Commentaire sur L’Exode 12:5

תמים PERFECT i. e. without blemish (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:5:1).

ומן העזים תקחו, "or you may take it from amongst the he-goats." The reason the Torah had to write the word תקחו, you shall purchase or take once more is to teach that it is permitted to use a goat even if one owns a sheep of the appropriate age group.

שה תמים, ”an unblemished lamb.” It was appropriate to select a lamb for that sacrifice as the horoscope of the lamb is in its ascendancy during the month of “Nissan.” Consuming the lamb was a reminder to every Israelite that this Egyptian deity had been completely powerless to protect its worshippers. By doing this we testify that our departure from Egypt was not due to our own efforts or ability, but exclusively to the power of Hashem.

Its entire [first] year it is called. . . This excludes an animal after one year of its life has passed. Although it has not yet lived two full years, it is unfit for the korbon Pesach. So says Rashi in Maseches Pesachim (97b), that a male in its second year is unfit for the korbon Pesach. (Nachalas Yaakov, see further proofs there)

שה תמים, “a lamb without blemish;” a Jew could not take an animal that was not in perfect physical condition and be considered as having fulfilled his duty. He might have been tempted to do so in order to escape the wrath of the Egyptian from whom he had purchased it by saying that he had not taken an Egyptian deity, since surely the Egyptians do not worship blemished animals, nor female animals or overage, weak animals, so that he had not committed blasphemy in their eyes. The Torah spells all this out by writing: “unblemished, male, less than a year old.” The Egyptians would raise the price of these animals when aware that the Israelites would use it in the service of their G-d. The Torah wanted the Jews to pay the price of such animals, although at that stage, they could have simply taken the animal without paying for it, as they no longer were afraid of their former masters. These had realised that they were not able to save their animals from the Israelites as long as these were still in their city. If they could not save their animals from the Israelites while in their own cities, how much less would they be able to do so outside their own domains.

בן שנה OF THE FIRST YEAR — the whole of its first year it is termed שנה בן, as much as to say, that it was born during this year (it does not mean that it is one year old — in its second year) (cf.Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:5:2).

Either one or the other. . . [Rashi is explaining that the beginning of our verse, where it says שה , means also either one or the other] — as it is written (Devarim 14:4), ושה עזים . And if you suggest that [the end of our verse is to be understood literally], “One from the sheep and one from the goats,” then the [beginning of our] verse should have said שיים (plural form), as a goat is also called שה . Perforce our verse means, “Either one or the other.”

בן שנה, “within the first year of its life.” We have proof that this is the meaning of the expression: בן שנה, from when the princes offered their offerings during the consecration rites of the Tabernacle in Numbers 7,15 and elsewhere, as the Torah there describes each of these lambs as בן שנתו, “during the first year of its life.” At the end the Torah repeats that they offered 12 lambs each “in the first year of its life,” i.e. בני שנה.

מן הכבשים ומן העזים — i. e. either from these (a lamb) or from these (a goat) (i. e. the ו of ומן does not signify “and”, but “or”); for a goat, also, is called שה, as it is said, (Deuteronomy 14:4) “the שה of the goats” (שה means the young animal, either of the sheep or of the goats) (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:5:1).