פירוש על במדבר 9:3

ככל חקותיו ACCORDING TO ALL RITES OF IT [… SHALL YE KEEP IT] — This refers to the laws relating to its body itself (i.e. the animal itself) while alive — that it must be “a lamb, without blemish, a male, one year old” (Exodus 12:5) (Sifrei Bamidbar 65).

ACCORDING TO ALL THE STATUTES OF IT, AND ACCORDING TO ALL THE ORDINANCES THEREOF, SHALL YE BRING IT [i.e., the Passover-offering]. Now it is written in the commentary of Rashi: “According to all the statutes of it — this refers to the laws concerning the animal itself, [that it should be] a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year.⁷²Ibid., Verse 5. And according to all the ordinances thereof — this relates to the laws ‘upon’ the lamb,⁷³Our texts of Rashi add here: “from another place.” Ramban interprets this phrase as an independent thought, as explained further on. such as eating unleavened bread for seven days, and the removal of leavened bread.” But this is a copyist’s error.⁷⁴Ramban’s meaning is as follows: Even if we concede that the duty to eat unleavened bread can be called a law “upon the lamb,” because the Passover-offering must be eaten together with unleavened bread, in what way can the duty of destroying leavened bread be one that is “upon the lamb”? Therefore it must be a copyist’s mistake in Rashi, which thus requires re-interpretation. For the laws which concern the animal itself are as stated above], a lamb without blemish, a male of the first year;⁷²Ibid., Verse 5. the laws “upon” the animal are that it should be roast with fire; its head with its legs and with the inwards thereof;⁷⁵Exodus 12:9. whereas the laws which are “outside” the animal itself are [the duty to eat] unleavened bread [on the first evening of the festival] and the duty of removing leavened bread, concerning which Scripture does not speak here at all. Similarly, it is said of the second Passover that [it should be observed] according to the statute of the Passover, and according to the ordinance thereof,⁷⁶Further, Verse 14. and a person may [then] have both unleavened bread and leavened bread with him in his house,⁷⁷Pesachim 95 a. and it applies for only one day.⁷⁸Hence the duty to eat unleavened bread and to destroy all leavened bread, cannot be included [as implied in our texts of Rashi] in the statutes and ordinances of the second Passover, since we have been taught that on the second Passover one may have both unleavened and leavened bread with one in the house! Furthermore, the second Passover applies only for one day; so how can there be a duty to eat unleavened bread for seven days included in “the ordinances that are upon the animal” [as our texts of Rashi have it]!
Now Scripture spoke briefly, saying, at dusk, ye shall bring it in its appointed season; according to all the statutes of it, and according to all the ordinances thereof, shall ye bring it,⁷⁹In Verse 3 before us. thereby including the laws relating to eating it, that it should not be on the day mentioned by the verse [on which the offering is slaughtered], but it is to be eaten on the following night, since He already explained previously, And they shall eat the flesh in that night etc.⁸⁰Exodus 12:5. Similarly, In the second month on the fourteenth day at dusk they shall bring it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs,⁸¹Further, Verse 11. means they shall eat it at the time of eating mentioned in the command concerning the first Passover.

בין הערבים תעשו אותו, “you shall prepare it in the afternoon.” The various procedures connected with offering the Passover are all included in the words תעשו אותו, “prepare it.”

These are the commandments pertaining to its body. The text should read “According to all its statutes,” these are the commandments pertaining to its body — a lamb; unblemished; male; a yearling. “And according to all its laws,” these are the commandments that have a bearing on the body of the animal — roasted over fire; its head with its knees and its inner organs. Those laws that pertain to outside its body, meaning originating from elsewhere — for example “seven days…” This is also the version of the Ramban and Re’m. However, those texts that write “according to all its laws…” the seven days of eating matzoh and of eliminating chometz” are a copyist’s error. For if this were not an error, regarding the Pesach Sheni, the Torah also writes “according to its laws,” but nonetheless regarding the Pesach Sheni one may have matzoh and chometz together with him in his house, as Rashi explains later. See Kitzur Mizrochi and Nachalas Yaakov who resolve the text of Rashi that we have.

V. 3. תעשו אתו ,בארבעה עשר וגו׳: es ist dies der seltene, vielleicht einzige Fall, wo, nachdem in dem vorhergehenden Vers das Gebot als Verpflichtung der Nation in der dritten Person, ויעשו בני ישראל, ausgesprochen war, es nun in der zweiten, Mosche mit begreifend, ausgesprochen wird. Im ספרי wird das במועדו des ersten Verses auf דחית שבת, das במעדו dieses Verses aber auf דחית טומאה bezogen. Nun haben wir bereits in Vorstehendem die hohe Bedeutung entwickelt, die der Begriff צבור, der Begriff der nationalen Gesamtheit für die Gesetzesbestimmung: במעדו ואפילו בטומאה haben dürfte. Der Einschluss selbst eines Mosche in die Gesamtheit, und gerade eines Mosche, dürfte wie kaum etwas anderes den von uns hervorgehobenen unsterblichen Charakter der nationalen Gesamtheit dokumentieren. Wer ist so wie Mosche in der Gesamtheit und durch die Gesamtheit in jeder Zeit lebendig gegenwärtig und durch die Unsterblichkeit der Gesamtheit selber der irdischen Unsterblichkeit teilhaft wie Mosche, wer, obgleich leiblich gestorben, unerreichbar von dem Tode wie Er! — בארבעה עשר וגו׳ בחדש הזה בין הערבים (siehe Schmot 28, 38).

וככל משפטיו, “and according to all the ordinances thereof;” according to Rashi, this refers to the festival being observed for the full seven days, the search for chametz and its disposal prior to the beginning of the festival, all in accordance with what has been written in chapter 12 of the Book of Exodus.

וככל משפטיו AND ACCORDING TO ALL THE REGULATIONS THEREOF — This again refers to commands which have a bearing upon the animal itself but originating from another place (i.e. outside the animal itself), e.g. seven days for eating unleavened bread and during which the leaven must be removed from one’s home. [Some editions have (cf. Nachmanides): the laws relating to the animal itself are that it must be “a lamb, without blemish, a male and one year old”. Such as have to be practiced upon its body (note the difference in the meaning of this phrase, and the omission of ממקום אחר) are those mentioned in Exodus 12:9: “roasted with fire, its head with its legs and the inward parts thereof”; and finally such as go beyond the sacrifice itself: the eating of unleavened bread and the removal of leaven from the house].

ככל חוקותיו וככל משפטיו תעשו אותו, ”you shall make it according to all its decrees and its laws.” Here the Torah means to include the laws governing the eating of the Passover, such as that it must not be eaten on the day it was slaughtered but only on the night following it; as had been pointed out in chapter 12 in Exodus already, as well as the fact that similar rules apply to the people offering the substitute Passover known as פסח שני, by people who had been unable to do so on the proper date due to being ritually impure on account of contact with the dead.

בכל חקתיו ובכל משפטיו, für das פסח שני V. 12 heißt es nur בכל חקת הפסה יעשו אתו, der Begriff משפטיו fehlt dort. Aus Peßachim 95 a ist nun ersichtlich, dass פסח שני vom פסה ראשון sich darin unterscheidet, daß beim פסח שני nur die מצות שבגופו wie: אל תאכלו ממנו נא וגו׳ כי אם צלי אש, עצם לא ישברו בו, לא ישאירו ממני עד בקר, und ebenso מצות שעל גופו wie: על מצות ומרורים יאכלהו in Erfüllung kommen, nicht aber מצות שלא על גופו wie: לא יראה לך ,תשביתו שאור ,לא תשחט על, חמץ, vielmehr: פסה שני חמץ ומצה עמו בבית (nicht ganz sicher ist, ob איסור הוצאה מחבורה bei פ׳׳ש stattfindet. הל׳ קרבן פסה ,רמב׳׳ם verneint es). Es ist dem 14 .2nach klar, dass sowohl die מצות שבגופו, als שעל גופו, also alle, die das קרבן פסח selbst sowie dessen אכילה und selbstverständlich סדר עבודותיו betreffenden Bestimmungen unter: חקתיו begriffen sind, משפטיו aber die מצות שלא על גופו, diejenigen Vorschriften umfasst, durch welche andere, außerhalb des קרבן פסח liegende Verhältnisse in Folge desselben bestimmt werden, wie die mit שחיטת פסח eintretenden חמץ-Verbote. Bei חקתיו bildet das פסח das Objekt, bei משפטיו die bewirkende Ursache. Hier bei פסח ראשון treten die פסח-Bestimmungen in vollstem Umfange in Kraft, und haben wir bereits zu V. 1 bemerkt, wie bei diesem ersten פסח דורות zu der Erinnerung בכל חקתיו ובכל משפטיו תעשו אתו besondere Veranlassung war.