Bechukotai
This coming Wednesday is Pesach Sheni—literally, Second Passover. What is a Second Passover?
Back in the desert, when the Jews celebrated the anniversary of their exodus, they all went to bring the Paschal sacrifice as they had been commanded. There were a few men, though, who were left out. They couldn’t bring the holy offering, because to bring an offering you have to be ritually pure, and they were impure. How they became impure is not the issue right now. The point is that Passover came, and the whole nation was involved in doing something holy, and they were unable to take part.
So they came to Moses and they pleaded with him. “Why should we lose out?” they asked. Moses thought they had a good question, so he asked G‑d. G‑d also thought they had a good question, so He made a Second Passover exactly one month after the regular Passover, and made it a special mitzvah for anyone who couldn’t bring the sacrifice on Passover to bring it on the Second Passover.
Now that the Temple is destroyed, there’s no real practical way to perform this mitzvah until Moshiach comes. But chassidim, you know, always appreciate a reason to celebrate. So, chassidim like to mark the day anyway. Once, a scoffer said to a certain great chassid, “Do you realize that you choose to celebrate a holiday for the impure?” The chassid replied, “Not a holiday for the impure, but a holiday for the impure who became pure—and there is no greater holiday than that!”
Happy Second Passover!
Shais Taub,
on behalf of the Chabad.org Editorial Team
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