בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִ֜י בְּאַרְבָּעָ֨ה עָשָׂ֥ר י֛וֹם בֵּ֥ין הָעַרְבַּ֖יִם יַעֲשׂ֣וּ אֹת֑וֹ עַל־מַצּ֥וֹת וּמְרֹרִ֖ים יֹאכְלֻֽהוּ׃
<span class="x" onmousemove="Show('perush','Este es el <b>57mo Precepto Positivo</b> enumerado por el Rambam en el Prefacio a Mishné Torá, su “Compendio de la Ley Hebrea” para todo el Pueblo de Israel.',event);" onmouseout="Close();">En el mes segundo, á los catorce días</span> del mes, entre las dos tardes, la harán: <span class="x" onmousemove="Show('perush','Este es el <b>58vo Precepto Positivo</b> enumerado por el Rambam en el Prefacio a Mishné Torá, su “Compendio de la Ley Hebrea” para todo el Pueblo de Israel.',event);" onmouseout="Close();">con cenceñas y hierbas amargas la comerán</span>.
Naftali Seva Ratzon
The Haggadah continues this discussion of when we can discuss the laws of Passover in the next passage: “You shall tell your child…” Does this mean from Rosh Hodesh? It teaches us64Literally the text says talmud lomar, a common expression in rabbinic literature when offering a retort or an answer to a challenge or a question.: ‘On that day.’ Now if it says ‘on that day,’ it could also mean in the daytime! It teaches us, ‘Because of this.’ ‘Because of this’ means, that we only tell the story of the Exodus when the Matzah and Maror is laid in front of you.” This statement is not only a discussion of when we celebrate the Seder but when we expound on the laws of Passover. First the Haggadah presumes that we can discuss the laws of Passover from Rosh Hodesh, following the opinion of Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel. The text then says: No, we follow the opinion of the tana kama, who bases his point of view on the expression bayom hahu65This expression, bayom hahu, appears both in Exodus 13:8 and in Numbers 9:6 – “There were some men who were impure and could not offer the Passover sacrifice on that day” The author understands the discussion in the Haggadah as a discussion of when we can expound on the laws of Passover as well as a discussion of when we are obligated to tell the story of the Exodus on Passover., and concludes that this is actually also a reference to the story of the Second Passover. Now, having said we have to do it on that day – we raise another question with regard to Passover itself. If we are obligated to tell the story of the Exodus ‘on that day,’ does this mean we can even do so during the daytime – the fourteenth of Nisan, (and not at night)? The Haggadah answers this question: No, it must be done when we can have the Matzah and Maror laid before us!
This controversy brings us back to an earlier discussion: to what extent are the laws of Passover which we observe (Pesach Dorot) similar to or different from the laws of the Egyptian Passover (Pesach Mitzraim)? We have already seen that when the Torah says to set aside the Passover offering on the tenth of ‘this month,’ it is talking about the Egyptian Passover and not Pesach Dorot. This raises and issue for Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel, since he uses the word zeh, this, (as in ba’avur zeh) implies that the laws of this offering are more or less the same both for the Egyptian Passover and the Passover of the generations. We learn this from the verse: “You shall observe in this month this practice.”66Exodus 13:5. Ginsburg repeatedly quotes this verse as a proof text for the fact that despite the differences between Pesach Mitzraim and Pesach Dorot, the laws for the two offerings are the same. Therefore, since Moses gave the people two weeks to learn the laws of Passover we must do the same in our preparations for Passover.
The tanna kama, on the other hand, bases his argument on Moses’ statement the following year as the people prepared for the first Passover after leaving Egypt. The original two week period only applied to the original Passover, not Pesach Dorot. Since Moses gave those who were impure one month to prepare for the Second Passover, we too must take a full thirty days to prepare for Passover and to expound on the laws of Passover. If we do not connect the two Passovers as Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamliel did(?), we might conclude that we are allowed to eat the Passover offering even in the day time. Therefore the Haggadah adds the last bit to its argument: We can consume it ‘On that day’ but not in the day time; ba’avur zeh - only when matzah and maror are laid before us which would be at night.
Finally, according to the tana kama, one might conclude that the mitzvah for the Passover offering is separate from the mitzvah of matzah and maror; therefore, Matzah and Maror must consumed at night but the Passover offering can be consumed even in the day since our Passover offering is different from the Egyptian Passover offering. The tana kama would therefore conclude that this is not so since the Torah says: “They shall offer it in the second month on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight; with Matzah and Maror you shall eat them.”67Numbers 9:11 Rabban Shimon was able to argue from the Egyptian Passover offering that they must both be eaten at night; since the tana kama rejected his interpretation of these verse, he needed another proof which he offers here. This verse implies that the Passover offering and the Matzah must be consumed at the same time – since the Matzah must be consumed at night so must the Passover offering!
Thus we have given the one who does not know the halachah an answer. We must expound on the laws of Passover thirty days before Passover, just as Moses taught the people in the wilderness. Also, even if we say the laws of the Egyptian Passover are different from later celebrations of the Passover, the law is still that the sacrifice must be consumed at night.
This controversy brings us back to an earlier discussion: to what extent are the laws of Passover which we observe (Pesach Dorot) similar to or different from the laws of the Egyptian Passover (Pesach Mitzraim)? We have already seen that when the Torah says to set aside the Passover offering on the tenth of ‘this month,’ it is talking about the Egyptian Passover and not Pesach Dorot. This raises and issue for Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel, since he uses the word zeh, this, (as in ba’avur zeh) implies that the laws of this offering are more or less the same both for the Egyptian Passover and the Passover of the generations. We learn this from the verse: “You shall observe in this month this practice.”66Exodus 13:5. Ginsburg repeatedly quotes this verse as a proof text for the fact that despite the differences between Pesach Mitzraim and Pesach Dorot, the laws for the two offerings are the same. Therefore, since Moses gave the people two weeks to learn the laws of Passover we must do the same in our preparations for Passover.
The tanna kama, on the other hand, bases his argument on Moses’ statement the following year as the people prepared for the first Passover after leaving Egypt. The original two week period only applied to the original Passover, not Pesach Dorot. Since Moses gave those who were impure one month to prepare for the Second Passover, we too must take a full thirty days to prepare for Passover and to expound on the laws of Passover. If we do not connect the two Passovers as Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamliel did(?), we might conclude that we are allowed to eat the Passover offering even in the day time. Therefore the Haggadah adds the last bit to its argument: We can consume it ‘On that day’ but not in the day time; ba’avur zeh - only when matzah and maror are laid before us which would be at night.
Finally, according to the tana kama, one might conclude that the mitzvah for the Passover offering is separate from the mitzvah of matzah and maror; therefore, Matzah and Maror must consumed at night but the Passover offering can be consumed even in the day since our Passover offering is different from the Egyptian Passover offering. The tana kama would therefore conclude that this is not so since the Torah says: “They shall offer it in the second month on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight; with Matzah and Maror you shall eat them.”67Numbers 9:11 Rabban Shimon was able to argue from the Egyptian Passover offering that they must both be eaten at night; since the tana kama rejected his interpretation of these verse, he needed another proof which he offers here. This verse implies that the Passover offering and the Matzah must be consumed at the same time – since the Matzah must be consumed at night so must the Passover offering!
Thus we have given the one who does not know the halachah an answer. We must expound on the laws of Passover thirty days before Passover, just as Moses taught the people in the wilderness. Also, even if we say the laws of the Egyptian Passover are different from later celebrations of the Passover, the law is still that the sacrifice must be consumed at night.
Rav Hirsch
Kap. 16. V. 1. In dieser Erzählung von V. 1-10 wechseln die Ausdrücke: כל עדת בני ישראל ,כל בני ישראל ,בני ישראל wohl nicht ohne Grund. כל עדת בני ישראל begreift die jüdische Gesamtheit in ihrer höchsten Bedeutung, als die durch ihre gemeinsame Bestimmung vereinigte Gesamtheit. Es ist die zur Gottesgemeine bestimmte Gesamtheit, und indem dieses Prädikat gleich hier am Eingang hervorgehoben wird, sind wir vorbereitet, daß hier Begebenheiten berichtet werden, die das Interesse der Gesamtbestimmung der jüdischen Gesamtheit in hohem Grade berühren. Es wird uns daher auch ganz genau die Örtlichkeit und das Datum angegeben. Es war gerade ein Monat nach ihrer Befreiung und sie standen am 15. des zweiten Monats nach ihrem Auszuge aus Mizrajim, das sie am 15. des ersten Monats verlassen hatten. Es war wieder ein fünfzehnter, allein anderer Art, ein "Peßach katon" nach dem Peßach gadol ( — trat ja auch später der Abend zum 15. Ijar subsidiarisch für den Abend zum 15. Nissan ein, Bamidbar 9, 11 — ). Es galt nicht dem Brechen äußerer Fesseln, nicht dem Aufbau und der Rettung der Häuser aus Knechtschaft und Tod, sondern der Freimachung des Geistes und des Gemütes von den Fesseln der Sorge um die leibliche Nahrung durch Unterstellung der individuellen und Familienexistenz unter die Gottesherrschaft und Gottesleitung im Schabbat. Denn nichts Geringeres, als die durch eine vierzigjährige ununterbrochene Wundererfahrung eingeführte und eingelebte, die ganze Judenheit und das ganze Judentum tragende Institution des Schabbats, wird hier bekundet. Wenn das Peßach die jüdischen Häuser für Gott aufgebaut, so hat der Schabbat die jüdischen Häuser für Gott erhalten.
Bartenura
והשני חמץ ומצה עמו בבית – As it is written (Numbers 9:12): “…They shall offer it in strict accord with the law of the Passover sacrifice.” It implies that the commandments on his body, such as “roasted” and that “they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs” (verse 11), we perform them in strict accord with the law of the Passover [sacrifice], but commandments that are upon his body from another place such as getting rid of leaven and that the Passover [sacrifice] should not be slaughtered with leaven, we do not do this in strict accord with the law of the Passover [sacrifice].