Nob, but for the advent of Passover.
A hand inscribed the destruction of Zul (
As the watch was set, and the royal table decked on Passover.
Hadassah (Esther) gathered her people for a three day fast on Passover.
You caused the head of the evil clan (Haman) to be hanged on a fifty-cubit gallows on Passover.
Doubly, will You bring in an instant upon Utsis (
Let Your hand be strong, and Your right arm exalted as on the night when You hallowed the festival of Passover.
The Bereshit (Genesis) Passover
Bereshit
(Genesis) 18:1-10 HaShem appeared
to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance
to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men
standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to
meet them and bowed low to the ground. He said, "If I have found favor in
your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought,
and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you
something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way--now that you
have come to your servant." "Very well," they answered, "do
as you say." So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. "Quick,"
he said, "get three se’ahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread."
Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a
servant, who hurried to prepare it. He then brought some curds and milk and the
calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he
stood near them under a tree. "Where is your wife Sarah?" they asked
him. "There, in the tent," he said. Then HaShem said, "I will
surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will
have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent,
which was behind him.
The only kind of bread that you can make quickly is matza
(unleavened bread). That same day the angels saw
Here we have an apparent Passover because of the
1. Unleavened bread.
2. The haste.
3. The leaving of
4. Bereshit
(Genesis)
The Midrash agrees with this assessment:
Midrash
Rabbah - Shemot (Exodus) XV:12 AND THEY SHALL TAKE OF THE BLOOD, AND PUT IT
ON THE TWO SIDE-POSTS (XII, 7): So that I may pass over you and protect you.’
Take care that it be eaten that night, for it says: AND THEY SHALL EAT THE
FLESH IN THAT NIGHT, ROAST WITH FIRE (XII, 8); ‘this is for the sake of Abraham
whom I saved from the fiery furnace. AND UNLEAVENED BREAD (ib.)-in honour of
Sarah who prepared cakes for the angels, though they did not taste bread.[12]
WITH BITTER HERBS (ib.)[13]
in honour of Jacob; for just as his sons were persecuted in
As an aside: Why was HaShem visiting Abraham? If you look in the paragraph which precedes chapter 18, you will notice that Abraham has just circumcised himself and his household. The third day after his circumcision is the most painful day. Therefore, HaShem was visiting His friend, Abraham, who was sick. This is bikur cholim, visiting the sick!
At any rate,
Bereshit
(Genesis) 19:3 And he pressed
upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and
he made them a feast, and did bake
unleavened bread, and they did eat.
This feast this Mishteh that
Esther
8:17 And in every province, and
in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the
Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a
good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the
Jews fell upon them.
Esther
9:17 On the thirteenth day of the
month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a
day of feasting and gladness.
Esther
Esther
9:19 Therefore the Jews of the
villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month
Adar [a day of] gladness and feasting,
and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
Esther
9:22 As the days wherein the Jews
rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow
to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to
another, and gifts to the poor.
In Talmudic literature, the word Mishteh is ONLY used in connection with the Pesach seder and the Purim seudah. The Sages, therefore teach that this Pesach seder was also a Purim seudah! This was a combination feast!
Now lets see what two of those same angels did, on that same
day, for
Bereshit (Genesis) 19:1-3 The two angels arrived at
The sages understood that Isaac was born on Passover. Take a look again at Bereshit (Genesis) 18:14, which is where we are told that Isaac will be born on the festival which Abraham was now celebrating. This began the 400 years spoken about in:
Bereshit (Genesis) 15:12-14 As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a
deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then HaShem said
to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a
country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred
years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward
they will come out with great possessions.
The Talmud confirms this:
Rosh HaShana 10b It has been taught: R. Eliezer says: In
Tishri the world was created; in Tishri the Patriarchs[14] were born; in Tishri the Patriarchs died;
on Passover Isaac was born; on New Year Sarah, Rachel and Hannah were visited;[15] on New Year Joseph went forth from prison
Rosh HaShana 11a Whence do we know that Isaac was born on
Passover? — Because it is written, On the [next] festival[16] I will return unto thee.[17] Now when was he [the angel] speaking?[18] Shall I say [he was speaking] on Passover
and referring to Pentecost? Could she bear in fifty days?[19] Shall I say then that [he was speaking on]
Pentecost and was referring to Tishri? Even in five months could she bear? I
must suppose then that he was speaking on Tabernacles and referring to
Passover.[20] Even so, could she bear in six months? — It
has been taught that that year was a leap year. All the same, if the Master deducts
the days of uncleanness,[21] the time is too short? — Mar Zutra replied:
Even those who hold that when a woman bears at nine months she does not give
birth before the month is complete[22] admit that if she bears at seven months she
can give birth before the month is complete, as it says, And it came to pass
after the cycle of days;[23] the minimum of cycles is two, and the
minimum of days is two.
The Egyptian Passover:
"Place of
Narrowness."
The Torah's name for
To be in "Mitzrayim" is to be in a place of confinement or distress --physical and/or spiritual.
With this in mind, lets examine the Passover that took place in the days of Moses:
Shemot (Exodus) 12:1-14 HaShem said to Moses and Aaron in
"This month shall be the beginning of months" is
the first commandment given to the entire nation of
According to this next passage,
Shemot (Exodus) 12:40-42 Now the length of time the Israelite people
lived in
Notice who came out of
Shemot (Exodus) 12:31-38 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and
Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship
HaShem as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and
go. And also bless me." The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave
the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!"
So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on
their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. The Israelites did as
Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and
for clothing. HaShem had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the
people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the
Egyptians. The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about
six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. Many other
people went up with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks
and herds.
So, not only Israelites, but Gentiles as well! This is
significant because these were the same folks who stood at the foot of
Two of the first things that HaShem tells Moshe when sending
him To take the Jews out of Egypt are that He is rescuing them so as to bring
them to Israel[24]
and that on their way out of Egypt, Moshe Should take them to Har Sinai[25].
Perhaps more than any other holiday, Passover, as presented in Tanakh,
represents a major change in the Jewish people and their relationship to HaShem
and the
* * *
Here is another story which is very much like the story of Moses and the Egyptian Passover:
Shoftim (Judges) 6:11-22 The angel of HaShem came and sat down under
the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon
was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the
angel of HaShem appeared to Gideon, he said, "HaShem is with you, mighty
warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if HaShem is with us,
why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers
told us about when they said, 'Did not HaShem bring us up out of
Here we see Gideon able to stand up to an angel and demand to know where his signs and wonders are. Throughout the Tanakh when a man encountered an angel, he would fall on his face like a dead man. How did Gideon generate the strength to talk to an angel like this? The Sages teach us that it was the first day of Passover and Gideon’s father had just inspired him at the seder table. Thus Gideon was imbued with the spiritual strength to stand up to the angel.
* * *
Bereshit
(Genesis) 15:9-16 So HaShem said to him, "Bring me a heifer, a
goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young
pigeon." Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the
halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then
birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun
was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness
came over him. Then HaShem said to him, "Know for certain that your
descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be
enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they
serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You,
however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In
the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin
of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
This word "generation" means:
1755 dowr, dore; or (short.) dor, dore; from 1752; prop. a revolution of time, i.e. an age or generation; also a dwelling:-age, X evermore, generation, [n-] ever, posterity.
So, we can see that HaShem is using this ambiguous word to not only indicate a generation, but, also to indicate the fourth millennium after Abram which would put us at the beginning of the seventh millennium - The millennium ruled by Yeshua!
* * *
The following is a summary of all Biblical events that occurred during Passover, that I have found so far:
14th
Fast-day of the first-born. Soferim 21
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 104. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
Cain and Able offer their sacrifices. Bereshit
(Genesis) 4:3-5, PdRE, section
21, Yonaton b. Uziel
Mordecai and the Jews fast for the second day. Esther
4:16
Preparation day. Yochanan (John) 19:14, 31
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 37. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Levites still consecrating the temple in
Hezekiah's day, day 14. II Divrei Hayamim 29:17
Naomi and Ruth
arrived in
King Hezekiah fell critically ill. According
to Seder Olam, King Hezekiah was taken ill three days before the defeat of King
Sennacherib - day 3. 2 Kings 20:1, Seder Olam 23
Yeshua has a Pesach seder. Yochanan
(John) 13:1
Paschal lambs are killed at twilight. Shemot
(Exodus) 12:1-6
Pilate releases Barabbas. Matityahu (Matthew) 27:15-21
Yeshua was crucified. Yochanan (John) 19:42
Curtain
of the temple rent. Matityahu (Matthew) 27:51
Holy dead are raised to life. Matityahu
(Matthew) 27:52-53
Darkness came over all the land from the sixth
until the ninth hour. Matityahu (Matthew) 27:34-45
15th
Pesach
/ Hag ha-Matza. A Sabbath of Sabbaths (Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:6-7) (15 -
21) Shemot
(Exodus)
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 105. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
Abram leaves Haran Shemot (Exodus) 12:40-41,
Bereshit
(Genesis) 12:1-10
God makes the "covenant between the
parts" with Abram. Bereshit (Genesis) 15:18, Seder Olam 5
Abraham learns of
God afflicts Pharaoh, orders Abram and Sarai
to leave
God afflicts Abimelech in a dream, regarding
Sarah. Bereshit (Genesis) 20, The Haggadah
G-d made a covenant, between the parts, with
Abraham. Bereshit (Genesis)
Abraham is visited by angels and told that
Isaac will be born next year. Bereshit (Genesis) 18:10, Seder Olam 5
Lot entertains two angels, then
Isaac was born after a 7 month pregnancy, in a
leap year. Shemot (Exodus) 12:40-41, Bereshit (Genesis) 18, 19, Rosh
Hashanah
10b
Abraham binds Isaac (Akeida).
Bereshit
(Genesis) 22:1-18 (see the Zohar on Bereshit (Genesis) 28:11)
Isaac was sacrificed, according to the Rabbis.
Bereshit
(Genesis) 22
Isaac blesses Jacob. Bereshit (Genesis) 27:4; Yonatan b. Uziel; PdRE 2, Rashi on
Bereshit (Genesis) 27:9
God tells Laban to leave Jacob alone, in a
dream. Bereshit (Genesis) 31:24, The Haggadah
Jacob wrestles with an angel. Bereshit
(Genesis) 32:24, The Haggadah
God destroys
Death of Job. Jer. Sotah 5:8
Jacob and sixty-nine descendants enter
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 38. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Moses saw the burning bush. Shemot
(Exodus) 3:2, Bahya, Bo
Israelites in
Egyptian officials beg Moses and the
Israelites to leave. Shemot (Exodus) 11:8
Egyptians bury their firstborn. Shemot
(Exodus) 33:3-4
Israelites leave Rameses and journey towards
Succoth, day one. The Exodus begins! Shemot (Exodus) 12:48-51 - 2448 AM
All males to appear before HaShem in Jerusalem.
Devarim
(Deuteronomy) 16:16
Israelites celebrate Pesach in the Sinai
desert. Bamidbar (Numbers) 9:1-5
Yahoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites celebrate
Pesach at Gilgal. Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:10
Yahoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites besiege
Gideon destroys Midian with the omer’s barley
cake. Shoftim (Judges) 7, Midrash Yalkut 62, The Haggadah
HaShem swept away the army of the prince of Charoshes (Sisera) with the
stars of night. Shoftim (Judges) 4 and 5, The
Haggadah
Levites still consecrating the temple in
Hezekiah's day, day 15. II Divrei Hayamim 29:17
God heals the people. II Divrei Hayamim 30:1-20
Exiles celebrated with joy because Assyrian
King to help with temple. Ezra 6:22
Josiah celebrates Pesach in the midst of
removing idolatry. Melakim bet (Melakim alef (I Kings))
The Assyrian army of Sennacherib, which
threatened
Nebuchadnezzar had a dream about a statue of
four metals. Daniel 2 and 3, The Haggadah
The hand writing on the wall delivers a
message of judgment to Belshazzar. Daniel 5, The Haggadah
Daniel is thrown into the lion's den. Daniel
6, The Haggadah
Israelites who returned from Babylonian exile,
celebrated Pesach. Ezra 6:19-22
Vashti is executed by King Xerxes. Esther
1:21; Derash le-Purim
King Achashverosh has his sleep disturbed. Esther
6:1
Mordecai is honored by Haman and king
Achashverosh. Esther 5:1 - 6:10
Mordecai and the Jews fast for the third and last day. Esther
4:16
Esther
invites the king to feast. Esther 5:1-4, Seder Olam 29
To be celebrated during the millennium. Yehezekel
(Ezekiel) 45:21-24
Yochanan (John) the Baptist is born. Luqas
(Luke) 1:24
Joseph and Mary celebrate Pesach in
Yeshua performs miracles and is believed. Yochanan
(John) 2:23
Yeshua's first day in the grave. Matityahu
(Matthew) 27:62
Chief priests and Pharisees get Pilate to make
the tomb of Yeshua secure. Matityahu (Matthew) 27:62-66
Peter is arrested. II Luqas (Acts) 12:3
The day of vengeance when the winepress is
trodden. Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 63, The Haggadah
The exile ends with unique day, without
daytime or nighttime. Zechariah 16:6, Micah
Haggadah
Double misfortune will You bring in an instant
upon Utsis (
Pesach will be celebrated in Yehezekel
(Ezekiel)'s future. Yehezekel (Ezekiel) 45:21-22
Torah
section is Shemot (Exodus) 12:21-51;
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25. Haftorah
is Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:2 - 6:1.
16th
Hag
ha-Matza - Second day. A partial Sabbath (Mishna: Seder Moed: Tractate Moed
Katan). Shemot (Exodus) 12:17-20
The Omer or the day after Pesach - bread of the FIRSTFRUITS (Pharisees)
Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:15
The Omer is offered. Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:14, Rambam, Temidin U'Musafin 7:2-17
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 106. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
Birth of Levi. Midrash Tadshe, Midrash Yalkut 1
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 39. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Israelites leave Rameses and journey towards
Succoth, for three days. Shemot (Exodus) 12:48-51
The supply of manna was exhausted. Kiddushin 38a
The Omer was offered for the first time by
Jews in
Israelites eat produce of the promised land
(2488 BCE). Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:11
Bread from heaven (Manna) stopped. Yahoshua
(Joshua) 5:12
Yahoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites march
around
An angel ordered Gideon to attack the
Midianites. Shoftim (Judges)
King Saul’s seven sons were killed. Midrash Rabbah, Naso, ch.8
David and his men eat consecrated bread. Luqas
(Luke) 6:1-5 and 1 Samuel 21:1-6? [26]
Hezekiah finishes consecrating the
Esther, Haman, and the king feast. King kills
Haman. Esther 5:5-5
Haman was hanged. Esther 7:10, Seder Olam 29
Mordecai becomes chief minister in place of
Haman. Esther 8:2
Cyrus, King of Persia, captured
Yeshua's disciples pick grain on the day
(partial Sabbath)
after Pesach. Luqas (Luke) 6:1,
Matityahu
(Matthew) 12:1 - 13:30 2
Yeshua tells the parable of the wheat and the
tares. Matityahu (Matthew) 13:24-30
Yeshua heals the man with the withered hand. Matityahu
(Matthew) 12:9-16
Yeshua gives sight and hearing to a demon
possessed man. Matityahu (Matthew) 12:22-23
Yeshua tells the parable of the wheat and the
tares. Matityahu (Matthew) 13:24-30
Two Miryams prepared spices and perfumes to
embalm Yeshua. Luqas (Luke) 23:56
Yeshua's second day in the tomb. Yochanan
(John) 19:30-36
Torah
section is Vayikra (Leviticus)
17th
Hag
ha-Matza - Third day. Shemot (Exodus) 12:17-20
The Omer, day 2.
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 107. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 40. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Israelites leave Rameses and journey towards
Succoth, day two. Shemot (Exodus) 12:48-51
Moses collects Joseph's bones. Shemot
(Exodus) 13:19
Yahoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites march
around
Haman’s plans came to naught. Esther
Resurrection
Sabbath. Yeshua rose from the dead, at the end of the third day. It is a
Sabbath. Matityahu (Matthew) 12:48
Yeshua heals the man with a withered hand on
the Sabbath after Pesach. Luqas (Luke) 6:6-11
Peter is arrested and imprisoned by Herod. II
Luqas (Acts) 12:3
Torah
section is Shemot (Exodus) 13:1-16;
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25. There is no Haftorah.
18th
Hag
ha-Matza - Fourth day. Shemot (Exodus) 12:17-20
The Omer, day 3.
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 108. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 41. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Pharaoh was informed that the Hebrew slaves
had escaped. Shemot (Exodus) 14:5,
Rashi
Israelites journey from Succoth to Etham, day
one. Shemot
(Exodus) 13:20
Yahoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites march
around
Yeshua, at 12 years old, stays in
God removes Yeshua's grave covering stone. Marqos
(Mark) 16:2-4
Two Miryams come to Yeshua's tomb to embalm
Him. Yochanan
(John) 20:1-9
Yeshua tells the women not to touch Him. Yochanan
(John) 20:17
Yeshua’s alive! It is resurrection day 1.
Yeshua opens the scriptures on the road to
Emmaus. Luqas (Luke) 24:13
Yeshua shows Himself to ten apostles in the
upper room, the evening of the first day of the week. Yochanan (John) 20:19
Torah
section is Shemot (Exodus) 22:24 - 23:19;
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25. There is no Haftorah.
19th
Hag
ha-Matza - Fifth day. Shemot (Exodus) 12:17-20
The Omer, day 4.
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 109. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 42. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Pharaoh set out in pursuit of the Israelites. Shemot
(Exodus) 14:5, Rashi
Israelites journey from Succoth to Etham, day
two. Shemot
(Exodus) 13:20
Yahoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites march
around
Yeshua appears to the ten apostles. Yochanan
(John) 20:19, Luqas (Luke) 24:21-36
Yeshua’s alive! It is resurrection day 2.
Torah
section is Shemot (Exodus) 33:12 - 34:26;
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25. There is no Haftorah.
20th
Hag
ha-Matza - Sixth day. Shemot (Exodus) 12:17-20
The Omer, day 5.
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 110. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 43. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Israelites journey from Succoth to Etham, day
three. Shemot (Exodus) 13:20
Pharaoh and his army caught up with the
Israelites. Shemot (Exodus) 14:5,
Rashi
Yahoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites march
around
Yeshua’s alive! It is resurrection day 3.
Yeshua needs the sprinkling for touching the
dead. Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:11-13
Torah
section is Bamidbar (Numbers) 9:1-14; 28:19-25.
There is no Haftorah.
21rst
Hag
ha-Matza - Seventh day. Shemot (Exodus) 12:17-20
The Omer, day 6.
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 111. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
HaShem wipes out the world with water in
Noah's day. Noah and his family preserved. Bereshit (Genesis) 6:6-7 - TC, AC
Jacob left Laban’s home to return to
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 44. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Pharaoh’s decree against Israelite male
infants was canceled. Sotah 12b
Israelites camp at the tower, towards the
mouth of the gorges, opposite the hidden destroyer. Shemot (Exodus) 33:7
Israelites are baptized in the
God removes wheels from Egyptian chariots. Shemot
(Exodus) 14:24-25
God destroys Pharaoh's army, chariots, and
horses with water. Shemot (Exodus) 14:21-28, TC, AC
Moses and Miriam sing the song of Moses to
HaShem. Shemot (Exodus) 15
God refines
Israelites crave meat from God. Bamidbar
(Numbers) 11:4, TC [27]
God forms the Sanhedrin from the spirit of
Moses. Bamidbar (Numbers) 11:16-25, TC
Yahoshua (Joshua) and the Israelites march
around
Yahoshua
(Joshua) 6:1ff
God destroys Sicera's army, chariots, and
horses with water. Shoftim (Judges) 4:4 - 5:31, TC
Deborah holds court to decide disputes of the
Israelites. Shoftim (Judges) 4:4-5, TC
Deborah sings a song to HaShem. Shoftim
(Judges) 5, TC
David sings a song to HaShem. 2
Samuel 22, AC [28]
Yeshua’s alive! It is resurrection day 4.
Peter is freed by an angel. Act
12:3-10
Disciples were
gathered together for prayer. II Luqas (Acts) 12:3-12
Peter is
released from prison by an angel. Peter went to Mary's house (the mother of
Yochanan (John) Marqos (Mark))
II Luqas (Acts) 12:3-12
Herod searches
for Peter, cross examines guards, executes guards, and travels from Judea to
II Luqas (Acts)
This is the day
God will destroy the wicked and baptize the righteous with fire. Matityahu
(Matthew)
TC
Solemn Assembly required on this last day of
the Hag ha-Matza. Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:8
Torah section is Shemot
(Exodus) 13:17 - 15:26; Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:19-25. Haftorah is 2 Samuel 22:1-51.
22nd
The Omer, day 7, week 1.
Water swells on the earth in the days of Noah.
Day 112. Bereshit (Genesis) 7:24
Isaac is circumcised. Bereshit (Genesis) 21:4, Shemot
(Exodus) 12:40-41, Bereshit (Genesis) 18, 19, Rosh Hashanah 10b
Yocheved hides Moses after a 6 month and one
day pregnancy - day 45. Artscroll Mesorah on Shavuot, page 61.
Israelites start crossing the
Yahoshua (Joshua) begins his march around
Zechariah and Elizabeth circumcise, and name,
Yochanan (John) the Baptist. Luqas (Luke) 1:57-63
Yeshua, at 12 years old, stays in
Yeshua’s alive! It is resurrection day 5.
Paul leaves
Phillipi after spending 3 months there. Day
1 II Luqas (Acts) 20:6
Yahoshua (Joshua) observed Passover just before eating the produce of the land:
Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:10-12 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the
month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of
The bread from heaven stopped the day after Passover...hmmm...
In the time of Yahoshua (Joshua), Passover was the time when
the generation born in the desert finally got circumcised[29]
bringing them into the covenant with HaShem. Passover also coincided with the
end, of the manna[30].
Many people think that the point of the manna stopping was for the Jews to
learn how to eat "the hard way" by planting and growing their own
food. However, we are told explicitly[31]
that the food of
Josiah celebrated Passover prior to his revival
Melakim bet (II Kings)) 23:21-23 The king gave this order to all the people:
"Celebrate the Passover to HaShem your God, as it is written in this Book
of the Covenant." Not since the days of the judges who led
Hezekiah celebrated Passover
Divrei Hayamim 30:1-20 Hezekiah sent word to all
The first major prophecies given for
Divrei Hayamim 35:1-19 Josiah celebrated the Passover to HaShem in
Although the Book of Samuel makes no direct mention of
Passover’s observance, we are told[38]
that the Pesach celebration of Josiah was the greatest one since the time of
Samuel. The implication is that during Samuel's time Passover was observed. In
Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 7, we are told of how Samuel got all the Jews to repent,
after which they were able to re-conquer parts of
In the days of Josiah, it became clear that exile was
imminent. Josiah The King started a last gasp teshuva movement, but he was
hardly trying to avoid exile. After all, the prophetess Hilda had already
informed him that no matter how righteous he was, the biggest reward that
HaShem was offering was to bring the exile after Josiah's death[45].
No exile at all wasn't an option. So, Josiah wasn't trying to avoid exile.
Rather, he was trying to do what he knew was right, even though things seemed
hopeless. Regardless of the approaching exile, he saw it necessary to make a
new covenant with HaShem[46].
Much as the people settled the land with the observance of, they observed
Pesach again when they knew things were hopeless. The comparison[47]
between the Passovers of Josiah and Samuel as the biggest Passovers brings out
the parallel between the gradual establishment of Children of Israel in
The returning Babylonian exiles celebrated Passover:
Ezra 6:19-21 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the
Passover. The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all
ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the
exiles, for their brothers the priests and for themselves. So the Israelites
who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated
themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to
seek HaShem, the God of
The Passover of Zerubbabel once again kept with the theme of
returning to HaShem and settling
Joseph and Mary celebrated the Passover
Luqas (Luke) 2:41-52 Every year his parents went to
Yochanan (John) the
Baptist was born during Passover. We can calculate his birthday from:
Luqas (Luke) 1:5-24 In the time of Herod king of Judea there
was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of
I think that the following parable is prophetic and speaks of Yeshua's resurrection, the Lamb of God, on the Sabbath when His Father drew Him out of the "pit":
Matityahu (Matthew) 12:9-13 Going on from that place, he went into
their synagogue, And a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a
reason to accuse Yeshua, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the
Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls
into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good
on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your
hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as
sound as the other.
and:
Luqas (Luke) 14:3-6 Yeshua asked the Pharisees and experts in
the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" But they
remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away. Then
he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well
on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" And they
had nothing to say.
Elijah is expected to return at Passover time as we can deduce from the above verses and from:
Matityahu (Matthew) 11:7 As Yochanan (John)'s disciples were
leaving, Yeshua began to speak to the crowd about Yochanan (John): "What
did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what
did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine
clothes are in kings' palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes,
I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:
'I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.'
I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone
greater than Yochanan (John) the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than he. From the days of Yochanan (John) the Baptist until
now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay
hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until Yochanan (John).
And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.
The Maharal points out how the Korban Pesach, with all its
of laws, is an indication of unity between
1) It was a mitzva to roast and eat the Korban Pesach "with its head on its knees". That is to say complete, and not cut into smaller pieces (unlike every other type of sacrifice). Something which indicates unity must be whole. (Shemot 12:9)
2) The Korban Pesach was eaten in one house, and only by the family group that was registered for that particular animal. Something which indicates unity must be concentrated in one place. (Shemot 12:46)
3) The Korban Pesach was taken from a 1 year old sheep or goat. The number one indicates unity. (Shemot 12:5)
4) The Korban Pesach was taken from the goats or sheep, but not from the cattle. A goat or sheep is a more delicate and tender animal. If it received a wound on one of its limbs, the animal itself would suffer the pain of the injury. An ox or cow, due to its bulk, would not be so affected by a similar wound. It would only feel pain in that particular limb.
5) The Korban Pesach was roasted over the fire. Cooking in water causes meat to become soggy and the pieces separate. Roasting over the fire draws out the juices and the meat becomes consolidated, another indication of unity. (Shemot 12:8-9)
6) It was prohibited to break any of the bones of the Korban Pesach. Again, any thing whole and not broken is an indication of unity. (Shemot 12:46)
By eating the Pesach according to all of it's laws, a Jew
demonstrated his unity with HaShem. This is the unity which He invested in
Future Passover
Yehezekel (Ezekiel) gave new instructions for the millennium Passover:
Yehezekel (Ezekiel) 45:21 "'In the first month on the
fourteenth day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting seven days,
during which you shall eat bread made without yeast. On that day the prince is
to provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people
of the land. Every day during the seven days of the Feast he is to provide seven
bulls and seven rams without defect as a burnt offering to HaShem,
and a male goat for a sin offering. He is to provide as a grain offering an
ephah for each bull and an ephah for each ram, along with a hin of oil for each
ephah. "'During the seven days of the Feast, which begins in the seventh
month on the fifteenth day, he is to make the same provision for sin offerings,
burnt offerings, grain offerings and oil.
Notice the different sacrifice requirements
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:16-22 "'On the fourteenth day of the
first month HaShem’s Passover is to be held. On the fifteenth day of this
month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast.
On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Present to
HaShem an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of two young bulls,
one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With each bull
prepare a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with
oil; with the ram, two-tenths; And with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth.
Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you.
Yeshua and Passover
Matityahu (Matthew) 26:17-30 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, the disciples came to Yeshua and asked, "Where do you want us to
make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" He replied, "Go into
the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is
near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your
house.'" So the disciples did as Yeshua had directed them and prepared the
Passover. When evening came, Yeshua was reclining at the table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you
will betray me." They were very sad and began to say to him one after the
other, "Surely not I, Lord?" Yeshua replied, "The one who has
dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go
just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of
Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born." Then Judas, the
one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" Yeshua
answered, "Yes, it is you." While they were eating, Yeshua took
bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying,
"Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks
and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until
that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." When they
had sung a hymn, they went out to the
Marqos (Mark) 14:12-26 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Yeshua' disciples
asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to
eat the Passover?" So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go
into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say
to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room,
where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large upper
room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." The disciples
left, went into the city and found things just as Yeshua had told them. So they
prepared the Passover. When evening came, Yeshua arrived with the Twelve. While
they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "I tell you the truth,
one of you will betray me--one who is eating with me." They were saddened,
and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?" "It is one of
the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me.
The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who
betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been
born." While they were eating, Yeshua took bread, gave thanks and broke
it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank
from it. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for
many," he said to them. "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again
of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the
Luqas (Luke) 22:7-38 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on
which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Yeshua sent Peter and Yochanan
(John), saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the
Passover." "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" they asked.
He replied, "As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet
you. Follow him to the house that he enters, And say to the owner of the house,
'The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with
my disciples?' He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make
preparations there." They left and found things just as Yeshua had told
them. So they prepared the Passover. When the hour came, Yeshua and his
apostles reclined at the table. And he said to them, "I have eagerly
desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I tell you, I will
not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the
Yochanan (John) 13:1-31 It was just before the Passover Feast.
Yeshua knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the
Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full
extent of his love. The evening meal was being served, and the devil had
already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Yeshua. Yeshua knew
that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from
God and was returning to God; So he got up from the meal, took off his outer
clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water
into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel
that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him,
"Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Yeshua replied, "You do
not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." "No,"
said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Yeshua answered,
"Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." "Then,
Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my
head as well!" Yeshua answered, "A person who has had a bath needs
only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not
every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was
why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet,
he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I
have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,'
and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have
washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an
example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no
servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who
sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. "I
am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to
fulfill the scripture: 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against
me.' "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen
you will believe that I am He. I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I
send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me." After
he had said this, Yeshua was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you
the truth, one of you is going to betray me." His disciples stared at one
another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple
whom Yeshua loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this
disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means." Leaning back against
Yeshua, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Yeshua answered, "It is
the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the
dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son
of Simon. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. "What
you are about to do, do quickly," Yeshua told him, But no one at the meal
understood why Yeshua said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money,
some thought Yeshua was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to
give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out.
And it was night. When he was gone, Yeshua said, "Now is the Son of Man
glorified and God is glorified in him.
Yochanan (John) then records a long discourse by Yeshua
Points to remember
Matityahu (Matthew) 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matityahu (Matthew) 26:17-30 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, the disciples came to Yeshua and asked, "Where do you want us to
make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" He replied, "Go into
the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is
near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your
house.'" So the disciples did as Yeshua had directed them and prepared the
Passover. When evening came, Yeshua was reclining at the table with the Twelve.
And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you
will betray me." They were very sad and began to say to him one after the
other, "Surely not I, Lord?" Yeshua replied, "The one who has
dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go
just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of
Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born." Then Judas, the
one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" Yeshua
answered, "Yes, it is you." While they were eating, Yeshua took
bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying,
"Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took the cup, gave thanks
and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until
that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." When they
had sung a hymn, they went out to the
On preparation day Yeshua is crucified and placed in the tomb
Marqos (Mark) 15:42-46 It was Preparation Day (that is, the
day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, Joseph of Arimathaea, a
prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of
God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Yeshua' body. Pilate was surprised to
hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Yeshua
had already died. When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave
the body to Joseph. So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body,
wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he
rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
Yochanan (John)
Preparation day was the day BEFORE the high Sabbath of Passover:
Shemot (Exodus) 12:15-19 For seven days you are to eat bread made
without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for
whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh
must be cut off from
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:2-8 Sacrifice as the Passover to HaShem your
God an animal from your flock or herd at the place HaShem will choose as a
dwelling for his Name. Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven
days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in
haste--so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your
departure from Egypt. Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land
for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the
first day remain until morning. You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town
HaShem your God gives you Except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for
his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun
goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. Roast it and
eat it at the place HaShem your God will choose. Then in the morning return to
your tents. For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an
assembly to HaShem your God and do no work.
The day AFTER Preparation day was a SPECIAL Sabbath
Yochanan (John)
The day AFTER Preparation day, Yeshua's tomb was sealed
Matityahu (Matthew) 27:62-66 The next day, the one after Preparation
Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir,"
they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said,
'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made
secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the
body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last
deception will be worse than the first." "Take a guard," Pilate
answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went
and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:6-8 On the fifteenth day of that month HaShem’s
Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made
without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.
For seven days present an offering made to HaShem by fire. And on the seventh
day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.'"
The plagues
were God's judgment upon the gods of
Shemot (Exodus)
Difficulties
Yeshua arose on the first day of the week?
Marqos (Mark) 16:9 When Yeshua rose early on the first day of
the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven
demons.
This verse should probably be read as:
Marqos (Mark) 16:9 Now after Yeshua had risen, early on the
first day of the week He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had
cast out seven demons.
How can Yeshua be the Passover lamb if He eats the Passover seder on Passover? Consider that Yeshua started twenty-four hours early and finished taking the fourth cup on the cross! Right on time!
Matityahu (Matthew) 26:17 On the first day of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Yeshua and asked, "Where do
you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
Marqos (Mark)
Luqas (Luke) 22:7-8 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on
which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. Yeshua sent Peter and
Yochanan (John), saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the
Passover."
Marqos (Mark)
Luqas (Luke)
Yeshua ate the Passover about 23 hours early without the lamb and with only three of the four cups. He finished the fourth cup on the cross:
Yochanan (John) 19:29-30 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they
soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and
lifted it to Yeshua' lips. When he had received the drink, Yeshua said,
"It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his
spirit.
Mary and Mary Magdalene went to the tomb on the first day of the week.
Luqas (Luke) 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in
the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
Why did Yeshua tell
Mary not to touch Him?
Yochanan (John) 20:16-17 Yeshua said to her, "Mary." She
turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means
Teacher). Yeshua said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned
to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my
Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Bamidbar (Numbers) 19:11-22 "Whoever touches the dead body of
anyone will be unclean for seven days. He must purify himself with the water on
the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not
purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. Whoever
touches the dead body of anyone and fails to purify himself defiles HaShem’s
tabernacle. That person must be cut off from
Could it also be that Yeshua was still experiencing separation from His Father?
Matityahu (Matthew) 27:46 About the ninth hour Yeshua cried out in a
loud voice, <"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?">--which means,
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
Marqos (Mark)
Passover and the firstborn are very closely linked.
Shemot (Exodus) 4:21-23 HaShem said to Moses, "When you return
to
Bereans (Hebrews) 12:22-24 But you have come to
God always deals with transgressions "in kind". Therefore, the firstborn of the wicked will be killed because They are killing God's firstborn.
Shemot (Exodus) 11:4-8 So Moses said, "This is what HaShem
says: 'About
Notice (above) that HaShem is going to kill EVERY FIRSTBORN MALE for keeping HaShem's firstborn males. This is important to note because of what HaShem will require of the Israelites after this.
Shemot (Exodus) 13:1-16 HaShem said to Moses, "Consecrate
to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the
Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal." Then Moses said to
the people, "Commemorate this day, the day you came out of
The above question, 'What does this mean', is ascribed to the 'simple son' in our Haggadah. So one of the Passover questions deals with the redemption of the firstborn. HaShem said that ALL firstborn belong to Him.
Notice how often HaShem links the firstborn with Passover:
Shemot (Exodus)
Shemot (Exodus) 34:18-21 "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened
Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do
this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out
of
Bamidbar (Numbers) 3:11-13 HaShem also said to Moses, "I have
taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring
of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, For all the firstborn are mine.
When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every
firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am
HaShem."
Bamidbar (Numbers) 3:40-51 HaShem said to Moses, "Count all the
firstborn Israelite males who are a month old or more and make a list of their
names. Take the Levites for me in place of all the firstborn of the Israelites,
and the livestock of the Levites in place of all the firstborn of the livestock
of the Israelites. I am HaShem." So Moses counted all the firstborn of the
Israelites, as HaShem commanded him. The total number of firstborn males a
month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273. HaShem also said to Moses,
"Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of
Bamidbar (Numbers) 8:15-19 "After you have purified the Levites
and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the
Tent of Meeting. They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I
have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring
from every Israelite woman. Every firstborn male in
Bamidbar (Numbers) 18:14-19 "Everything in
Bamidbar (Numbers) 33:3-4 The Israelites set out from Rameses on the fifteenth
day of the first month, the day after the Passover. They marched out boldly in
full view of all the Egyptians, Who were burying all their firstborn, whom
HaShem had struck down among them; for HaShem had brought judgment on their
gods.
Ok, now here are some places to start looking for future Passover events. This first one because of the reference to firstborn:
Revelation 1:4-6 Yochanan (John), To the seven churches in
the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and
who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, And from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and
the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from
our sins by his blood, And has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his
God and Father--to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.
I'd look closely at this one because the Song of Moses was sung on the seventh day of Passover:
Revelation 15:1-4 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous
sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues--last, because with them God's
wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire
and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and
his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God
And sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb:
"Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, HaShem, and bring glory to
your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before
you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."
When it says that they “sang” the song of Moses. the Hebrew is in the future tense, literally they “will sing” the song of Moses.
Seven days after
Passover the Israelites and Moses sang the song of Moses.
Shemot (Exodus) 15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this
song to HaShem: "I will sing to HaShem, for he is highly exalted. The
horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.
Sang is not past tense. It literally means "will sing". The Apostle Yochanan (John) had the following revelation where we learn when Moses will again sing this song:
Revelation 15:1-4 I saw in heaven another great and marvelous
sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues--last, because with them God's
wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire
and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and
his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God
And sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb:
"Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, HaShem, and bring glory to
your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before
you, for your righteous acts have been revealed."
Our way to HaShem is built on the tears we've shed. When we sing the Shirah, it's the greatest moment the Jewish people have ever experienced as a nation, but two things undermine its glory. How can the angels sing, HaShem wants to know, if His creatures (the Egyptians) are drowning. Second, the Shirah is a great event, but forty years of wandering in the desert await the Jews, wars with Amalek, Midianites, spiritual tests, physical tests. The road ahead is rough, this generation will have to die out first before the people enter the Promised Land. All this adds up to a Song aware that the future must contain a greater moment, an ultimate redemption. This idea is alluded to in the first two words. True, Moses 'sang' but there is more that will be sung about—in the future. In the present, in a world not yet redeemed, we cannot truly sing.
Passover and "firstborn" are intimately linked. I
believe that the events in
Bereshit (Genesis) 4:1-8 Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became
pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of HaShem I have
brought forth a man." Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel
kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some
of the fruits of the soil as an offering to HaShem. But Abel brought fat
portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. HaShem looked with
favor on Abel and his offering, But on Cain and his offering he did not look
with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then HaShem said
to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is
right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is
crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Now
Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while
they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
And the righteous firstborn was killed...
And so the Talmud records:
Zevachim 116a The master said: ‘And all offered burnt-offerings’. Only burnt-offerings, but not peace-offerings? Surely it is written, and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen?[52] — Say rather, all offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. But it was taught: But not peace-offerings, save only burnt-offerings? — That is in accordance with the view that the Children of Noah did not offer peace-offerings.[53] For it was stated, R. Eleazar and R. Jose b. Hanina [disagree]. One maintained: The Children of Noah offered peace-offerings; while the other maintained: They did not. What is the reason for the view that the Children of Noah did offer peace-offerings? — Because it is written, And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat [heleb] thereof.[54] What thing is it whose ‘fat’ [heleb] [only] is offered on the altar, but the whole of it is not offered on the altar? Say, that is a peace-offering. What is the reason of the view that the Children of Noah did not offer peace-offerings? — Because it is written, Awake, O north, and come, thou south:[55] [this means,] Awake, O people whose rites [were performed] in the north, and come, O people, whose rites [will henceforth be performed] in the north and the south.[56] But as to this master, surely it is written, ‘of the fat thereof’? — That means, of their fat ones.[57] And as to the other master, surely it is written, ‘Awake, O north [etc.]’? — That refers to the ingathering of the exiles.[58]
The Passover sacrifice can be a peace offering, as was alluded to in the above Talmudic reference.
Zevachim 7b WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE PASSOVER-OFFERING AND THE SIN- OFFERING. How
do we know it of the Passover-offering? — Because it is written, Observe the
month of Abib, and prepare the Passover-offering;[59] [this intimates] that all its preparations
must be in the name of the Passover-offering. We have thus found [that] change
in respect of sanctity [disqualifies it]; how do we know [the same of] change
in respect of owner? — Because it says, Then ye shall say: It is the slaughtering
of HaShem's Passover,[60] [which teaches] that the ‘slaughtering’
must be done in the name of the Passover-offering. Now since this teaching is
redundant in respect of change in respect of sanctity,[61] apply the teaching to change in respect of
owner. We have thus found it as a regulation;[62] how do we know that it is indispensable?[63] — Scripture saith, And thou shalt sacrifice
the Passover-offering unto HaShem thy God.[64] To this R. Safra demurred: Does this
[passage], ‘And thou shalt sacrifice etc.’ come for this purpose: Surely it is
required for R. Nahman's dictum? For R. Nahman said in Rabbah b. Abbuha's name:
How do we know that the leftover of a Passover-offering is brought as a
peace-offering?[65] Because it is said, ‘And thou shalt
sacrifice the Passover-offering unto HaShem thy God, of the flock and of the
herd.’ Now surely the Passover-offering comes only from lambs or from goats?[66] Hence we learn that the left-over of the
Passover-offering is to be [utilized] for something which comes from the flock
and from the herd; and what is it? A peace-offering. — Rather, said R. Safra:
‘And thou shalt sacrifice the Passover-offering’ [is required] for R. Nahman's
dictum; ‘Observe the month of Abib’ [is required] for the regulation in respect
of changed sanctity; ‘ Then ye shall say: [It is] the slaughtering of HaShem's
Passover’ [is required] for the regulation relating to change in respect of
owner; ‘it is’[67] teaches that it is indispensable, both in
the former and in the latter cases.[68]
Targum
Pseudo Jonathan Genesis 4:1ff IV. And Adam knew Hava his wife, who
had desired the Angel; and she conceived, and bare Kain; and she said, I have
acquired a man, the Angel of the Lord. And she added to bear from her husband
Adam his twin, even Habel. And Habel was a shepherd of the flock, but Kain was
a man working in the earth. And it was at the end of
days, on the fourteenth of Nisan, that Kain brought of the produce
of the earth, the seed of cotton (or line), an oblation of first things before
the Lord; and Habel brought of the firstlings of the flock, and of their fat;
and it was pleasing before the Lord, and He gave (His) countenance to Habel and
to his oblation; but to Kain and to his oblation He gave no countenance. And
Kain was angered greatly, and the features of his face were downcast. And the
Lord said to Kain, Why hast thou anger, and why are the features of thy face
downcast? If thou doest thy work well, will not thy guilt be forgiven thee? But
if thou doest not thy work well in this world, thy sin is retained unto the day
of the great judgment, and at the doors of thy heart lieth thy sin. And into
thy hand have I delivered the power over evil passion, and unto thee shall be
the inclination thereof, that thou mayest have authority over it to become
righteous, or to sin.
So, the Sages[69] say that Cain and Abel both brought their offerings on Nisan 14 - Passover. Abel's offering, the fat portions of a firstborn lamb are accepted. Cain's offering, firstfruits, was not accepted. The reason that Cain's offering was not accepted is because the first day that the Torah permits the bringing of firstfruits is on Nisan 16, that is, the next day! On Nisan 15, Abel's is the correct offering for Passover.
Why the emphasis on Pesach to be chametz-free (leaven-free)?
On Pesach (Passover) we are forbidden to own chametz (leavened bread, i.e.., virtually any flour product not especially produced for Pesach) or have it in our possession. On the evening preceding Pesach there is a serious search of the home for chametz.
Chametz is described by the Gemara as the Yetzer HaRa, the evil inclination, which prevents us from doing HaShem’s will:
Berachot 17a R.
Alexandri on concluding his prayer used to add the following: Sovereign of the
Universe, it is known full well to Thee that our will is to perform Thy will,
and what prevents us? The yeast in the dough3 and the subjection to the foreign
Powers. May it be Thy will to deliver us from their hand, so that we may return
to perform the statutes of Thy will with a perfect heart!
Passover is the time of freedom -- spiritual freedom (which
is the essence of why HaShem brought us out of
Freedom means having the ability to use your free will to grow and develop. People think they are free when really they are "slaves" to the fads and fashion of their society. Slavery is non-thinking action, rote behavior, following the impulse desires of the body. Our job on Pesach is to come out of slavery into freedom.
One of the freedoms to work on during Pesach is "freedom of the mouth." The sages view the mouth as the most dangerous part of the body. It is the only organ that can cause problems in both direction, what comes in (food and drink) and what goes out (speech). It is so dangerous, it is the only part of the body that has two coverings, hard teeth and soft lips. Most of us are slaves to the mouth, both in what we eat and in what we speak.
On Seder night we fix this. We have the mitzva of speaking
of the leaving
The structure of the Hebrew language hints at the goal of
"freedom of the mouth." Pesach can be divided into two words: Peh
Sach, which means "the mouth speaks", we are commanded to tell the
story of the Exodus the whole night. The Hebrew word, Paro, (Pharaoh, the
persecutor of the Jewish people in the Pesach story) can be divided into two
words: Peh Rah, a "bad mouth." Our affliction of the slavery in
May we all merit on this Pesach to get free from the "bad mouth," and to overcome the "loose mouth" where too much of the wrong food and drink come in and too many inappropriate words slip out.
The Torah indicates that Paro’s magicians could not replicate the plague of kenim, lice:
Shemot
(Exodus)
Why couldn’t the magicians bring forth lice? The Talmud brings us the answer:
Sanhedrin 67b Then the
magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: R. Eleazar, said: This
proves that a magician cannot produce a creature less than a barley corn in
size. R. Papa said: By God! he cannot produce even something as large as a
camel; but these [larger than a barley corn] he can [magically] collect [and so
produce the illusion that he has magically created them], the others he cannot.
So, a louse is too small to be reproduced by the evil side, hmmmm. This suggest that size is important to evil. Evil requires a certain size in order to operate. This includes a certain size of time! Now, since nearly all of the mitzvot of Pesach deal with this issue of size, lets examine some of the mitzvot and their implications.
חמץ - Chametz
מצה - Matza
Chametz (leaven) shares nearly the identical letters with matza (unleavened bread). The only difference is that one has a chet (ח) and the other has a hay (ה). A careful examination of these two letters will reveal that the only difference is one very tiny line. A line so short it is just a point.
What is the difference between matza and chametz? To bake matza, we must have the matza cooked within 18 minutes of the time we first add water to the flour. If we go 18 minutes and one seconds…. The matza becomes chametz.
The difference is one second! The same ingredients that make matza, if left an extra second will become chametz. Again, the difference is very tiny.
Keep in mind that the number 18 is written in Hebrew as: יח These two letters can be reversed to spell: חי Which is the Hebrew word for life!
Now if we eat chametz at Passover, the penalty is spiritual excision:
Shemot
(Exodus)12:15 Seven days shall ye
eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your
houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the
seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
Shemot
(Exodus) 12:19 Seven days shall
there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is
leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel,
whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
WOW! If we eat matza at Passover, it is a mitzva derisa and
we enter the sublime spiritual realms because of the mitzva. But, if we eat the
same stuff that took a second longer to cook, we are completely cut off from
The Torah tells us that the Children of Israel left so quickly that their dough was still matza and not yet chametz:
Shemot
(Shemot (Exodus)) 12:33-34 And
the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the
land in haste; for they said, We [be] all dead [men]. And the people took their
dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their
clothes upon their shoulders.
Now why did the children of
Pesach was a time of an incredible, undeserved, outpouring
of kindness and beneficence from HaShem. The Bnei Israel had descended to the
49th level of impurity and had almost no merits with which to beseech HaShem
for salvation.
Nevertheless, HaShem initiated a great deliverance for Bnei
Therefore, the Torah says that the Bnei Israel left in haste.
Now, why did Bnei
Some would say that if they had remained they would have sunk beyond the 49th level of impurity, to reach a point of no return. I do not think that there was “immediate” danger of this.
The Sages teach (one opinion) that if they had stayed another minute they would have become like angels. They indicate that the spiritual energy was so great that it would have ushered in the Messianic age before they had earned it. This is why they had to leave in haste.
This is where the Bnei Israel must live. They must act when the spiritual energy is at its height.
There is another thing to note in the hasty exodus: The
problem with one more minute in
Bereshit
(Genesis) 38:9-10 And Onan knew
that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his
brother's wife, that he spilled [it] on the ground, lest that he should give
seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased HaShem: wherefore he
slew him also.
Jews are called to make the “seed” count. To live at that moment when there is a transfer of spiritual energy. This is why Avraham said that he was dust and ashes:
Bereshit
(Genesis)
What are dust and ashes? Dust is the dirt that nourishes new growth. Dust is what happens if we remove the water from a thing and put it through fire. This implies that Avraham was constantly at the point of new growth. As soon as the new growth took place, he would ash it and make it into the fertilizer for new growth. He lived at the transitional point of the male ecstatic experience. He was constantly changing himself to conform to the revelation of HaShem.
From this, we can see why the Torah demands that Pesach should take place in the springtime:
Shemot
(Exodus) 12:2-3 This month [shall
be] unto you the beginning of months: it [shall be] the first month of the year
to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of
Shemot
(Exodus)
Now Abib is the Hebrew term for the green ears of barley.
Pesach must be celebrated in the time of the year when the Barley is in the
green ear stage. Pesach must take place at that time of the year when the very
first crop is ripening (as
This should not be too surprising when we remember that the Bnei Israel are to live forever to serve HaShem. This is a state they earn by constantly living beyond time, by constantly making each moment new.
The Sages teach us that there is no punishment for eating less that kasais, the bulk of an olive, of forbidden food, if done accidentally. So, if a drom of milk accidentally falls in the beef stew, we are allowed to eat it. But one Torah prohibition does not follow this standard, chametz. If we even so much as possess, much less eat, the tiniest speck of chametz during Pesach, the punishment is keret, spiritual excision. We have no other mitzva like it. This mitzva declares that we are to live in the moment which is beyond the reach of the Yetzer hara – a moment beyond time.
The Sages teach that the Yetzer hara, evil inclination, cannot touch one who acts immediately at the flash of inspiration from HaShem. If we live at that transcendental moment, we will live beyond the reach of Paro’s magicians, beyond the reach of evil. Then HaShem will reward us midda kneged midda, measure for measure.
The message is very clear: cross the spiritual threshold into the world above nature, and you are untouchable by evil – by Amalek. Remain in the physical world of Amalek, and know that you will be subject to the world and to evil..
The problem with one more minute in
The Inspiration – The male
ecstatic experience – Our redemption is a gift from HaShem:
We are leaving slavery to serve HaShem!
Inspiration quashed:
More work, no straw.
The bad guys get 10 plagues.
Inspiration revived!
We go out
of
Inspiration quashed with a
vengeance!
We are trapped between a sea and an army.
Inspiration Fulfilled – The gift
is ours:
The army is dead – we are free!
The gift is removed – time to
earn the inspiration, time to build and prepare for birth – The female ecstatic
experience:
50 days of hard work, then we will stand as
one at Mt.
Torah.
Now, the inspiration has had
its intended effect. We have all attained to prophecy, we have united as one in
our service of HaShem. The female’s job of building has reached fruition and a
Torah nation is born!
This Passover pattern is repeated daily in our lives:
The inspiration,
the death of the inspiration,
the revival of the inspiration,
the double death of the inspiration,
the hard work of earning what the inspiration promised,
and finally the inspiration is fulfilled – and it is ours,
we have earned it and its reward!
An example:
The inspiration – the male ecstatic experience: Our wife on our honeymoon.
The death of the inspiration: Oh my! I married the wrong woman!
The inspiration revived: We made up!
Double death of the inspiration: Fights, hassles, and money problems.
Inspiration fulfilled – the female ecstatic experience: 50 years of hard work means that our golden wedding anniversary and second honeymoon are even better than our first. And this time all of our children are there too!
Another example:
The inspiration – the male ecstatic experience: The teenager who knows everything, can be anything he wants, and is impervious to bad health.
The death of the inspiration: My first job, slinging hamburgers. I am NOT CEO of IBM. My fingers all have burns and my back is aching.
The inspiration revived: I was made manager of the hamburger joint.
Double death of the inspiration: Been working at the same hamburger joint for 15 years. I am not inspired, I have nothing to show for the last 15 years, I am getting a mid-life bulge, I found a gray hair, and my wife needs more money.
Inspiration fulfilled – the female ecstatic experience: 25 years later, I got promoted to CEO of the burger joint. My gray hair is now a sign of my wisdom, I do not even notice the bulge, and my wife and kids think that I am terrific!
So, what do we learn from this?
We learn that there is an overlap of the spiritual and the physical world:
Spiritual Physical……... |
Where the spiritual overlaps the physical is where God’s people are supposed to live. They are supposed to live in that moment of inspiration (the green area) before the evil has had the time to take hold. We are called to act spiritually within the physical world. We are to live in that transcendent time which is too small for the evil inclination to take hold.
We are supposed to ride that moment of inspiration to the extent that we are so inspired that we never see the death of the inspiration, only the constant building of that inspiration. We are to take the inspiration of Pesach and use it to build a level that carries us through the entire year.
* * *
מצה – Matza
מצוה – Mitzva
Soncino
Zohar, Bereshit, Section 1, Page 157a As R. Hiya and R. Jose were once walking on the road, the latter said:
‘Every time we walk together and discuss matters pertaining to the Torah, God
performs for us miracles, and now that we have a long road before us let us
occupy ourselves in the Torah and so God will join us.’ R. Hiya then opened
with the verse: In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even,
ye shall eat unleavened bread (Ex. XII, 18). ‘This unleavened bread’, he said,
‘is called in another place “bread of affliction” (Deut. XVI, 3), an expression
on which the companions have commented as follows. When Israel were in Egypt
they were under an alien power; and when God desired to bring them near unto
Himself, He assigned them the region of the bread of ’oni (affliction), the
term ’oni admitting also of the reading ’ani (poor), and thus pointing to King
David, who said of himself: “for I am poor (’ani) and needy” (Ps. LXXXVI, 1).
Now this bread of affliction is called matza (unleavened bread), symbolic of
the female principle, which without the male principle is, so to speak, in
poverty. Thus Israel were first brought near the grade symbolized by matza. But
afterwards God caused them to enter other grades, until the male principle
joined the female principle, and so matza received the addition of the letter
vav, symbolic of the male principle, and became converted into mitzva (command,
precept). So Scripture says: “For this commandment” (Deut. XXX, 7): first matza
(unleavened bread), then mitzva (commandment).’
Unleavened bread
Shemot (Exodus) 12:15-20 For seven days you are to eat bread made
without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for
whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh
must be cut off from
Shemot (Exodus) 13:6-7 For seven days eat bread made without yeast
and on the seventh day hold a festival to HaShem. Eat unleavened bread during
those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall
any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.
Shemot (Exodus) 12:21-31 Then Moses summoned all the elders of
"What does this ceremony mean to you?" - This is the Haggadah question asked by the wicked son.
Shemot (Exodus) 12:43-51 HaShem said to Moses and Aaron, "These
are the regulations for the Passover: "No foreigner is to eat of it. Any
slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him, But a temporary
resident and a hired worker may not eat
of it. "It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the
house. Do not break any of the bones. The whole community of
Passover is the festival of "firsts"
It is the first festival in the first month of the year. Shemot (Exodus) 12:2ff
It is the festival of the firstborn of
It is the festival where the firstborn of the wicked are destroyed.
It is the festival where
It is the first sacred assembly.
Shemot (Exodus) 12:16
It is the festival where God first said that the first male belongs to Him. Shemot (Exodus) 13:2
The Passover memorial
Shemot (Exodus) 34:25 "Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice
to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice
from the Passover Feast remain until morning.
Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:4-5 "'These are HaShem’s appointed feasts,
the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: HaShem’s
Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
Passover is to be celebrated forever...not just until Yeshua came!
Shemot (Exodus)
The festival of Passover is given four different names in either the Bible or in the oral Torah:
1. The Festival of Pesach - Shemot (Exodus) 34:25.
2. The Festival
of Matzot - Shemot (Exodus)
3. The Time of Freedom and Redemption -(Mishna Pesachim 10:5).
4. The Festival of Spring (Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:1).
The first night of Passover is also called the "night
of vigil" or the "night of seder", order. Where does the
"seder" come from? We are told that it is in recognition of the fact
that when the children of
"Behold! I send you Eliyahu the prophet before the
great and awesome day of HaShem" (7:3).The night of Pesach is called
"A night of guardings," when the Jewish People are guarded from their
enemies. "A night of guardings" also implies that the night of Pesach
is `guarded', set aside for all time, as the night of the final redemption. In
other words, every year, the night of Pesach, because it contains the power of
the redemption from
Some have suggested that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened bread are two different feasts on two different days. I believe the scriptures teach that these are two names for the same festival, observe that:
1. The day they
came out of
Shemot (Exodus) 13:3-8 Then Moses said to the people,
"Commemorate this day, the day you came out of
2. Passover is specifically said to last seven days[70]:
Yehezekel (Ezekiel) 45:21 "'In the first month on the fourteenth
day you are to observe the Passover, a feast lasting seven days, during which
you shall eat bread made without yeast.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:1-6 Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the
Passover of HaShem your God, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of
3. The Feast of Unleavened bread began on the fourteenth day of the first month as did Passover:
Shemot (Exodus) 12:14-20 "This is a day you are to commemorate;
for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to HaShem--a
lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On
the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with
yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from
Vayikra (Leviticus) 23:5 HaShem’s Passover begins at twilight on the
fourteenth day of the first month.
Ezra puts the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover into the same context. This context indicates both names, the fourteenth of the first month, and that it was celebrated for seven days. Thus, Ezra gives evidence that even in his day Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are the same festival.
Ezra 6:19-22 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles celebrated the
Passover. The priests and Levites had purified themselves and were all
ceremonially clean. The Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the
exiles, for their brothers the priests and for themselves. So the Israelites
who had returned from the exile ate it, together with all who had separated
themselves from the unclean practices of their Gentile neighbors in order to seek
HaShem, the God of
The disciples give us another clear example of how the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are the same festival in:
Matityahu (Matthew) 26:17 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, the disciples came to Yeshua and asked, "Where do you want us to
make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
For those who say that Passover occurs BEFORE the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the above passage indicates otherwise. The above passage clearly has preparation for Passover beginning on the first Day of Unleavened Bread!
This next passage put the Passover and the feast of Unleavened bread together in terms of time; i.e. they were BOTH two days away on the same day!
Marqos (Mark) 14:1 Now the Passover and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the
teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Yeshua and kill
him.
This next passage makes a Passover seder happen on the first day of Unleavened Bread.
Marqos (Mark) 14:12 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Yeshua' disciples
asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to
eat the Passover?"
In this next passage, Luqas (Luke) flat out calls the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Passover:
Luqas (Luke) 22:1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called
the Passover, was approaching,
Our Messiah, Yeshua, commanded us to obey the Pharisees in:
Matityahu (Matthew) 23:2-3 "The teachers of the law and the
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell
you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
The Pharisees have commanded us to celebrate Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a single festival which lasts for seven days. A short look at any Jewish calendar will also verify the understanding and command of the Pharisees.
The Babylonian Talmud, Soncino edition, in Mo'ed Katan 2a, contains a footnote which says:
“I.e., during the middle period of the two longer Feasts, namely, the ‘Feast of Unleavened Bread’ (Passover) and that of Tabernacles, v. Introduction.”
Which clearly indicates that Passover is just another name for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
So, I believe I have sufficiently proven that Passover and the Feast of Unleavened both: Start on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month.
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened both: Last for seven days.
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened both: Commemorate the
day
Passover and the Feast of Unleavened both: Are the same festival according to the Pharisees.
The Torah calls Pesach "Chag HaMatzot." But we call it "Pesach." Why is this so? Rav Chaim Volozhiner explains as follows:
The
word Matzot and the word Mitzvot are spelled exactly the same in Hebrew. Thus
"Chag HaMatzot" can be read "Chag HaMitzvot," meaning that
by leaving Egypt and receiving the Torah, the Jewish People now have the
opportunity to earn great reward by doing the Mitzvot.
Pesach, on the other hand, means Passover: HaShem "passed over" the houses of the Bnei Israel. By calling it Pesach, we emphasize the good that HaShem has done for us.
Our Sages teach us not to serve HaShem with an eye to the reward; rather we should serve Him out of a sense of love and gratitude. By calling it Pesach we de-emphasize the reward that each Mitzva brings, and instead focus on the good that HaShem has done for us. Rabbi Reuven Lauffer
Ever since there has been a Passover to celebrate, it has been an occasion marked by a variety of customs and rites special to different Jewish communities throughout the world. Some traditions are held in common. On the first night of Pesach, every Jew is required to perform five mitzvot. Two are required by the Torah:
1. To eat matza
(Shemot
2. To recount the
story of the Exodus from
The other three are rabbinical ordinances:
1. To drink four cups of wine;
2. To eat maror;
3. To recite Hallel, the psalms of praise.
Other traditions are characteristic of specific communities and we find a great diversity of eating customs, as well as what defines chametz (leaven), between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews. One of the traditions held in common is that of drinking four cups of wine. But whereas Ashkenazi Jews have always poured a fifth cup in honor of the prophet Elijah, it is only in recent generations of Sephardim that we find this custom. Jews of western background have traditionally opened the door for the prophet as part of the "vigil" and to demonstrate that on this night the House of Israel knows no fear but we find this custom in only a few Sephardic communities.
There can be no doubt that the deliverance of the children
of
In
In other North African communities, the men would gather in
the streets, carrying walking sticks, and greet each other by saying:
"This is how our forefathers left
Several Hassidic communities in
During the Seder it is traditional for the youngest child to
ask four questions about the uniqueness of Passover, which the leader answers.
Children are encouraged to participate and to think of their history as if they
themselves had been delivered from slavery. They are also taught in the
Haggadah that, because the Israelites were strangers in
OF EGGS AND SYMBOLISM
An egg is always placed upon the seder plate. Some say that
the round egg, a symbol of mourning, is eaten in memory of either the
destruction of the
Learned scholars of the mystical kabbala attach profound meaning to the symbols of Passover. Chametz, for example, which Jews traditionally do their best to be rid of before the seder, is symbolic of man's evil inclinations. The matzot, on the other hand, symbolizes man's positive inclinations. Different symbols, different customs and traditions, all become part of the glorious Jewish mosaic which is the Festival of Passover.
Unleavened bread
Shemot (Exodus) 12:15-20 For seven days you are to eat bread made
without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever
eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be
cut off from
Evening: same as the above definition
Shemot (Exodus) 13:6-7 For seven days eat bread made without yeast
and on the seventh day hold a festival to HaShem. Eat unleavened bread during
those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall
any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.
The Mishna:
The olah (the burnt offering) is a sacrifice of the kodshei kodashim (the most sanctified category). Its blood is sprinkled upon the altar in two applications which are like four.
The Method:
The Korban (literally means "to draw near") Pesach
(paschal lamb sacrifice eaten on the eve of Pesach in the time of the Beit
HaMikdash) may be eaten only at night (not on the day it is slaughtered as is
the case in regard to all other sacrifices) and only until
The Halakhah:
This Mishna is cited as a support for establishing the
Halakhah according to the view of Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, whose position is
that the Korban Pesach can only be eaten until
The Application:
Even though we have no Korban Pesach today this ruling affects us in regard to the schedule of our Pesach Seder. The Sage Rava states (Pesachim 120b) that since the Torah links the mitzva of eating matza to that of Korban Pesach, one must eat matza, which is a mitzva even when there is no Korban, before midnight according to Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah in order to fulfill the mitzva .
Other Ramifications:
Both Tosefot and Rabeinu Nissim extend this
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 477:1) rules that the
Afikomen should be eaten before
* * *
ORDER OF THE PESACH OFFERING
SAID AFTER THE MINCHA
(AFTERNOON)
"We offer the words of our lips in place of the sacrifice of bullocks."
The Mincha prayer is instead of the daily afternoon offering, and in the time of the Beit HaMikdash the Pesach offering was sacrificed after the daily afternoon offering. Thus it is appropriate to study the order of the Pesach offering after Mincha, and say the following:
The Pesach offering is brought from yearling male lambs or
goats, and slaughtered anywhere in the
One should not slaughter the Pesach offering while chametz is in his possession. If he slaughtered it before the daily afternoon offering, it is acceptable, provided that someone stir the blood of the Pesach offering so that it will not congeal until the blood of the daily afternoon offering will have been sprinkled, and then the blood of the Pesach offering is sprinkled once toward the base of the altar.
How is it done? The shochet slaughters it, and the first Kohen at the head of the line receives it and hands it over to his colleague, and his colleague to his colleague, and the Kohen nearest the altar sprinkles it once toward the base of the altar.
He returns the empty vessel to his colleague, and his colleague to his colleague, receiving first the full vessel and then returning the empty one.[71]
There were rows of silver vessels and rows of golden vessels, and the vessels did not have flat bottoms, lest they set them down and the blood become congealed.
Afterwards they hung the Pesach offering, flayed it completely, tore it open, cleansed its bowels until the wastes were removed.
They took out the parts offered on the altar, namely, the fat that is on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them, and the tail up to the backbone, and placed them in a ritual vessel.
The Kohen then salted them and burned them upon the altar, each one individually.
The slaughtering, the sprinkling of its blood, the cleansing of its bowels and the burning of its fat override the Shabbat, but other things pertaining to it do not override the Shabbat.
Likewise, if [the fourteenth of Nisan] falls on Shabbat, the Pesach offerings are not carried home, but one group remains with their Pesach offerings on the Temple mount, the second group sits in the chel [an area just outside the Temple court], and the third stands in its place [in the courtyard].
After nightfall they go to their places and roast the Pesach offering.
The Pesach offering was slaughtered in three groups, each group consisting of no less than thirty men.
The first group entered, the
Each time Hallel was recited, [the Kohanim, the priests] sounded three blasts of the trumpet: tekiah, Teruah, tekiah.
When the offering was ended, they opened the doors of the
When they finished, they opened the doors, the second group went out and the third entered.
The procedure of each group was the same.
After they all had left, they washed the
How was the washing done? A water duct passed through the
When they wished to wash the floor, they shut the outlet and the stream overflowed its sides until the water rose and flooded the [floor] all around and all the blood and dirt of the court were gathered to it.
Then they opened the outlet, everything flowed out and the
floor was completely clean; this is the honor of the
If the Pesach offering was found to be unfit, one did not fulfill his obligation until he brings another one.
This is a very brief description of the order of the Pesach offering. The God-fearing person should recite it in its proper time, that its recital shall be regarded in place of its offering.
One should be concerned about the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, and plead before HaShem, the Creator of the universe, that He rebuild it speedily in our days; Amen.
* * *
HaShem's Passover lamb can only be slain at the place where HaShem put His name - The Temple:
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:5-6 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any
town HaShem your God gives you Except in the place he will choose as a dwelling
for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the
sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from
* * *
Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson
1. Thirty Days Before The Festival
1. Our Sages of blessed memory
instituted that 30
days before Pesach, the laws of Pesach should begin to be expounded in
public.
2. In our generation, however, when
all the laws have been written in the "Shulchan Aruch," it is a mitzva
for everyone to learn the laws of Pesach, until one knows them well and knows
what to do.
3. Throughout the thirty days before
Pesach, we are careful that no chametz should become attached to anything to
the extent that it cannot easily be removed by Erev Pesach. There is also a
custom to begin cleaning the house and dishes beginning 30 days before Pesach
due to the large amount of work involved.
4. During the 30 days before Pesach,
one should avoid eating matza.
2. The Month of Nisan
1. We do not say "Tachanun"
during the entire month of Nisan, nor do we say "av harachamim" or
"tzidkoscho tzedek" on the "Shabbatot" of this month.
2. From Rosh
Chodesh Nisan until the 12th of Nisan inclusive in the morning after
"shacharit," we say the "nossi" of the day (in parsha
"Nosso").
3. After the "nossi" we say
the "yehi ratzon." Kohanim and Leviim also say it. 4. On the 13th of Nisan
we say from "Zos Chanukat hamizbeiach" until "ken osah et hamenorah"
(in the beginning of parshat "Behaloscho"). This corresponds to the
tribe of Levi.
5. There is no fasting during the
month of Nisan, except for the firstborn who do fast on Erev Pesach and a
bridegroom and bride who do fast on the day of their wedding but not on
"Isru Chag" (the day after Pesach).
3. B’rakhah on the Trees
1. In the days of Nisan, when one
sees trees in bloom, one should say the following B’rakhah:
Blessed are You, L-rd, King of the
universe, who has caused nothing to be lacking in His universe, and has created
in it goodly creatures and goodly trees wherewith to bring delight to mankind.
2. This B’rakhah is only said when
one first sees the blossoming each year, and it is said only on seeing
fruit-trees in bloom.
4. Shabbat HaGadol
1. The Shabbat before Pesach is
called Shabbat HaGadol ("the Great Shabbat") because a great miracle
happened on that Shabbat. The Jews in
2. When "Shabbat HaGadol"
is on Erev Pesach the "Haftorah" read is "V'orvoh." But if
"Shabbat HaGadol" falls on one of the previous days, we read the
"Haftorah" of that week's Torah portion.
3. On "Shabbat HaGadol" (if
it is not the day before Pesach), it is customary for the Hakham to teach his
community the laws of Pesach, showing them the ways of HaShem and instructing
them what they should do.
4. At "Mincha" on
"Shabbat HaGadol" we recite in the Haggadah from "avodim
hoyinu" until "lechaper al kol avonoseinu," because the
redemption and miracles began on that Shabbat.
5. Mo'os Chittim (Money for Matzoths) and the Matza Campaign
1. It is a Jewish custom that every
Jew should contribute money for "mo'os chittim." This money is
distributed to the poor so that they can buy matzoth for Pesach.
2. The Lubavitcher Rebbe Shlita
instituted that before Pesach we should endeavor to send round, hand-baked
"sh'murah matzoth" to our acquaintances to be used on Pesach (at
least for the "Sedorim"). Likewise, wherever communal
"sedorim" are organized (at hotels, etc.) the organizers should
ensure that the matzoth used are of this type.
6. Prohibition of Chametz
1. Chametz includes grains or flour
of the Five Species of Grain (wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt) that have become
leavened, i.e., they have come in contact with water and remained at least 18
minutes without any kneading or agitation whatsoever.
2. Throughout the eight days of
Pesach, we are prohibited from eating or deriving any benefit from chametz. Nor
may chametz be found or seen in the home of a Jew. This is true even if it has
been mixed with something else. Therefore, any product containing the slightest
amount of chametz of any derivative of these Five Species is considered
chametz.
3. A Jew who owns any chametz during
Pesach is at every moment transgressing the Torah prohibition against chametz
being in one's possession. When chametz is owned by a Jew during Pesach, it is
forbidden to derive any benefit from it forever, even if one nullified it
before Pesach.
4. The Torah commands us to destroy
all chametz in our possession on the day before Pesach. Our sages added the
obligation to search our possessions for chametz the night before Pesach and
burn whatever we have found on the following day.
5. If we have a large amount of
chametz, we may sell it to a Gentile before Pesach, as long as it is still within
the time that we may derive benefit from it.
6. It is forbidden to use any
utensils, ovens or stoves, that were used during the year with chametz, since
the chametz has become absorbed. The custom is to use special equipment on
Pesach. However, someone who cannot obtain special utensils can consult a
competent Hakham concerning the methods of purging the chametz and rendering
the utensils fit for Pesach use.
1. We must search for chametz on the
night of Erev Pesach immediately after nightfall.
2. Beginning one-half hour before
nightfall, one should not begin a meal or any work that will take some time, in
case one will miss the time assigned to the beginning of the search.
3. The community should pray
"Ma’ariv" as soon as it is night, and then immediately begin the
search for chametz.
4. If a person is always accustomed
to pray with a "minyan," and this time he does not do so, he should
first pray and then search for chametz. However, if he is always accustomed to
pray alone, he should first search for the chametz.
5. Before the search one should clean
all the rooms well, so that one can search them properly. One should also clean
under the beds in case some chametz was misplaced there. It is customary to sweep
the house by 13 Nisan to enable the search to begin promptly at the nightfall
of 14 Nisan.
6. Before the search, we should
conceal the chametz that we wish to eat later. This is to prevent small
children or mice from taking the chametz into the places and rooms which have
already been searched.
7. Before the search, we take 10
pieces of hard chametz, and place them in different places in the house. Each
piece should be wrapped in paper to ensure that it will not crumble.
8. We use a wax candle and a feather
for the search. We put any chametz found in the search in a paper bag, and also
to dig crumbs out from cracks, etc.
9. Before the search, the head of the
house recites the following "B’rakhah":
Who has sanctified us with His
commandments and commanded us concerning the removal of chametz.
The
members of the household should gather to hear the "B’rakhah," with
the intention that the "B’rakhah" should cover them as well; they
then go and search their assigned places.
10. We may not talk between the
"B’rakhah" and the beginning of the search, even about things that
concern the search. We may not talk about things that do not concern the search
during the entire search.
11. Immediately after the
"B’rakhah" we should search the room closest to the place where the
blessing was heard.
12. The search must be conducted by
the light of a candle.
13. We must search for chametz in all
rooms, including the attic and the basement, and everywhere chametz may have
been brought in during the year.
14. We must search for chametz in the
holes and cracks, in hidden places and in the corners.
15. We need to search in the holes
only as far as the hand reaches; it will suffice to "m'vattel" [to
make null and void. In relation to chametz it means to render the chametz
ownerless, thus avoiding the prohibition against owning chametz on Pesach] that
which is further in.
16. After completing the search, we
put the bag, feather and the remains of the candle (if any), in a wooden spoon.
We wrap them all up in a paper, and tie the paper tightly with string, with the
handle of the spoon protruding.
17. Soon after the search one must
perform the ceremony of "bittul"--the nullification of the hidden
chametz (which might be located somewhere in one's possession), and say the first
"kol chamirah" (the passage that forms the first stage in the process
of "bittul").
"All leaven or anything
leavened which is in my possession, which I have neither seen or removed, and
about which I am unaware, shall be considered nothing and ownerless as the dust
of the earth."
18. One who does not understand the
Aramaic should say "kol chamirah" in any language one understands.
However, if one knows that the intention of "kol chamirah" is to
"m'vattel" the chametz, one must say it in the original although one
does not understand the Aramaic.
19. The main idea behind the
"bittul" is that one decides with all one's heart that the chametz in
one's possession should be "bottel", i.e., belong to no one, as the
dust of the earth.
20. After the search we must be very
careful that the chametz kept for burning, as well as the chametz left for
eating, should not be carried around. This is to ensure that it will not
crumble. We must also be careful that it should not be carried or dragged away
by small children (or mice!).
21. People leaving their home before
Pesach must search for Chametz the night before their departure without saying
a "B’rakhah."
22. Synagogues should be inspected on
the night of the 14th of Nisan by the light of a candle because children bring
chametz there all year round.
23. In the fifth hour
("zemanis") of erev Pesach when we may no longer eat chametz, we must
burn the chametz and at the same time say the second "kol chamirah."
"All leaven or anything
leavened which is in my possession, which I have seen it or not, whether I have
observed it or not whether I have removed it or not shall be considered nothing
and ownerless as the dust of the earth."
8. Chametz During Pesach
1. If one finds chametz in the house
during the days of "Chol HaMoed Pesach" one should remove it from the
house and burn it. If the chametz is the size of a "kezayis" (lit.
"like an olive", a measurement of volume; a "kezayis" of
matza is one ounce), the "B’rakhah" "al biur chametz" is
recited at the burning.
2. However, if chametz is found
during the days of Yom Tov, or on "Shabbat Chol-HaMoed," when it may
not be moved from its place (for it is "muktzeh"), one covers it with
a vessel until nightfall (of "Motzie Shabbat" or Yom Tov), and then
burns it.
3. If one finds chametz on the last
days of Yom Tov, one burns it on "Motzie Yom Tov" without a
"B’rakhah", even if it is the size of a "kezayis."
4. Pesach does not end until after
nightfall of the 8th day. All the laws of Pesach are binding until that time.
Therefore, absolute care should be taken **not** to buy bread or any articles
of chametz until the holiday is entirely over. One should be careful **not** to
buy bread or any other chametz even after Pesach, that was baked or prepared
during Pesach, because it is forbidden to use any chametz that was owned by a
Jew during Pesach **even after** Pesach.
1. It is prohibited to possess
chametz on Pesach and one is not allowed to derive any benefit from such
chametz. Also, chametz which was in the possession of a Jew on Pesach may not
be used even after the Yom Tov. Therefore, any chametz which cannot be eaten or
disposed of before Pesach must be sold to a Gentile.
2. Since the Rabbi must sell the
chametz on Erev Pesach before the end of the fifth hour ("zemanis")
which is one "sho'oh zemanis" (lit. "time hour"; the day,
beginning at sunrise and ending at sunset, is divided into 12 equal
"hours," each of which is called an "hour zemanis", as
opposed to a clock hour which equals 60 minutes. E.g., if the daytime is 15
hours, each "hour zemanis" is one and one quarter clock hours) before
1. When HaShem killed the firstborn
of
2. It has, however, been a custom for
many centuries that the fast is broken by a "seudat mitzva ," such as
the meal at a "siyum." One may then eat for the rest of the day.
3. If one is not a firstborn, but has
a firstborn son under 13, one should fast or partake in a "siyum."
(The
"siyum" takes place in the synagogue directly after
"shacharit").
1. The matzot with which we fulfill
the mitzva of eating matza on the "seder" nights are called "matzot
mitzva." It is customary to bake them "erev Pesach" after
3. Those who knead and roll the dough
for the matzot on the afternoon of "erev Pesach" (which is in the
time when "chametz" is forbidden) should say: "I hereby declare
any pieces that fall during kneading and preparation of the matzot, and any
dough that sticks to the utensils, to be ownerless and nullified."
4. While kneading and rolling the
dough on "erev Pesach," it is customary to say "Hallel" in
memory of the "Korban Pesach," which was slaughtered while saying
"Hallel."
5. The Rebbe Rashab used to be
present at the matza bakery on "erev Pesach," and recited "Hallel."
He used to interrupt his recital--even in the middle of a chapter--to give
instructions concerning the kneading, baking, etc.
6. The custom in Lubavitch was that
after burning the "chametz," the people went to "mikveh,"
dressed in their "Yom-Tov" clothes, and went to bake the "matzot
mitzva."
1. When "erev Pesach" falls
on Shabbat, we search for "chametz" on Thursday evening, the eve of
13 Nisan, with the blessing. After searching, we nullify the
"chametz" and say the first "Kol Chamirah."
2. On Friday morning, one should burn
the "chametz" at the same time that one burns it every year on
"erev Pesach," but without saying the second "Kol Chamirah"
waiting until Shabbat morning after one finishes the morning meal (before the
time it becomes forbidden to derive benefit from the "chametz"). Even
if one has no "chametz" left after the Shabbat morning meal, one
should nevertheless nullify it again during the fifth daylight
"zemanis" hour as one would nullify it every year, and say the second
"Kol Chamirah."
3. The firstborn sons fast on the
previous Thursday.
4. For Shabbat, one should leave only
enough "chametz" to suffice for the evening and morning Shabbat meals
(taking care to leave it in a secure place). One fulfills the obligation of
eating a third Shabbat meal with meat, fish or fruit.
5. One should not cook any foods
containing "chametz" for this Shabbat, for they often stick to the
pot and one is not allowed to wash the pot on Shabbat) since it is not being
washed for use on *this* Shabbat). If one transgressed and did cook foods
containing "chametz" and they stuck to the pot, one may in that case
wash the pot because this is for the purpose of a mitzva , to remove the
"chametz" from the pot in order to destroy it. 6. After the Shabbat
morning meal, one should shake the tablecloth on which one has eaten, and wipe
the utensils used for "chametz" well with his hands so that no
detectable "chametz" will be on them, and he should hide the tablecloth
and the utensils in a room (or closet) which will not be used on Pesach. All
remaining "chametz" should be thrown into the toilet. One should take
care not to throw any "chametz" out of the house in a place where
there is no "eruv."
7. On this Shabbat, one prays
"shacharit" early. The "chazzan" should be warned not to
prolong the prayers, so that no one will eat "chametz" when it is
forbidden. (The "Haftorah" of this Shabbat is "V'orvoh.")
8. It is forbidden to prepare on
Shabbat for "Yom-Tov." Therefore, one may not take out the matzot,
wine and Pesach utensils or prepare the table for the "seder" until
after nightfall.
1. On Pesach, Ashkenazim do not eat
rice, millet, corn (maize), buckwheat ("kashe"), beans, peas, sesame
seeds, mustard peanuts, and other types of seed foods. Sephardim do not have
this obligation.
2. We also do not eat dried figs on
Pesach, because flour may be used on the drying process, nor raisins and other
dried fruits because they are often dried in the same place as figs. However,
when they have been dried by a Jew known to have been careful, we may eat them.
3. It is customary not to eat cloves,
saffron, cassia, ginger or cinnamon for the same reason, even if the spices
grew in one's own garden, because of "mar'is ayin" [others unaware
that one's spices are free of "chametz" may unjustly suspect one of
wrongdoing].
4. Some are accustomed not to eat
radishes or garlic on Pesach.
5. It is a custom not to drink any
liquor or liqueurs on Pesach, even if they were specially produced for Pesach.
6. Those who use sugar on Pesach are
accustomed to boil it with water and strain it before Pesach. However, some
meticulous Jews refrain from eating sugar altogether during Pesach.
7. It is customary not to use the pot
in which eggs have been boiled in their shells; however, it may be used for
boiling eggs again.
8. If "chametz" becomes
mixed with any food before Pesach, it is considered nonexistent if the
"chametz" is a sixtieth or less than the rest of the food. However,
if "chametz" becomes mixed with food during Pesach, from the sunset
before 15 Nisan until night- fall following the last day of Pesach, then even
the slightest trace of "chametz" renders the mixture prohibited and
no benefit may be derived from it.
1. Our Sages decreed that when
"Yom-Tov" falls on Friday, we should not cook on "Yom-Tov"
for Shabbat (for we may not prepare anything on "Yom-Tov" for the
sake of Shabbat)--except when we have "placed" an "eruv
Tavshillin" on "erev Yom-Tov." The "eruv Tavshillin"
shows that we have already begun to cook for Shabbat on "erev
Yom-Tov," and the cooking on "Yom-Tov" only means that we are
finishing the cooking of "erev Yom-Tov."
2. The mitzva of "placing"
an "eruv Tavshillin" is performed in this way:
We take an
amount of matza equivalent to the weight of an egg, and a cooked dish weighing
a "kezayis" (note that we should take a "prize" dish, such
as meat or fish). Holding the "eruv" (the matza with the cooked
dish), we recite the following "B’rakhah":
Blessed are You, HaShem our G-d, King of the
universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us
concerning the Mitzva of "Eruv."
Then say:
Through this it shall be
permissible for us to bake, to cook, to put away (a dish to preserve its heat),
to kindle a light and to prepare and do on the Festival all that is necessary
for Shabbat--for us and all Israelites who dwell in the city.
The
"eruv" must remain intact until we have finished all the cooking and
baking for Shabbat.
3. One who wishes to give others a
share in one's "eruv" places the "eruv" (i.e., the matza
and cooked dish) into the hand of another Jew, through whom one gives others a
share, and one says:
I hereby grant a share in this
"eruv" to anyone who wishes to participate in it and to depend upon
it.
The one
who is granted a share takes the "eruv" in his hand and raises it one
fist breadth. The one making the "eruv" takes it back and says the
blessing and statement:
Blessed are You, HaShem our G-d, King of the
universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us
concerning the Mitzva of "Eruv."
Then say:
Through
this it shall be permissible for us to bake, to cook, to put away (a dish to
preserve its heat), to kindle a light and to prepare and do on the Festival all
that is necessary for Shabbat--for us and all Israelites who dwell in the city.
4. It is customary to use a whole
matza for the "eruv," and to use it to make the "Hamotzi"
blessing at one of the Shabbat meals (since something used for one mitzva should
be used for another mitzva ). Some are accustomed to use the matza for
"Lechem mishneh" (literally: "double bread"--the two loaves
of matza (or challah) over which "Hamotzi" is said on Shabbat and
"Yom-Tov") at the first two Shabbat meals and to recite the blessing
"Hamotzi" over it at "shalosh seudat" (the third meal of
Shabbat).
5. If one forgot to make an
"eruv" on "erev Yom-Tov" one can still make it "beyn
hashmoshes" (time period between sunset and nightfall).
6. If "Yom-Tov" fell on
Thursday and Friday, and one reminded himself on Thursday that he had not yet
made an "eruv," he may still make a "conditional eruv." In
other words, after saying the blessing "concerning the mitzva of
eruv," he says: "If today is Yom-Tov" (according to the Torah
itself), "then tomorrow is a weekday and I do not need an eruv at all. And
if today is a weekday and tomorrow is Yom-Tov, then through this it shall be
permitted for us to bake, cook ..." continuing as above (paragraph 2).
7. If one forgot even then to make
the "eruv," he should consult a rabbi.
8. Permission to cook on
"Yom-Tov" for Shabbat through making an "eruv" is
conditional. All the foods cooked for Shabbat should be ready to eat early
enough before Shabbat so that if a guest were to come late in the afternoon he
would have enough time to eat of these foods
before sunset. If the foods are ready only close to sunset, the
"eruv" is of absolutely no use.
9. The "cholent" which is
prepared on "Yom-Tov" for Shabbat must also be cooked while it is
still day.
1. Our Sages instituted that on
Shabbat and Yom-Tov a light should burn in any room we use, for the purpose of
"shalom bait" (domestic peace), to prevent anyone from tripping in
the darkness. The main obligation of lighting the candles is in the dining
room.
2. We are obliged to eat the Shabbat
evening meal by the light of the candles, because we are commanded to enjoy the
Shabbat.
3. The obligation of lighting Shabbat
candles rests (primarily) upon the wife. It is praiseworthy for the husband to
assist his wife by preparing the wicks and candles, lighting and extinguishing
the candles in order to singe the wicks before she lights them, for the purpose
of the mitzva, so that the wicks will burn more easily. 4. The custom is that
unmarried girls light one candle and married women two candles. Some women have
the custom of adding an extra candle for each of their children, in order to
illuminate their children's life.
5. A young girl aged three years old
who understands the concept of lighting the Shabbat candles should be taught to
fulfill this mitzva of lighting Shabbat and Yom-Tov candles.
6. Two women should not light candles
on the same candlestick, even if it has many branches, because only one would
be allowed to say the required blessing in this case.
7. It is a good custom to give one or
several coins to charity before lighting the candles. One should admonish women
not to move the charity box after lighting.
8. Immediately after lighting, she
should place her hands in front of the candles, or spread her hands over her
face, so as not to see the light, and she should say the blessing for lighting
the candles. After the blessing, she should remove her hands and enjoy from the
light. All this applies both on Shabbat and Yom-Tov.
9. On Friday afternoon, the time of
candle lighting is at least 18 minutes before sunset.
10. On "erev Yom-Tov," too,
our custom is to light candles before sunset. But when "Yom-Tov"
falls on Saturday night, one should light candles only after the stars can be
seen.
11. On the second evening of
"Yom-Tov," whether it falls on Saturday night or on any other day of
the week, one should light candles only after the stars have come out. If the
second evening of "Yom-Tov" falls on Friday night, one must light
candles before sunset like every other Friday afternoon.
12. Before Shabbat, the blessing for
candles concludes "to kindle the light of the holy Shabbat"; on
"Yom-Tov," "to kindle the Yom- Tov light"; when
"Yom-Tov" falls on Shabbat, "to kindle the Shabbat and Yom-Tov
light" (see "Siddur Tehilas HaShem," p. 127).
13. On every "Yom-Tov"
*except the last two days of Pesach,* one follows the blessing for lighting the
candles with the blessing of "Shehecheyanu." The woman who lights
candles should then take care not to repeat "Shehecheyanu" if she
herself says Kiddush later that evening. When a man lights the candles, he
should not say "Shehecheyanu."
14. It is advisable to place the matzot
(and the same applies all year round to the challot) upon the table before
lighting the Shabbat candles so that the table will be a "base" to
both the candles and the matzot, thus enabling one to be permitted to move the
table on Shabbat.
15. One may not produce a *new* fire
on "Yom-Tov," by striking a match or lighter, for example. One may
only light from a fire already burning from before "Yom-Tov," such as
a lighted candle, gas-stove or pilot-light.
16. If one uses a match to bring fire
(from an existing flame to the "Yom-Tov" candles, etc.), one should
be careful not to extinguish the burning match or throw it anywhere after using
it. One should carefully put it down so that the movement will not extinguish
it, and it can die on its own.
17. On "Yom-Tov," it is
forbidden to heat the bottom of the candle in order to stick it onto the
candlestick. If the candle-holder is full of wax, one may clean it with some
object which is not "muktzeh" (articles that may not handled on
Shabbat or Yom-Tov). The wax should not be moved once it has been removed,
since it is "muktzeh."
18. A woman should light the candles
with joy and eagerness, because in the merit of this mitzva she will be
rewarded with holy children who will shine brightly with Torah knowledge and
fear of HaShem and will increase peace in the world, and she will bring her
husband long life.
17. Hallel In The Prayers
1. It is customary on the first two
nights of Pesach for the congregation to say the entire "Hallel" in
"Ma’ariv."
2. We also say the entire
"Hallel" in "shacharit" on the first two days of
"Yom-Tov."
3. However, on
"Chol-HaMoed" and the last two days of Pesach we say only
half-"Hallel" in "shacharit."
4. When the entire "Hallel"
is said, each person says the "B’rakhah" before "Hallel,"
and the "B’rakhah" at the conclusion of "Hallel"
("Baruch atah HaShem Melech m'hullol batishbochos"). When, however,
we recite half-"Hallel," only the "chazzan" says the
"B’rakhah," and the congregants answer "amen." They fulfill
their obligation with the "chazzan's B’rakhah" (and the congregation
concludes "Hallel" with the words "umeolom ad olam atah
e'l").
5. When praying alone, it is
customary to recite the "B’rakhah" even when one says only
half-"Hallel."
6. The "chazzan" says aloud
the "pasuk" "Hodu laShem ... ki l'olam chasdo," and the
congregants repeat that "posuk," and say further "yomar noh ...
l'olam chasdo." The "chazzan" then says "yomar noh,
etc." aloud, and the congregants say "Hodu etc.," "yomru
noh bait Aharon, etc." The same applies to "yomru noh yirei HaShem,
etc."
7. The verse "Hodu LaShem"
is said after each of the three verses "yomar noh," even when one
prays alone. 8. "Hallel" should be said standing. One may not talk
during "hallel."
18. Morid Hatol (He Causes The Dew To Descend)
1. On the first day of Pesach, before
the "mussaf" prayer the "Shamash" announces "morid
hatol" and we begin saying "morid hatol" in "mussaf."
2. We say the Prayer
for Dew in the "chazzan's" repetition of the "mussaf" of
the first day of Pesach.
3. If one mistakenly said "morid
hageshem" (He causes the rain
to fall"), and became aware of one's error before saying G-d's Name at the
conclusion of the blessing "mechayeh hametim," one should return to
"ata gibor" (and it does not help to say "morid hatol" at
the place where one remembered).
4. If one only became aware of the
error after concluding the blessing "mechayeh hamesim," one must
return to the beginning of "shemoneh esreh."
5. If one only became aware of the
error after concluding the entire prayer, one should repeat the entire
"shemoneh esreh." If one remembered only at the time of the next
prayer, one should pray two "shemoneh esrehs" at that time (as explained
in the laws of making up omitted prayers).
6. If one is unsure whether one said
"morid hageshem," or "morid hatol" as required, it depends
what time of the year this happened. If this happened during the first thirty
days of "morid hatol" one must repeat "shemoneh esreh."
After these thirty days have passed, however, one need not repeat it, for we
assume that one has said "morid hatol" correctly since one is already
accustomed to saying it.
1. From the second night of Pesach
onward, after "Ma’ariv" (i.e., after "Hallel" and before
"aleinu"), we begin to count "sefirah"; and we count each
night until Shavuot.
2. We say the "B’rakhah"
and the "sefirah" standing.
3. If one forgot to count the
"sefirah" on one of the nights, one should count it during the
following day without a "B’rakhah"; one may then resume the count on
the following nights with a "B’rakhah."
4. But if one forgot to count during
the following day as well, he must count on all the following nights until
Shavuot without a "B’rakhah."
5. If one is unsure if he counted or
not, he may count the following nights with a "B’rakhah."
6. When, after sunset, one is asked:
"What is the 'sefirah' today?" he should answer: "Yesterday was
such and such." The other person will then understand what today's
"sefirah" is. The reason for answering this way is because if one
answers, "Today is such and such," he has fulfilled his obligation of
counting the "sefirah" and thus forfeits the opportunity to recite
the "B’rakhah."
7. Those who "daven
Ma’ariv" when it is still day, but say "Shema" after the stars
appear, should also count "sefirah" then. Those who "daven
Ma’ariv" and count "sefirah" when it is still day should arrange
that they count again during "shacharit" of the following morning
without a "B’rakhah."
1. During the entire summer,
beginning from Pesach, we do not say "v'sein tal u'motor" (give dew
and rain) in the blessing "bareich aleinu" of the weekday
"Shemoneh Esrei," but instead we say "v'sein Berachoth."
2. If one said "v'sein tal
u'motor" in summer, and immediately became aware of his error, he must
begin again from "boreich oleinu." (It does not help to immediately
say "v'sein B’rakhah.")
3. It makes no difference whether he
realized his mistake immediately after he made it, or whether he is already
much further on the "Shemoneh Esrei." If he has not yet said the
second "yihyu l'rotzon" (after "elokai netzor"), he must
return to "boreich oleinu."
4. If one realized his mistake after
finishing the entire "Shemoneh Esrei," he must repeat the entire
"Shemoneh Esrei."
5. If he realized his mistake only
after praying, when it is already time to say the next prayers, he must say two
"Shemoneh Esrei" at the next prayer.
6. If he is unsure whether he said
"v'sein B’rakhah," the law is the same as for "Morid Hatol",
[If one is unsure whether one said "morid hageshem," or "morid
hatol" as required, it depends what time of the year this happened. If
this happened during the first thirty days of "morid hatol" one must
repeat "Shemoneh Esrei." After these thirty days have passed,
however, one need not repeat it, for we assume that one has said "morid
hatol" correctly since one is already accustomed to saying it.]
1. If one forgets to say
"ya'aleh v'yovo" in "Shemoneh Esrei" during "Chol
Hamoed"--or is unsure whether he said it--and remembers before saying
G-d's Name in the blessing "hamachazir shechinoso l'tzion," he should
say "ya'aleh v'yovo" there, and then begin from
"v'sechezenoh."
2. If one remembers after concluding
the blessing "hamachazir shechinoso l'tzion," but before saying
"modim," he should say "ya'aleh v'yovo" there, and then
begin saying "modim" (and he should not repeat
"v'sechezenoh").
3. If, however, he had already begun
"modim," he should return to "r'tzeh."
4. If he remembered only after he
finished "Shemoneh Esrei", i.e., after having said the second
"yihyu l'rotzon", he must return to the beginning of "Shemoneh Esrei."
5. These laws apply equally to all
three prayers on "Chol Hamoed: shacharit, Mincha and ma'ariv."
6. If he remembers that he did not
say "ya'aleh v'yovo" when it is already time to say the next prayer,
he should say two "Shemoneh Esrei" at the next prayer. This, however,
applies only to the "Mincha" and "ma'ariv" prayers.
7. The law is different when one
forgets to say "ya'aleh v'yovo" at "shacharit," and
remembers only after he has said "musaf." In such a case, he need not
repeat the "Shemoneh Esrei" of "shacharit."
1. If one forgets to say
"ya'aleh v'yovo" in "birchat HaMazon" on
"Yom-Tov," and remembers after finishing "boneh b'rachamov
Yerushalayim amen," one should say the blessing of "Boruch ... asher
nosan yomim tovim ...", as written in the Siddur. If it is "Chol
Hamoed," one should say the "B’rakhah" "Boruch ... asher
nosan moadim ..."
2. If, however, one remembers after
saying the word "Boruch" of the "B’rakhah hatov v'hametiv,"
he must, at the first two meals of "Yom-Tov," repeat "birchat
HaMazon."
3. However, if one eats a third
"Yom-Tov" meal, he should not repeat it. The same applies to every
"Chol Hamoed" meal.
In the
first weekday "Shemoneh Esrei" (in "ma'ariv") of "Chol
HaMoed," the following things must be said:
1. "morid hatol" 2.
"atoh chonantonu" 3. "v'sein B’rakhah" 4. "ya'aleh
v'yovo" If one forgets one of
these four things, and remembers after concluding "Shemoneh Esrei,"
which omissions force him to repeat the "Shemoneh Esrei," and which
do not?
ANSWERS
If one
said "morid hageshem," he must repeat it. If one forgot "atoh
chonantonu," he should not repeat it. If one said "v'sein tal
umotor," he must repeat it. If one forgot "ya'aleh v'yovo," he
must repeat it.
[There is
no need to repeat the "Shemoneh Esrei" as long as one does not do any
work or taste any food before making "havdallah." **Work** is
permitted in this case. However, by saying "Boruch Hamavdil bain kodesh
lechol"--"Blessed is He Who makes a distinction between sacred and
profane." In all cases, one may not eat or drink until after
"havdallah." If one did not say "Boruch Hamavdil" and
performed work, the "Shemoneh Esrei" must be repeated.]
At the
meal of the second day of Pesach, it is proper to "do" (eat)
something that serves as a reminder of the meal of Queen Esther which took
place on this day--and that same day Haman was hung.
1. In the kiddush (and in the
"b'rochoh"on lighting the candles) said on the seventh and eighth
nights of Pesach, we do not say "Shehecheyanu."
2. The miracle of the splitting of
the "Yam-Soof" happened on the night of the seventh of Pesach. Early
the next morning the Jews sang the song "Oz Yoshir." Therefore we
read this song in the Torah on the seventh
day of Pesach."
3. It is customary in Lubavitch to
remain awake the entire night of the seventh of Pesach, and to learn the Torah
the entire night.
4. The Rebbe Shlita instituted that
on the seventh day of Pesach we should go to distant Shuls to participate with
other Jews in the Yom Tov joy, discussing with them ideas of Chassidus and
matters of inspiration in the service of G-d.
5. Despite our custom to avoid eating
Matza that is wet (shruya) during Pesach, we are accustomed to make a point of
eating wet Matza on the eighth day of Pesach. When washing one's fingers at the
end of a meal ("mayim acharonim"), he passes the wet fingers over his
lips once again.
6. The Baal Shem Tov was accustomed
to eat a third meal on the last day of Pesach, which he would call the
"Mashiach’s Seudah--the meal of Mashiach" for on this day the
"radiance" of Mashiach
is manifest.
7. It is also our custom to celebrate
Mashiach’s Seudah, after "Mincha." At this meal, we drink four cups
of wine, corresponding to the "four cups of comfort which HaShem will in
the future give the Jewish people to drink."
____________________________________
From "Laws And Customs of Pesach: According to the Traditions of
Chabad" by Rabbi Shmuel Hurwitz, Second Edition, 5749.
The Haggadah opens with the words:
“Let all who are hungry come and eat.”
Among the awaited guests is the prophet Elijah who, according to the scripture, never died, but was carried up to heaven in a whirlwind. The life of no other character in the bible is so surrounded with a halo of mystery and wonder as is that of Elijah. He is the champion of the oppressed, he brings hope, cheer and relief to the downtrodden; and he performs miracles of rescue and deliverance.
The Prophet Malachi says of him: “He will turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents.” Elijah is the harbinger of good tidings of joy and peace. His name is especially associated with the coming of the Messiah, whose advent he is expected to announce.
A part of the Passover seder has
always been to set a place for Elijah and to open a door to look for him during
the feast. We look for Elijah just before we take the fourth cup to symbolize
that Elijah is expected just before God comes to take His people for Himself.
Those who recognize that Yeshua,
the Anointed One, came nearly two thousand years ago, should also recognize
"Elijah" who came to prepare the way according to the prophecy in:
Malachi 4:5 "See, I will
send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of HaShem comes.
Yeshua named Yochanan (John) the
Baptist as the Elijah who was to come in Matityahu (Matthew) 11:7-15.
It was a biblical custom to begin
your occupation on your thirtieth birthday. Yochanan (John) and Yeshua both
followed this custom. If we look carefully at the Nazarean Codicil we can see
that Yochanan (John) the Baptist was born on Passover and began his ministry on
Passover. Since we are expecting Elijah at Passover we can understand why
Yochanan (John) came on that day.
Yochanan (John) the Baptist sent
some disciples to Yeshua to find out if He was the "Expected One" who
would resurrect God's people and free them from bondage. Yeshua's answer
indicated that He would be the expected one later. God's people are now looking
for Yeshua to return. Before Yeshua returns, we should look for Elijah to come
at Passover. When we see Elijah we are probably only six months from beholding
Yeshua.
Bamidbar (Numbers) 9:1-14 HaShem spoke to Moses in the
Bamidbar (Numbers) 28:16-17 "'On the fourteenth day of the
first month HaShem’s Passover is to be held. On the fifteenth day of
this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without
yeast.
This passage might account for why Yeshua began His Passover seder on the fourteenth.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16:1-7 Observe the month of Abib and
celebrate the Passover of HaShem your God, because in the month of Abib he
brought you out of
Passover is intimately associated with tefillin as we can see from the following pasuk:
Shemot
(Exodus) 13:5-9 And it shall be when HaShem shall bring thee into
the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the
Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a
land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this
month. 6 Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day
shall be a feast to HaShem. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and
there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven
seen with thee in all thy quarters.
8 And thou shalt shew thy son in
that day, saying, This is done because of that which HaShem did unto me when I
came forth out of Egypt. 9 And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine
hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that HaShem’s law may be in thy
mouth: for with a strong hand hath HaShem brought thee out of
I Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a
new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb,
has been sacrificed.
Yahoshua (Joshua) 4:19-24 On the tenth day of the first month
the people went up from the
Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:1-15 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the
Yochanan (John) 6:25-71 When they found him on the other side of
the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" Yeshua
answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you
saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not
work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the
Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of
approval." Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God
requires?" Yeshua answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in
the one he has sent." So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then
will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our
forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them
bread from heaven to eat.'" Yeshua said to them, "I tell you
the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but
it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread
of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." "Sir,"
they said, "from now on give us this bread." Then Yeshua declared,
"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry,
and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have
seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to
me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from
heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the
will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me,
but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who
looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise
him up at the last day." At this the Jews began to grumble about him
because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They
said, "Is this not Yeshua, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we
know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?" "Stop grumbling
among yourselves," Yeshua answered. "No one can come to me unless the
Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is
written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens
to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father
except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the
truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your
forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread
that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living
bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will
live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world." Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Yeshua said to them, "I tell
you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal
life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my
blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me,
and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the
Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread
that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who
feeds on this bread will live forever." He said this while teaching in the
synagogue in
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 8:1-3 Be careful to follow every command I am
giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess
the land that HaShem promised on oath to your forefathers. Remember how HaShem
your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and
to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would
keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you
with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you
that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the
mouth of HaShem.
The Passover Covenant
Shemot (Exodus) 6:6-7 "Therefore, say to the Israelites:
Cup #1 (The cup of blessing or sanctification):
I am HaShem, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the
Egyptians.
Cup #2 (The cup of deliverance):
I will free you from being slaves to them, and
Cup #3 (The cup of Redemption):
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of
judgment.
Cup #4 (The cup of completion or glorification):
I will take you as my
own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am HaShem your
God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
FULFILLMENT
Cup number one (1) is found in:
I Corinthians
Notice that this is NOT the third (3) cup that Mashiach said
was the new covenant in His blood (Luqas (Luke)
It is also note worthy that the only piece of matza that was specifically "broken" was the middle piece which is known as the dessert matza or "Afikomen".
a. The matza is broken before reciting the Haggadah, because the recital is to be over a matza suitable for the obligation of Haggadah, namely Lechem oni (bread of poverty) - which is a broken piece.
[Lechem oni means "bread of poverty", but is also interpreted as "Lechem she'onim alav" - the bread over which we answer (discuss; recite) many things. Combining both meanings, then, the Haggadah is to be said over matza, and in particular a matza which is noticeably "bread of poverty" - i.e., a broken piece of matza. (Pesachim 115b)]
19. The matza is to be broken while it is yet covered by the cloth.
20. It is
customary to wrap the Afikomen in a cloth - in commemoration of "The
people took.. the remainders [of the matza and maror] wrapped up in their
garments" (Shemot (Exodus)
The Rebbe R. Sholom Ber - (and also his son, the Rebbe R. Yoseph Yitzchak) - used to break the Afikomen into five pieces. It once happened that it broke into six pieces, so he put one aside. [e]
Some have the custom that the children "snatch" the Afikomen (and ransom it for some present), but this is not done in Bet Harav. [f]
b. The larger
piece is set aside, because Afikomen is a significant mitzva : [it is eaten as
the very last thing at the Seder] representing for us the Pesach-offering.
The term Afikomen is said to mean "afiku - bring out- to the table all kinds of food.
Tishby and Mussaf He'aruch state that Afikomen is a Greek term for foods eaten at the conclusion of a meal (dessert).
c. The smaller piece is the one we recite the Haggadah over, as stated above note "e".
d. The broken piece must be between the two whole Matzot, because the motzi - which takes precedence to the blessing for "eating the matza" (see section on MOTZI and note "g" there) - is to be recited over a whole matza; and as "one must not by-pass mitzvot," the upper [thus first accessible] matza must therefore be whole.
e. The Rebbe explained that the middle matza represents Isaac (who signifies the attribute of Gevurah - severity; strict judgment). Thus there has to be a "breaking" of this matza, and into five pieces, signifying a "sweetening" of the five aspects of Gevurah.
This "sweetening" then manifests itself in Afikomen [for the pieces constitute the Afikomen], which means "afiku man" - bringing out manna - that is, an emanation of nourishment - signifying the attribute of "chesed (kindness; benevolence) of Abraham".
f. It has been suggested that the children's snatching of the Afikomen is alluded in the Gemara: "chotfin matza' - the matza is taken in a hurry (i.e., eaten; or removed) on the night of Pesach on account of the children, so that they should not fall asleep.
The Rebbe R. Yoseph Yitzchak related that the older daughter of the Rebbe R. Shmuel, when still a child, once snatched the Afikomen.
However, it would seem that this was an exceptional event, and in Bet Harav they do not "snatch?" the Afikomen. In this context one can refer to the saying of our sages: "Even if you steal from a thief, you also have a taste [(of theft);" that is, there remains a trace of illegitimacy, with the possibility of negative after- effects].
Some have said that "Afikomen" means "I came".
Others say that "Afikomen" means dessert because it is derived from "epikomon" or "epikomion"
The Mishna:
The olah (the burnt offering) is a sacrifice of the kodshei kodashim (the most sanctified category). Its blood is sprinkled upon the altar in two applications which are like four.
The Method:
The Korban Pesach (paschal lamb sacrifice eaten on the eve
of Pesach in the time of the Beit HaMikdash) may be eaten only at night (not on
the day it is slaughtered as is the case in regard to all other sacrifices) and
only until
The Halachah:
This Mishna is cited as a support for establishing the
Halakhah according to the view of Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, whose position is
that the Korban Pesach can only be eaten until
The Application:
Even though we have no Korban Pesach today this ruling affects us in regard to the schedule of our Pesach Seder. The Sage Rava states (Pesachim 120b) that since the Torah links the mitzva of eating matza to that of Korban Pesach, one must eat matza -- which is a mitzva even when there is no Korban -- before midnight according to Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah in order to fulfill the mitzva .
Other Ramifications:
Both Tosefot and Rabeinu Nissim extend this
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 477:1) rules that the
Afikomen should be eaten before
Zevachim 57b
* * *
The Shabbat before Pesach is called "Shabbat
HaGadol" (the Great Shabbat). It was in
* * *
How do we fulfill the mitzva (Shemot (Exodus) 13:8) to recount the story of the Exodus?
For this mitzva we have the Haggadah. The Haggadah is the book we follow on the first and second nights of Passover, for the seder meal.
The Haggadah is divided into the following sections:
Kaddesh |
Sanctify the day with the recitation of Kiddush. We drink the first
cup. |
U’rechatz |
Wash! hands before eating karpas. |
Karpas |
Eat a vegetable dipped in salt water. |
Yachatz |
Break the middle matza. |
Maggid |
Narrate the story of the Exodus. We drink the second
cup. |
Rachtzah |
Wash hands prior to the meal. |
Motzi |
Recite the
blessing, Who brings forth, over
matza as a food. |
Matza |
Recite the
blessing over matza. |
Maror |
Blessing for the bitter herbs. |
Korech |
Eat the sandwich of matza and bitter herbs. |
Shulchan
Orech |
The table is prepared with the festive
meal. |
Tzafun |
Eat the afikomen
which has been hidden all during
the seder.. |
Barech |
Recite the Blessings after the meal. We drink the third
cup. |
Hallel |
Recite the Hallel Tehilim (Psalm)s of praise. We drink the fourth
cup. |
Nirtzah |
Pray that God
would accept our observance and
speedily send Mashiach (Messiah). |
Although we commonly refer to the entire book as the Haggadah, the term "Haggadah" technically refers to the middle part of the Haggadah, or what we commonly call the "Maggid" section. Since this section is where we fulfill the mitzva to recount the story of the Exodus, it is upon this section that our discussion is initially focused.
The Maggid Section of the Haggadah (the order of paragraphs for easier reference)
1. Ha Lachma Anya
2. Mah Nishtana
3. Avadim Hayinu
4. Maaseh B'Rabbi Eliezer
5. Amar Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah
6. Baruch Hamakom
7. Arbah Banim (the four sons)
8. Yachol m'rosh chodesh
9. Mit'chilah Ovdei Avodah Zarah Hayu Avoseinu
10. Baruch Shomer Havtachaso
11. V'hi sh'amda
12. Tzei u'lmad
13. Kammah Maalos Tovos
14. Rabban Gamliel haya omer
15. B'chol Dor va'Dor
16. L'fichach (Hallel)
The source for the obligation to recount the story of the Exodus is the verse:
Shemot 13:8 V'higadita l'vincha ba'yom ha'hu leimor, ba'avur zeh asah HaShem li
b'tzeisi m'Mitzrayim.
Shemot (Exodus) 13:8 And you shall relate to your child on that
day, saying: "It is because of this that HaShem acted for me when I came
forth out of
Although there are other verses in the Torah which command
us to recount the story of the Exodus, this is the only verse which requires us
to tell the story regardless of whether or not we are prompted by a child's question.
The other verses command us to tell the story only if a child asks about the
Exodus. Since the commandment of this verse, however, applies whether or not a
child asks, it serves as the source for the mitzva of Pesach night for every
Jew to tell the story of the Exodus from
Since this verse is the source for the mitzva to recount the Exodus and, therefore, the basis for the Haggadah, the compiler of the Haggadah composed its content and order to correspond with the phrases in the verse V'higadita.
This "Source Verse" has six parts:
1) And you shall relate to your child
2) On that day
3) Saying
4) It is because of this
5) HaShem acted for me
6) When I came forth out of
The Haggadah, too, is divided into six sections, corresponding to these six phrases. Through the lens of this simple assumption we will begin to see the true colors and pattern of this marvelous masterpiece we call the Haggadah.
And You Shall Relate To Your Child -- V'higadita l'vincha
The first eight paragraphs, beginning with "Avadim Hayinu" and concluding with "The son who does not know how to ask", were placed at the beginning of the Haggadah to correspond with "V'higadita l'vincha -- And you shall relate to your child", the first phrase of the Source Verse. Each paragraph contributes an essential element to describe the words "V'higadita l'vincha", "And you shall relate to your child".
When we read the paragraph of "Avadim Hayinu", it
sounds to us to be the beginning of the story. Indeed, many commentators on the
Haggadah maintain that the paragraph "Avadim Hayinu" is a narrative
account, the first episode in the saga of our slavery in
The easy-to-make misinterpretation arises from the innuendo of the first twelve words of "Avadim Hayinu", which certainly do sound like a story:
We were slaves unto Pharaoh in
Aside from these few words, however, nothing else in this paragraph, or the following seven paragraphs, even slightly resembles a narrated story. We find no story until we come to the paragraph "Mit'chilah Ovdei Avodah Zarah Hayu Avoseinu" (nine paragraphs later!). But now we are left with a question. If "Avadim Hayinu" is not telling us part of the story, then what is it telling us? The answer has profound implications.
The sentence, We were slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt, and HaShem our God took us out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, is not the beginning of the story of the Exodus, but is the declaration of the fundamental reason WHY we are all obligated to recount the Exodus story.
BECAUSE we were slaves unto Pharaoh in
Let us delve deeper into this idea by asking another basic question: Why must every Jew recount the Exodus, why must even the wisest sages tell the story, each and every year, which everyone already knows?
At first thought, we could say that the reason for this obligation is for everyone to recognize that our lives and our freedom come from HaShem. Through remembering the Exodus, we are reminded that it is HaShem’s omnipotent open hand which gives us everything we need. This renewed recognition inspires us to strengthen our love, awe, and service for HaShem.
It is unquestionable that this is a seemly explanation for the obligation to recount the Exodus. But still there seems to be something more to this mitzva , for if its purpose was solely to enhance our devotion to HaShem, then why are the wise, holy, righteous Jews, who are constantly cognizant of HaShem’s greatness, obligated to recount the Exodus? There must be some greater purpose behind this mitzva. It is this purpose which will give us profound insight into the mitzva of recounting to insure that we do not forget what HaShem did for us, but we also guarantee that our children and future generations will recall the Exodus and realize that their lives, too, were fundamentally affected by that cataclysmic event, and they will, as a consequence, acknowledge their personal responsibility to praise and thank the Almighty. To ensure this perennial awareness of what God did for His people, every Jew is commanded to tell and elaborate upon the events of the Exodus, regardless of his wisdom and knowledge, for it is not only for his benefit, but for the benefit of the future generations of the Jewish people.
If particular individuals had been exempted from this obligation, it would have been conceivable for the Exodus to be forgotten. Any Jew acquainted with history would exempt himself by justifying that he already knows the historical events. Exempt from telling the story of the Exodus, he would leave his children ignorant of the meaningfulness of their past, and unaware of their purpose for the present and their responsibilities for the future. By requiring every person to recount the Exodus, regardless of his knowledge, the Torah circumvents this problem. The continued consciousness of our collective history and the responsibilities and privileges that it bore is guaranteed.
We now understand the paragraph "Avadim Hayinu". The sole but critical purpose of "Avadim Hayinu" is to inform us that the obligation to tell the story of the Exodus falls upon every Jew, even if he already knows it and has no need to retell it. For it is not only for his sake that he must tell it, but for the sake of all following generations. "Avadim Hayinu" therefore says:
We were slaves to an oppressive king and to an oppressive
nation. Only God, through His miraculous Divine providence, took us out from
there. Had God not delivered us, we, our children, and our children's children
would still have been subjugated to Pharaoh in
1) "Avadim Hayinu" has an unmistakable purpose and is not out of order in the Haggadah. Since it is not meant to be part of the story but rather the impetus to tell the story, it is appropriately placed at the beginning of the Haggadah, before the telling of the story.
The statement "And if the Holy One, blessed be He, had not taken our fathers out of Egypt, then we, our children, and our children's children would still have been subjugated to Pharaoh in Egypt" is not repeating the idea that appears later in "B'chol Dor va'Dor", that we must view ourselves as if we were personally redeemed from Egypt. Rather, it is declaring the purpose for our obligation to recount the Exodus -- if not for ourselves, then for our children who were also affected by the event.
2) Once we understand that the purpose of recounting the
Exodus is not only for ourselves, but for our children and future generations,
we can understand why we must recount the Exodus even if we were all wise --
"V'afilu kulanu chachamim". The purpose of the recounting is not for
us, but for our children. Requiring every individual to recount the Exodus,
regardless of his level of knowledge, is the infallible method to ensure that
our children arem" is not a self-contained statement, but the corollary of
the preceding sentence, "... our children, and our children's children,
would still have been subjugated to Pharaoh in
The Torah itself subtly implied this reason for the obligation when it phrased the command, "V'higadita l'vincha -- And you shall TELL YOUR CHILD...", using the verb "tell" and emphasizing telling "your child". If the purpose was for us and not for our children, the command would be phrased, "V'zacharta -- And YOU shall remember...".
The Hakhamim, following the Torah's lead that the purpose of telling the story of the Exodus is not only for us but for our children, introduced additional customs for the sake of the children, such as removing the Seder plate before the meal begins, and having the children snatch away the Afikomen. These customs were introduced to capture the attention and interest of the children and to encourage their questions, thereby assisting us to instill in them the awareness of the Exodus.
In conclusion, "Avadim Hayinu" is not the beginning of a story, but a pedagogical statement giving the reason why we are obligated to recount the Exodus even if we are all wise. The inclusion of "Avadim Hayinu" here is based on the words "V'higadita", the first words in the verse which stands as the basis for the Mitzva of Seder night. "Avadim Hayinu" encapsulates the essence of "V'higadita k'vincha -- And you shall relate to your child": the purpose for recounting the Exodus is for our children to be aware of what HaShem did for us, and for them.
The seven paragraphs that follow are also based on the words "V'higadita l'vincha":
"Maaseh B'Rabbi Eliezer" is an example of telling the story "even if we were all wise." Five of the greatest Tannaim, Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya, Rabbi Akiva, and Rabbi Tarfon, eminent sages whose minds were immersed in the depths of every realm of Torah, nevertheless elaborated upon the Exodus story throughout the night. They knew that the purpose of the obligation was not solely for the individual, but for ensuing generations -- "And you shall relate to your child."
"Amar Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah" is also an important addition to this part of the Haggadah. Although there is an obligation to mention the Exodus every night of the year, the obligation on Passover night is different. Every other night one is required merely to mention the Exodus to himself, whereas on Passover night he must tell the story to someone else, and even if there is no one else present, he must tell the story to himself in order to safeguard against it ever being forgotten.
The paragraphs dealing with the four sons follow, depicting the responses to the questions of the four types of children. These paragraphs appropriately appear in the section of the Haggadah which corresponds to "And you shall relate to your child". The response to the last son, the son who does not know how to ask, is the very verse which is the source for the obligation to tell the story of the Exodus -- an appropriate ending to this section of the Haggadah.
On That Day -- Bayom Hahu
After the section which corresponds to the words "V'higadita l'vincha" and which describes the obligation to recount the Exodus, comes the section which corresponds to the next words "Bayom Hahu", on the day, and which describes the proper time for this obligation.
The Haggadah derives from the words "Bayom Hahu" that the obligation of "V'higadita l"vincha" -- telling about the Exodus -- must be fulfilled "on that day", the day "when matza and maror are in front of you" -- i.e. the Fifteenth of Nisan.
Therefore, following the order of words in the Source Verse, "And you shall relate to your child on that day", this is certainly the fitting place for the paragraph "Yachol m'rosh chodesh". This answers our sixth question.
Saying -- Leimor
We now come to the third section of the Haggadah, which corresponds to the third phrase "Leimor -- saying" in the Source Verse. We have seen that the compiler of the Haggadah established the order of the Haggadah based upon the sequence of words in the Source Verse, "V'higadita...". We have seen that he place compiler of the Haggadah consistent with the order of words in the Source Verse, but he also achieved a logical progression by first introducing the obligation to recount the Exodus ("V'higadita l'vincha"), then instructing when to fulfill this obligation ("Bayom Hahu"), and then including the actual fulfillment of the obligation ("Leimor").
This section of the Haggadah starts with the paragraph "Mit'chilah Ovdei Avodah Zarah Hayu Avoseinu" and continues with "Tzei u'lmad". Here, the Haggadah begins its analysis of the verses in Devarim (Deuteronomy) 26:5-8 which describe the history of the Exodus. Each word of these verses encapsulates the essence of the Exodus story -- the suffering of slavery, the relief of redemption, and the awesome miracles and wonders which HaShem wrought for our sake. The Haggadah cites each verse and shows how the details of the Exodus are inherent in each word.
Following the elucidation of the verses comes the paragraphs
"Kammah Maalos Tovos" and "Al achas kamma v'kamma". These
paragraphs list the bountiful kindnesses HaShem bestowed upon us when He
brought us forth from
In conclusion, the compiler of the Haggadah placed this section -- beginning with "Mit'chilah Ovdei Avodah Zarah", ending with "Al achas kamma v'kamma", and containing the actual telling of the story of the Exodus -- as the third section of the Haggadah. It appropriately corresponds to the third phrase of the Source Verse upon which the Haggadah is based: the phrase "Leimor -- saying" in the verse, V'higadita l'vincha ba'yom ha'hu leimor, ba'avur zeh asah HaShem li b'tzeisi m'Mitzrayim -- And you shall relate to your child on that day, saying: "It is because of this that HaShem acted for me when I came forth out of Egypt."
Because of This -- Ba'avur Zeh The fourth section corresponds to the fourth phrase, "Ba'avur Zeh -- it is because of this", in the Source Verse. With this simple assumption we can answer the seventh and eighth questions.
Rabban Gamliel's rule that one must explain the Pesach, matza, and maror, corresponds to the phrase "Ba'avur Zeh", which is why the compiler of the Haggadah placed the paragraph of Rabban Gamliel at this point in the Haggadah.
Rabban Gamliel's rule states that if one does not explain these three objects -- Pesach (the Paschal offering), matza, and maror, then one has not fulfilled the obligation to recount the Exodus. What is the source for this rule? His source is none other than the phrase to which this section of the Haggadah corresponds -- "Ba'avur Zeh".
How does Rabban Gamliel derive from these words the
obligation to recite the explanation of the Paschal offering, matza, and Maror?
Rabban Gamliel reads the verse "V'higadita" differently from the
common reading. The common translation of the verse is, And you shall relate to
your child on that day, saying: "It is because of this that HaShem acted
for me when I came forth out of
Rabban Gamliel, however, translates the verse as follows:
And you shall relate to your child on that day, saying:
"this is because of what God acted for me when I came forth out of
Rabban Gamliel translates "Ba'avur Zeh" as "this is because" or "tRabban Gamliel's way is whether the word "Zeh", "this", is the subject or the object of the subordinate clause. Rabban Gamliel learns that it is the subject ("this thing is because") and not the object ("because of this thing"). To illustrate, it is as if the phrase reads "Zeh Ba'avur" instead of "Ba'avur Zeh", and as if the verse reads, And you shall relate to your child on that day, saying: "This is because of what HaShem did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.
What does "this" refer to? "This" is the object on the table to which one can point and say, "THIS is because...", referring to the Paschal offering, the matza, and the maror.
To summarize, Rabban Gamliel's rule is clearly written in
the verse itself: And you shall relate to your child on that day, saying:
"This [the Paschal offering, matza, and maror] is because of what God
acted for me when I came forth out of
This also explains why we must say "THIS matza"
and "THIS maror", for "this" is the language of the verse,
"Ba'avur Zeh -- this is because". (Footnote: We do not say "THIS
Paschal lamb" because we no longer have the Pesach sacrifice to which we
could point and say "this Paschal lamb". Since the destruction of the
second
HaShem Acted for Me -- Asah HaShem Li
After the section of the Haggadah based on the phrase
"Ba'avur Zeh", we come to the section based on the next words in the
verse, "Asah HaShem Li". These words are the source for the
obligation for each person to consider himself as if he personally had been
redeemed from
This paragraph states, "In every single generation one
is obligated to look upon himself as if he personally had gone forth out of
We asked that the idea of viewing oneself as having
personally left Egypt already appeared at the beginning of the Haggadah in
"Avadim Hayinu -- We were slaves... And if the Holy One, Blessed be He,
had not taken our fathers out of
When I came forth from
The sixth section of the Haggadah begins with the paragraph
"L'phichach -- Therefore we are obliged to avow thanks", an
introduction to the recital of Hallel, the psalms of praise to God for the
miracles of the redemption from
This paragraph states that we are duty-bound to thank God
with abundant expresses of praise and exaltation for all the acts of kindness
He bestowed and continually bestows upon us. This paragraph ends with the
imperative, "Hallelukah -- Praise God!", a befittingm'Mitzrayim -- when
I came forth out of I Egypt", the sixth and final phrase of the Source
Verse. The Hallel of the Seder commemorates the miracles of the redemption from
And our final question -- why is this book called the Haggadah -- has long since disappeared. Since the book's foundation from beginning to end is based on the words of the verse "V'higadita l'vincha", it is needless to say that the most fitting title for this book is the first word of that verse, "Haggadah".
With a single, clear, simple answer, we have discovered an overwhelmingly logical and organized order in the Haggadah. The order of the Haggadah is the order of words in the verse which stands as the source for one of the Pesach Seder's, and, indeed, one of the year's, most important Mitzvot:
And you shall relate
to your child On that day Saying It is because of this HaShem acted for me When
I came forth out of
* * *
The Haggadah remains the key document whose raison d'etre seems to be use of the question. It begins with four, shifts to three types who ask questions and one who doesn't, and during the rest of the Seder, with the help of unique foods and special rituals, questions abound as a narrative spell of Jewish history is woven.
Hallel
The Gemara in Pesachim 118 tells us that Hallel was singled out because it has five special facets; it refers to:
(1) Shemot (Exodus)
(2) Splitting of Yam Soof,
(3) Giving of Torah,
(4) War of Gog and Magog, and
(5) Revival of the Dead and the Pangs of Messiah
Pesachim 118a Now since there is the great Hallel, why do we recite this one?[73] Because it includes [a mention of] the following five things: The Exodus from Egypt, the dividing of the Red Sea, the giving of the Torah [Revelation], the resurrection of the dead, and the pangs of Messiah.[74] The Exodus from Egypt, as it is written, When Israel came forth out of Egypt;[75] as the dividing of the Red Sea: The sea saw it, and fled;[76] the giving of the Torah: The mountains skipped like rams;[77] resurrection of the dead: I shall walk before HaShem [in the land of the living];[78] the pangs of Messiah: Not unto us, HaShem, not unto us.[79]
R. Johanan also said: ‘Not unto us, HaShem, not unto us’ refers to the servitude to [foreign] powers. Others state, R. Johanan said: ‘Not unto us, HaShem, not unto us’ refers to the war of Gog and Magog.[80] R. Nahman b. Isaac said: [Hallel is recited] because it contains [an allusion to] the deliverance of the souls of the righteous from the Gehenna, as it is said, I beseech Thee, HaShem, deliver my soul.[81] Hezekiah said: Because it alludes to the descent of the righteous[82] into the fiery furnace and their ascent from it. ‘Their descent,’ for it is written, Not unto us, HaShem, not unto us: [this] Hananiah said; ‘But unto Thy name give glory’ was said by Mishael; For Thy mercy, a rid for Thy truth's sake, by Azariah; Wherefore should the nations say?[83] by all of them. ‘Their ascent from the fiery furnace,’ for it is written, O praise HaShem, all ye nations;[84] [this] Hananiah said; Laud Him, all ye peoples, was said by Mishael; For His mercy is great toward us,[85] by Azariah; ‘And the truth of HaShem endureth for ever,’ by all of them. Others maintain [that] it was Gabriel who said, ‘And the truth of HaShem endureth for ever.’ [For] when the wicked Nimrod cast our father Abraham into the fiery furnace, Gabriel said to the Holy One, blessed be He: ‘Sovereign of the Universe! Let me go down, cool [it], and deliver that righteous man from the fiery furnace.’ Said the Holy One, blessed be He, to him: ‘I am unique in My world, and he is unique in his world: it is fitting for Him who is unique to deliver him who is unique. But because the Holy One, blessed be He, does not withhold the [merited] reward of any creature, he said to him, ‘Thou shalt be privileged to deliver three of his descendants.’[86]
Why is Hallel split on Pesach night? The Hallel shows us both the past redemption and the future redemption. Thus, before the meal, we recite those parts of Hallel which pertain to the past, and after the meal we recite those parts of the Hallel which pertain to the future.
Midrash Rabbah - Vayikra (Leviticus) XXX:5 And tell of all Thy wondrous works (ib.).
This, said R. Abin, applies to the Hallel[87] which contains references to the past,
references to the future, references to the present generations, references to
the days of the Messiah, and references to the days of Gog and Magog.[88] Thus: When Israel came forth out of Egypt
(Ps. CXIV, 1) is a reference to the past; Not unto us, HaShem (ib. CXV, 1) to
the present generations; I love that HaShem should hear (ib. CXVI, 1) to the
days of the Messiah; All nations compass me about (ib. CXVII, 10) to the days
of Gog and Magog; Thou art my God, and I will give thanks unto Thee; Thou art
my God, I will exalt Thee (ib. CXVIII, 28) to the future.
The Omer Controversy: A sharp controversy existed between the rabbis and a variety of Jewish sects over the interpretation of the words THE DAY AFTER THE SABBATH in the verse commanding the counting of the omer. According to the rabbis, "the Sabbath" refers not to the seventh day of the week but rather to the first festival day of Passover; hence the omer begins on the second night of Passover. Yeshua exhorted us to do what the Pharisees said in:
Matityahu (Matthew) 23:2-3 "The teachers of the law and the
Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell
you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Various groups, beginning with the first-century Sadducees and continuing with the Karaites of the early middle ages, interpreted the word Sabbath in different ways. Most commonly, it was interpreted as the first Shabbat after the beginning of Passover. The implication of this interpretation is that Shavuot, which falls on the day after the omer count of forty-nine days, would always occur on a Sunday. It would also occur on different days of the month since the first Shabbat during Passover could be, for instance, the third day of Passover (Nisan 17) or the fifth day (Nisan 19). This view is incorrect in light of Yeshua's exhortation of Matityahu (Matthew) 23:2-3.
Yochanan (John) 19:31 The Jews therefore, because it was the
preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath
day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their
legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away.
4521 sabbaton, sab'-bat-on; of Heb. or. [7676]; the Sabbath (i.e. Shabbath), or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself); by extens. a se'nnight, i.e. the interval between two Sabbaths; likewise the plur. in all the above applications:-sabbath (day), week.
----------------
Dictionary Trace ----------------
7676
shabbath, shab-bawth'; intens. from 7673; intermission, i.e. (spec.) the
Sabbath:-(+ every) Sabbath. Sabbath week
The date accepted by the Pharisees is the same date which is observed by Orthodox Jews. The date that we begin counting the omer is Nisan 16.
"Anti-Jewish polemics (theological differences) figure largely in the Didache (an early church manual, 120 C.E.) which wars against Jewish fasting and prayers, but at the same time takes over Jewish elements for the liturgy of HaShem's Supper."
"It was generally agreed that the Savior ate the Pesach (Passover meal) on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month of Nisan, corresponding to the fourteenth day of the March moon. The Christians of Asia stuck to that date, and on that day merely substitute the Eucharistic Supper for the Jewish ritualistic repast."
"It appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration
of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews... Let us
then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd." -
"The idea of going from a church to a synagogue is blasphemous; and to attend the Jewish Passover is to insult Christ." - Yochanan (John) Chrysostom, Sermons II and III, 387 C.E.
"No bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any other member of the clergy is to share in Jewish fast or feast, or to receive from them unleavened bread or other material for a feast."
- Apostolic Canon 69, 4th Century.
This study was written by Hillel ben David
(Greg Killian).
Comments may be submitted to:
Greg Killian
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[1] Six months be-. fore the redemption.
[2] Ex. VI, 6.
[3] Ps. LXXXI, 7 in reference to Joseph.
[4] Ibid. 4.
[5] Isa. XXVII, 13.
[6] Ex. XII, 42.
[7] I.e., on this night they are not allowed to roam as on other nights.
[8] Shemot 4:13, according to Targum Yonatan, see also Rashi ad loc
[9] The word Torah means instruction.
[10] The word Nevi'im means Prophets.
[11] The word Ketuvim means Writings.
[12] Because it became unclean owing to the restoration of her youth (Gen. R. XLVIII, 14). This was a miracle, and in remembrance of that they were now to eat unleavened bread (Mah.). The passage, however may simply mean that she made them ‘cakes’, i.e. unleavened bread and they did not taste (leavened) bread, because it was the Passover period, as stated in Gen. R. XLVIII, 12.
[13] The word in the plural implies two persecutions.
[14] Abraham and Jacob.
[15] I.e., remembered on high.
[16] Heb. sgunk E.V. ‘at the set time’.
[17] Gen. XVIII, 14. Said by the angel to Abraham with reference to the birth of Isaac.
[18] Lit., ‘standing’.
[19] The interval between Passover and Pentecost.
[20] According to another tradition (based on the words, knead and prepare unleavened cakes), the angels appeared to Abraham on Passover. Cf. Tosaf. s.v. tkt .
[21] According to tradition, Sarah became niddah (v. Glos.) on that day.
[22] Lit., ‘defective (months)’. I.e., less than twenty-nine or thirty days.
[23] I Sam. I, 20 (E.V. ‘when the time was come about’). This is taken as proof by the Talmud that Hannah bore after six months and two days.
[24] Shemot (Exodus) 3:8
[25] Shemot (Exodus) 3:12
[26] From Luqas (Luke) 6:1
1207 deuteroprotos, dyoo-ter-op'-ro-tos; from 1208 and 4413; second-first, i.e. (spec.) a designation of the Sabbath immediately after the Paschal week (being the second after Passover day, and the first of the seven Sabbaths intervening before Pentecost):-second...after the first.
------------------------- Dictionary Trace ------------------------------
1208 deuteros, dyoo'-ter-os; as the comp. of 1417; (ordinal) second (in time, place or rank; also adv.):-afterward, again, second (-arily, time).
4413 protos, pro'-tos; contr. superl. of 4253; foremost (in time, place, order or importance):-before, beginning, best, chief (-est), first (of all), former.
[27] TC - Triennial Torah Cycle.
[28] AC - Annual Torah cycle.
[29] Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:3
[30] Yahoshua (Joshua) 5:12
[31] Yahoshua (Joshua) 24:13
[32] e.g. Amos 1:1 & 2:5-6
[33] Vayikra (Leviticus) 26
[34] Melachim bet (II Kings) 20:17-18
[35] Divrei Hayamim 30:15
[36] Melachim bet (II Kings)18
[37] Yiremyahu (Jeremiah) 26:18-19
[38] Divrei Hayamim 35:18
[39] Hilchot Melachim 1:1
[40] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 8:ff
[41] Shemot Rabah 40:4
[42] Shmuel alef (I Samuel) 15:3
[43] Sifrei Re'eh 8
[44] Gemara Zevachim 52b
[45] Melachim bet (II Kings) 22:20
[46] Divrei Hayamim 35:31
[47] Divrei Hayamim 35:18
[48] see Divrei Hayamim 35:24-25
[49] Ezra 6
[50] Ezra 7
[51] Da'at Mikra introduction to Ezra/Nechemiah
[52] Ex. XXIV, 5.
[53] V. n. 7, p. 571, on ‘the children of Noah’. But Ex. XXIV, 5 was after Revelation.
[54] Gen. IV, 4.
[55] S. S. IV, 16.
[56] The burnt-offering was slaughtered on the north side of the altar; the peace-offering, on any side. He renders: Awake, O nation who hitherto, as Children of Noah, could only sacrifice on the north side of the altar (hence, burnt-offerings) and now, by accepting the Torah, come as a people who can sacrifice in the north and the south. — Cf. Gen. Rab. XXII, 5 (Sonc. ed. p. 183.)
[57] Sc. the best.
[58] It is a summons to the north and the south to bring in their exiles.
[59] Deut. XVI, 1.
[60] Ex. XII, 27.
[61] As that has been derived from Deut. XVI, 1.
[62] I.e., these verses teach that the Passover-offering must be sacrificed specifically as such and for its registered owner.
[63] In the sense that it is otherwise disqualified.
[64] Deut. XVI, 2. This too has the same teaching as XVI, 1. Since however it is superfluous in that case, it must intimate that this regulation is indispensable.
[65] E.g.,if an animal dedicated for a Passover-sacrifice was lost, whereupon its owners registered for another animal, and then the first was found after the second was sacrificed. Or again, if a sum of money was dedicated to buy a paschal lamb, but it was not all expended; then too the surplus must be used for a peace-offering.
[66] But not from the herd, which means the larger cattle.
[67] Heb. ‘hu’, This is regarded as superfluous and hence interpreted as emphasizing the regulation to the extent of making it indispensable.
[68] A change either in respect of sanctity or owner invalidates the paschal sacrifice.
[69] PdRE, section 21, Yonaton b. Uziel
[70] See Chizkuni on Shmot 12:15 (in the middle of his pirush) where he explains that chag ha'matzot is specifically seven days to correspond to the seven days that each plague lasted.
[71] This sequence avoids delaying
the fulfillment of a precept by doing something else. [Receiving the full
vessel involves the precept of sprinkling the blood in it on the altar; thus
must precede handing back an empty vessel.]
[72]
Many aprts of this section were excerpted from The Malbim Haggadah.
Targum/Feldheim.
[73] Viz., Ps. CXIII-CXVIII.
[74] I.e,, the suffering which must precede his coming.
[75] Ibid. CXIV, 1.
[76] Ibid. 3.
[77] Ibid. 4; cf. Judg. V. 4f.
[78] Ps. CXVI, 9
[79] Ibid. CXV, 1. This is now interpreted as a prayer to be spared the great distress of that time; cf. Sanh. 97a.
[80] V. Ezek. XXXVIII and Sanh., Sonc, ed. p. 630. n. 7.
[81] Ps. CXVI, 4.
[82] Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
[83] Ps. CXV, 2.
[84] Ps. CXVII, 1.
[85] Ibid. 2.
[86] And when that promise was fulfilled, Gabriel said ‘and the truth’ etc.
[87] Pss. CXIII ff.
[88] Cf. Ezek. XXXVIII, 1 ff.