Dear friends and family,

One of my frequent labors of love consists of transcribing the words of my teacher, Reb Shlomo, from recordings that I or others have made.  This week I bring you a particularly timely teaching--timely as it addresses the meaning of a scarcely noticed episode in the Torah (for which, see Numbers 9:7-14), whose anniversary falls this year on Sunday night and Monday, May 6-7, the 14th of Iyar.  It is called Pesach Sheni-the Second Passover-which Shlomo calls "the holiday of the second chance."

The episode concerns a number of men who were ritually impure due to their contact with a dead body and were thereby disqualified from offering the Korban Pesach--the Passover Sacrifice--at the time the rest of the community, then traveling through the desert on the second year of their journey, was preparing to do so.  They bring their concern to not be left out to Moses.  Moses does not know what to answer and brings the matter before God.  God instructs him to allow these men--and those in the future who might be in a similar predicament, even to the extent of being of a distant journey and therefore unable to reach either the Mishkan (the Tabernacle) or the Temple that shall be built (locations where these annual sacrifices are to be made) by the 14th of Nisan.  The solution is to allow them to do it one month later.  The custom is still followed today of eating matzah and bitter herbs on Pesach Sheni in case one has been unable to celebrate Passover properly or simply as a commemoration.  In either case, however, the preparation and the ritual are much simpler.  They do not require ridding oneself of chametz (leaven).  They only require the appropriate brachot (blessings) and sufficient consumption of ritual foods-and, presumably, seriously focused kavanah (intentionality).

Much of the teaching revolves around whose body these men were carrying.
One explanation is that they were carrying the sarcophagus of Joseph, whose remains the Israelites were charged with conveying out of Egypt to eventual burial in the Holy Land.  In fact, they were unable to leave Egypt without his bones.  The other explanation is that they had had recent contact with or were still carrying the bodies of Nadav and Avihu, the two sons of Aaron who had died during the dedication of the Mishkan, on Rosh Chodesh (beginning of the month of) Nisan, described the week before last in Parashat Shemini (Leviticus 9-11).

Whichever it was, Shlomo and the commentators upon whom he relies find
ample significance in the connections between these deceased individuals
and the plea that is made by those responsible for their physical remains.

As usual, Shlomo extrapolates from these incidents and explanations certain conclusions about such perennial human issues as repentance and
forgiveness, dedication and devotion, and the importance of one's own unique approach in serving God.

Read on for his splendid insights into these daily concerns.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!

Reuven

