אַ֡ךְ בַּחֲמִשָּׁה֩ עָשָׂ֨ר י֜וֹם לַחֹ֣דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗י בְּאָסְפְּכֶם֙ אֶת־תְּבוּאַ֣ת הָאָ֔רֶץ תָּחֹ֥גּוּ אֶת־חַג־יְהוָ֖ה שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֑ים בַּיּ֤וֹם הָֽרִאשׁוֹן֙ שַׁבָּת֔וֹן וּבַיּ֥וֹם הַשְּׁמִינִ֖י שַׁבָּתֽוֹן׃
Wszakże piętnastego dnia miesiąca siódmego, gdy zbierzecie plon ziemi, obchodzić wam uroczystość Wiekuistemu przez siedm dni: dnia pierwszego święto uroczyste, i dnia ósmego święto uroczyste.
Ramban
THIS MONTH SHALL BE UNTO YOU THE BEGINNING OF MONTHS. This is the first commandment which the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Israel through Moses. Therefore it says here [that the Eternal spoke unto Moses and Aaron] in the land of Egypt,97Verse 1. for the rest of the commandments of the Torah were given to him on Mount Sinai. It may be that the intent of the expression, in the land of Egypt, is to exclude the city of Egypt, just as our Rabbis have said:98Mechilta, Introduction. “In the land of Egypt. This means outside the city.”
Now Scripture should have first said, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying:99Verse 3. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, and so on to the end of the chapter. [Why then is the verse, Speak ye, etc., mentioned after the verse, This month, etc.?] It is because Moses and Aaron — [as mentioned in Verse 1: And the Eternal spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: This month, etc.] — are in the place of Israel. Saying it to them is equivalent to saying it to Israel in all their generations. In the following verse, however, He repeats by saying, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, in order to command them something which is not binding for all time, namely, the buying of the paschal offering in Egypt on the tenth day of Nisan.100In subsequent generations, the paschal offering may be purchased at any time (Pesachim 96a). Ramban’s thought is thus clear. With the commandment, This month shall be unto you, etc., applying as it does for all time, it is sufficient for Scripture to mention only Moses and Aaron in connection with it, since they are in place of Israel for all times. But since the command mentioned in Verse 3, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, applied only to the paschal offering in Egypt, He therefore preceded it again by saying, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, the Israel of that time.
According to the Midrashic interpretation,101Rosh Hashanah 25b. The process involved witnesses who saw the appearance of the new moon. After their testimony was heard and examined, the chief of the Court then said, “It is hallowed!” and all the people answered him, “It is hallowed! It is hallowed!” This established that day as being the first of the month, and the occurrence of all festivals of that month were accordingly determined. With the Great Court or Sanhedrin no longer functioning in the Land of Israel, the first of the month is established only by calculating when the new moon appears. For a more detailed discussion of this important topic, see my translation of “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 159-163. lachem (unto you) [in the verse, This month shall be unto you], means that “the Sanctification of the New Moon”101Rosh Hashanah 25b. The process involved witnesses who saw the appearance of the new moon. After their testimony was heard and examined, the chief of the Court then said, “It is hallowed!” and all the people answered him, “It is hallowed! It is hallowed!” This established that day as being the first of the month, and the occurrence of all festivals of that month were accordingly determined. With the Great Court or Sanhedrin no longer functioning in the Land of Israel, the first of the month is established only by calculating when the new moon appears. For a more detailed discussion of this important topic, see my translation of “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 159-163. is to be performed only by a Court of experts [as Moses and Aaron were]. And this is the reason it does not say at the beginning [of Verse 2], Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, since “the Sanctification of the New Moon” can be performed only by Moses and Aaron and their like.
Now the purport of the expression, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, is that Israel is to count this as the first of the months, and from it they are to count all months — second, third, etc., until a year of twelve months is completed — in order that there be through this enumeration a remembrance of the great miracle, [i.e., the exodus from Egypt, which occurred in the first month]. Whenever we will mention the months, the miracle will be remembered.102Thus everytime a person says, for example, “the third month,” he implies that it is the third in the order of the months which begins with Nisan, when the exodus occurred. It is for this reason that the months have no individual names in the Torah. Instead, Scripture says: In the third month;103Further, 19:1. And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month … that the cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle of the Testimony;104Numbers 10:11. And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, etc.,105Ibid., 29:1. and so in all cases. Just as in counting the weekdays we always remember the Sabbath-day since the weekdays have no specific name of their own, but instead are called “one day in the Sabbath,” “the second day in the Sabbath,” as I will explain,106Further, 20:8. so we remember the exodus from Egypt in our counting “the first month,” “the second month,” “the third month,” etc., to our redemption.
This order of the counting of the months is not in regard to the years, for the beginning of our years is from Tishri, [the seventh month], as it is written, And the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year,107Ibid., 34:22. Now the feast of ingathering is in the seventh month (Leviticus 23:39) and yet Scripture calls it here at the turn of the year, which means the beginning of the new year. Thus we learn that Tishri is the beginning of the year, although in the order of the counting of the months it is the seventh month. and it is further written, And the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year.108Ibid., 23:16. If so, when we call the month of Nisan the first of the months and Tishri the seventh, the meaning thereof is “the first [month] to the redemption” and “the seventh month” thereto. This then is the intent of the expression, it shall be the first month to you, meaning that it is not the first in regard to the year but it is the first “to you,” i.e., that it be called “the first” for the purpose of remembering our redemption.
Our Rabbis have already mentioned this matter when saying,109Yerushalmi Rosh Hashanah I, 2. “The names of the months came up with us from Babylon,” since at first we had no names for the months. The reason for this [adoption of the names of the months when our ancestors returned from Babylon to build the Second Temple], was that at first their reckoning was a memorial to the exodus from Egypt, but when we came up from Babylon, and the words of Scripture were fulfilled — And it shall no more be said: As the Eternal liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but: As the Eternal liveth that brought up and that led the children of Israel from the land of the north110Jeremiah 16:14-15. The expression and that led is found ibid., 23:8. — from then on we began to call the months by the names they were called in the land of Babylon. We are thus reminded that there we stayed [during our exile] and from there, blessed G-d brought us up [to our Land].111From Ramban’s “Sermon on Rosh Hashanah,” where he discussed the same topic (Kithvei Haramban, Vol. I, p. 215), it is crystal clear that the author’s intent here was not that the memorial of the redemption from Babylon will thrust aside the memorial of the redemption from Egypt. Rather, the one of Babylon will be added to that of Egypt, so that the names of the months will be reminiscent of the two redemptions together. See Note 114 further, for example. Joseph Albo’s position in his book Ikkarim (Roots), III, 16, that Ramban’s intent here was that after the return from the Babylonian exile, the first memorial was to give way altogether to the second, is thus not correct. For further discussion of this problem see the note in my Hebrew commentary Vol. II, p. 520. These names — Nisan, Iyar, and the others — are Persian names and are to be found only in the books of the prophets of the Babylonian era112See Zechariah 1:7, etc.; Ezra 6:15; Nehemiah 1:1. and in the Scroll of Esther.113Esther 3:7, etc. It is for this reason that Scripture says, In the first month, which is the month of Nisan,114Ibid. Thus both memorials are mentioned simultaneously: the first month to our redemption from Egypt, which is the month of Nisan, a name which is reminiscent of our Babylonian exile from which we have also been redeemed. just as it says, they cast ‘pur,’ that is, the lot.115Ibid. In this case too Scripture explains the Persian word pur as meaning lot, just as it explained the name Nisan as being “the first month.” To this day, people of Persia and Media use these names of the months — Nisan, Tishri, and the others — as we do. Thus through the names of the months we remember our second redemption even as we had done until then with regard to the first one.
Now Scripture should have first said, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying:99Verse 3. This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, and so on to the end of the chapter. [Why then is the verse, Speak ye, etc., mentioned after the verse, This month, etc.?] It is because Moses and Aaron — [as mentioned in Verse 1: And the Eternal spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: This month, etc.] — are in the place of Israel. Saying it to them is equivalent to saying it to Israel in all their generations. In the following verse, however, He repeats by saying, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, in order to command them something which is not binding for all time, namely, the buying of the paschal offering in Egypt on the tenth day of Nisan.100In subsequent generations, the paschal offering may be purchased at any time (Pesachim 96a). Ramban’s thought is thus clear. With the commandment, This month shall be unto you, etc., applying as it does for all time, it is sufficient for Scripture to mention only Moses and Aaron in connection with it, since they are in place of Israel for all times. But since the command mentioned in Verse 3, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, applied only to the paschal offering in Egypt, He therefore preceded it again by saying, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, the Israel of that time.
According to the Midrashic interpretation,101Rosh Hashanah 25b. The process involved witnesses who saw the appearance of the new moon. After their testimony was heard and examined, the chief of the Court then said, “It is hallowed!” and all the people answered him, “It is hallowed! It is hallowed!” This established that day as being the first of the month, and the occurrence of all festivals of that month were accordingly determined. With the Great Court or Sanhedrin no longer functioning in the Land of Israel, the first of the month is established only by calculating when the new moon appears. For a more detailed discussion of this important topic, see my translation of “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 159-163. lachem (unto you) [in the verse, This month shall be unto you], means that “the Sanctification of the New Moon”101Rosh Hashanah 25b. The process involved witnesses who saw the appearance of the new moon. After their testimony was heard and examined, the chief of the Court then said, “It is hallowed!” and all the people answered him, “It is hallowed! It is hallowed!” This established that day as being the first of the month, and the occurrence of all festivals of that month were accordingly determined. With the Great Court or Sanhedrin no longer functioning in the Land of Israel, the first of the month is established only by calculating when the new moon appears. For a more detailed discussion of this important topic, see my translation of “The Commandments,” Vol. I, pp. 159-163. is to be performed only by a Court of experts [as Moses and Aaron were]. And this is the reason it does not say at the beginning [of Verse 2], Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, since “the Sanctification of the New Moon” can be performed only by Moses and Aaron and their like.
Now the purport of the expression, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, is that Israel is to count this as the first of the months, and from it they are to count all months — second, third, etc., until a year of twelve months is completed — in order that there be through this enumeration a remembrance of the great miracle, [i.e., the exodus from Egypt, which occurred in the first month]. Whenever we will mention the months, the miracle will be remembered.102Thus everytime a person says, for example, “the third month,” he implies that it is the third in the order of the months which begins with Nisan, when the exodus occurred. It is for this reason that the months have no individual names in the Torah. Instead, Scripture says: In the third month;103Further, 19:1. And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month … that the cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle of the Testimony;104Numbers 10:11. And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, etc.,105Ibid., 29:1. and so in all cases. Just as in counting the weekdays we always remember the Sabbath-day since the weekdays have no specific name of their own, but instead are called “one day in the Sabbath,” “the second day in the Sabbath,” as I will explain,106Further, 20:8. so we remember the exodus from Egypt in our counting “the first month,” “the second month,” “the third month,” etc., to our redemption.
This order of the counting of the months is not in regard to the years, for the beginning of our years is from Tishri, [the seventh month], as it is written, And the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year,107Ibid., 34:22. Now the feast of ingathering is in the seventh month (Leviticus 23:39) and yet Scripture calls it here at the turn of the year, which means the beginning of the new year. Thus we learn that Tishri is the beginning of the year, although in the order of the counting of the months it is the seventh month. and it is further written, And the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year.108Ibid., 23:16. If so, when we call the month of Nisan the first of the months and Tishri the seventh, the meaning thereof is “the first [month] to the redemption” and “the seventh month” thereto. This then is the intent of the expression, it shall be the first month to you, meaning that it is not the first in regard to the year but it is the first “to you,” i.e., that it be called “the first” for the purpose of remembering our redemption.
Our Rabbis have already mentioned this matter when saying,109Yerushalmi Rosh Hashanah I, 2. “The names of the months came up with us from Babylon,” since at first we had no names for the months. The reason for this [adoption of the names of the months when our ancestors returned from Babylon to build the Second Temple], was that at first their reckoning was a memorial to the exodus from Egypt, but when we came up from Babylon, and the words of Scripture were fulfilled — And it shall no more be said: As the Eternal liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but: As the Eternal liveth that brought up and that led the children of Israel from the land of the north110Jeremiah 16:14-15. The expression and that led is found ibid., 23:8. — from then on we began to call the months by the names they were called in the land of Babylon. We are thus reminded that there we stayed [during our exile] and from there, blessed G-d brought us up [to our Land].111From Ramban’s “Sermon on Rosh Hashanah,” where he discussed the same topic (Kithvei Haramban, Vol. I, p. 215), it is crystal clear that the author’s intent here was not that the memorial of the redemption from Babylon will thrust aside the memorial of the redemption from Egypt. Rather, the one of Babylon will be added to that of Egypt, so that the names of the months will be reminiscent of the two redemptions together. See Note 114 further, for example. Joseph Albo’s position in his book Ikkarim (Roots), III, 16, that Ramban’s intent here was that after the return from the Babylonian exile, the first memorial was to give way altogether to the second, is thus not correct. For further discussion of this problem see the note in my Hebrew commentary Vol. II, p. 520. These names — Nisan, Iyar, and the others — are Persian names and are to be found only in the books of the prophets of the Babylonian era112See Zechariah 1:7, etc.; Ezra 6:15; Nehemiah 1:1. and in the Scroll of Esther.113Esther 3:7, etc. It is for this reason that Scripture says, In the first month, which is the month of Nisan,114Ibid. Thus both memorials are mentioned simultaneously: the first month to our redemption from Egypt, which is the month of Nisan, a name which is reminiscent of our Babylonian exile from which we have also been redeemed. just as it says, they cast ‘pur,’ that is, the lot.115Ibid. In this case too Scripture explains the Persian word pur as meaning lot, just as it explained the name Nisan as being “the first month.” To this day, people of Persia and Media use these names of the months — Nisan, Tishri, and the others — as we do. Thus through the names of the months we remember our second redemption even as we had done until then with regard to the first one.
Chizkuni
הזה, this refers to the month known as ניסן in the Hebrew calendar. [How do we know this without having it spelled out for us? Ed.] The Torah describes the month in which the festival of huts falls, when the harvest has been brought in, as occurring at the time of the equinox. Exodus 34,22). It describes the festival of weeks as occurring during the early harvesting season for wheat, (same verse) and it describes the time when the Passover festival (matzot) occurs as being during the spring season, or more precisely as the month of the spring equinox. (Exodus 34,18) From all this it is clear that in order to comply with all these data the Sukkot festival can only occur during the month of Tishrey, and the Passover festival can only occur during the month of Nissan. [It is spelled out even more clearly in the Book of Esther 3,7, “on the first month which is the month of Nissan.” Ed.]
Chizkuni
וככה תאכלו אותו, “and this is the manner in which you are be dressed when eating it;” you will not sit at a table all ready to enjoy a feast, but will act in haste. Other sacred portions of the sacrifice must always be consumed by treating the meal as a gift from G-d with great respect and with evident enjoyment. Some commentators understand the word בחפזון, “in haste,” as applying to the manner in which the whole meal, including the leavened bread and the bitter herbs is to be consumed. It is to be wolfed down indicating that the person consuming this meal is in a great hurry. The reason that the bitter herbs are to be eaten as an integral part of the course is to enable the consumer to eat it faster. The three constituent items to be consumed symbolize: slavery redemption, and freedom. The bitter herbs symbolize the slavery; the unleavened bread symbolizes freedom and the meat of the Passover symbolizes the act of redemption,being saved. At the time when the Passover lamb was being consumed the firstborn Egyptians were being killed. אל תאכלו ממנו נא “do not eat any part of it while not thoroughly roasted;” by eating meat that has not been thoroughly roasted or boiled, a person is liable to disgorge it involuntarily, resulting in some of it remaining uneaten until morning. ובשל מבושל במים, “nor thoroughly boiled in water;” boiling meat takes longer than roasting it; on that night speed was of the essence. The expression: ויבשלו את הפסח, in Chronicles II35,13, does not refer to “boiling;” this is why the word: במים is not mentioned there. It merely means that the meat of the Passover had been thoroughly roasted and made fit to eat. כי אם צלי אש, “but only roasted on the fire;” the reason that roasting meat is faster than boiling it, is that there is no other element separating it from the fire, such as water or another liquid. It must not be boiled in water or any other liquid even after having been roasted on fire; this is the reason why the expression כי אם צלי אש, has been repeated. (in verse 9) It must not be boiled in a pot (its own juices) even if no other liquid has been added. All of these details have been spelled out in the Talmud in tractate Pessachim folio 41. The manner in which the Torah writes these prohibitions is not analogous to the manner in which the type of woman a High priest must not marry is described in Leviticus 21,12, as here only negative commandments are listed, whereas there the negative commandment is linked to the positive commandment of the High priest marrying a virgin. [I am abbreviating here a little, as I feel the author digressed a little, his remarks being addressed only to Torah students of an advanced level. Ed.] At this point the Torah does not again repeat the words: ”do not eat.” The Torah’s point here is to forbid dividing preparation of the meat of the Passover meal into two or more courses, as this would negate the condition that it be eaten in haste. It does not mean that the entire entrails must be consumed They must only be roasted together with the rest of the meat in order to ensure that there would not be edible parts of the animal left by morning. It is not the custom of people who plan to undertake a journey on the following morning, as did the Israelites, to plan to leave over part of it to be consumed on the next day. This is why the Torah demands that in the event of there being such leftovers at the morning, they have to be burned to ash immediately. If that were not done, these leftovers of a sacred meal would be consumed by dogs, a most unfitting treatment for meat of a sacrifice. Alternately, the leftovers would be thrown into the garbage, an equally demeaning treatment of sacrificial meat. Concerning the Torah writing the words: עד בקר, “until morning” twice, Rashi writes that this means (concerning Passover meat for subsequent years) that seeing that morning would be part of a festival day on which burning other than for the purpose of eating the result is forbidden, the leftover must not be burned until the morning thereafter. There is no reason to raise an objection by saying “why did the sages of the Torah not apply the principle of the positive commandment to burn the leftover to override the negative commandment not to light a fire, so that the leftovers could be burned without delay? Answer: we know that the observance of the festival is itself also rated as a negative commandment in Leviticus 23,39 ,ביום הראשון שבתון, “the first day of the festival is a day that includes work prohibition” (similar to that of the Sabbath)? We have a rule that a positive commandment cannot override a negative commandment when that negative commandment is accompanied by a positive commandment in addition.
Rashi
שבת שבתון denotes, reposeful rest and not rest of a casual character.
Rashi
נאסף אל עמי [I AM] TO BE GATHERED UNTO MY PEOPLE — The expression נאסף “gathered” is used here because the souls are taken into a place in heaven where they are to be laid by. אסף in the Hebrew language has sometimes the meaning of “bringing something in to a place where it is to be kept” as e.g., (Judges 19:15) “For there was no man that took them into his house (אסף) [to lodge]”; (Deuteronomy 22:2) “then thou shalt bring it home (ואספתו) into thy house”; (Leviticus 23:39) “when you have taken in (באספכם) the fruit of the land” — which means bringing them in to the barn on account of the rain; (Exodus 23:16) “when thou hast taken in (באספך) thy labours”. So, too, the verb אסף used in connection with death always means “bringing in to the place where the souls are to be laid by”.