Chumashחומש

בחדש הראשון. פָּרָשָׁה שֶׁבְּרֹאשׁ הַסֵּפֶר לֹא נֶאֶמְרָה עַד אִיָּר, לָמַדְתָּ שֶׁאֵין סֵדֶר מֻקְדָּם וּמְאֻחָר בַּתּוֹרָה, וְלָמָּה לֹא פָתַח בְּזוֹ? מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהִיא גְנוּתָן שֶׁל יִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁכָּל אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה שֶׁהָיוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמִדְבָּר לֹא הִקְרִיבוּ אֶלָּא פֶּסַח זוֹ בִּלְבָד (ספרי; תוספתא קידושין ל"ח):

בחדש הראשון [AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES] IN THE FIRST MONTH — The section which appears at the commencement of this Book was not spoken before Eyar (the second month; cf. Numbers 1:1): you learn, therefore, that there is no “earlier” or “later” (no chronological order) in the Torah. But why, indeed, did not Scripture open the Book with this section? Because it implies something disparaging to Israel (Sifrei Bamidbar 64:1) — that during all the forty years they were in the wilderness they offered only this single Passover sacrifice (Tosafot on Kiddushin 38b s. v. הואיל)

במועדו. אַף בְּשַׁבָּת, בְּמוֹעֲדוֹ — אַף בְּטֻמְאָה (ספרי):

במועדו AT ITS APPOINTED SEASON — even on Sabbath; במועדו AT ITS APPOINTED SEASON (stated again in v. 3) intimates that it must be offered even in a state of uncleanness (i.e. when the whole congregation, or at least its greater part is unclean as a result of having come in contact with a human corpse) (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 65).

ככל חקתיו. אֵלּוּ מִצְוֹת שֶׁבְּגוּפוֹ — שֶֹה תָמִים זָכָר בֶּן שָׁנָה:

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).

וככל משפטיו. אֵלּוּ מִצְוֹת שֶׁעַל גּוּפוֹ מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר, כְּגוֹן שִׁבְעַת יָמִים לְמַצָּה וּלְבִעוּר חָמֵץ (מִצְוֹת שֶׁבְּגוּפוֹ — שֶׂה תָמִים זָכָר בֶּן שָׁנָה; שֶׁעַל גּוּפוֹ — צְלִי אֵשׁ רֹאשׁוֹ עַל כְּרָעָיו וְעַל קִרְבּוֹ; שֶׁחוּץ לְגוּפוֹ — מַצָּה וּבִעוּר חָמֵץ):

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].

וידבר משה וגו'. מַה תַּ"ל? וַהֲלֹא נֶאֱמַר "וַיְדַבֵּר מֹשֶׁה אֶת מֹעֲדֵי ה'", אֶלָּא כְּשֶׁשָּׁמַע פָּרָשַׁת מוֹעֲדִים מִסִּינַי אָמַר לָהֶם, וְחָזַר וְהִזְהִירָם בִּשְׁעַת מַעֲשֶׂה (ספרי):

וידבר משה וגו׳ AND MOSES SPAKE [TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THAT THEY SHOULD KEEP THE PASSOVER] — Why is this stated at all? Has it not already been said, (Leviticus 23:44) “And Moses declared [unto the children of Israel] the appointed festivals of the Lord”? But the reason is: when he heard on Sinai the section dealing with the festivals he told it to them then and he used to exhort them again about the festivals at the time when they had to be observed (lit., at the time of action) (Sifrei Bamidbar 66).

לפני משה ולפני אהרן. כְּשֶׁשְּׁנֵיהֶן יוֹשְׁבִין בְּבֵית הַמִּדְרָשׁ בָּאוּ וּשְׁאָלוּם, וְלֹא יִתָּכֵן לוֹמַר זֶה אַחַר זֶה, שֶׁאִם מֹשֶׁה לֹא הָיָה יוֹדֵעַ אַהֲרֹן מִנַּיִן לוֹ (ספרי; בבא בתרא קי"ט):

לפני משה ולפני אהרן [AND THERE WERE CERTAIN MEN, WHO … COULD NOT KEEP THE PASSOVER AND THEY CAME] BEFORE MOSES AND BEFORE AARON — At a time when both were sitting together in the House of Study they came and put this question to them. It would not be correct to say — as the words “”before Moses and before Aaron” might suggest — that they came to them one after the other, because if Moses did not know the reply whence could Aaron know it? (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 68; Bava Batra 119b).

למה נגרע. אָמַר לָהֶם אֵין קָדָשִׁים קְרֵבִים בְּטֻמְאָה, אָמְרוּ לוֹ יִזָּרֵק הַדָּם עָלֵינוּ בְכֹהֲנִים טְהוֹרִים וְיֵאָכֵל הַבָּשָֹר לִטְהוֹרִים, אָמַר לָהֶם "עִמְדוּ וְאֶשְׁמְעָה" — כְּתַלְמִיד הַמֻּבְטָח לִשְׁמֹעַ מִפִּי רַבּוֹ; אַשְׁרֵי יְלוּד אִשָּׁה שֶׁכָּךְ מֻבְטָח, שֶׁכָּל זְמַן שֶׁהָיָה רוֹצֶה הָיָה מְדַבֵּר עִם הַשְּׁכִינָה; וּרְאוּיָה הָיְתָה פָרָשָׁה זוֹ לֵאָמֵר עַ"יְ מֹשֶׁה כִּשְׁאָר כָּל הַתּוֹרָה כֻּלָּה, אֶלָּא שֶׁזָּכוּ אֵלּוּ שֶׁתֵּאָמֵר עַל יְדֵיהֶן, שֶׁמְּגַלְגְּלִין זְכוּת עַ"יְ זַכַּאי (שם):

למה נגרע WHEREFORE ARE WE KEPT BACK? — He (Moses) had said to them, “Sacrifices are not permitted to be offered by anyone who is in a state of uncleanness”. They retorted, “למה נגרע” — Why should that prevent us? Let the blood be sprinkled on our behalf by clean priests, and let the flesh be eaten by the clean”. (i.e. let us partake of the flesh at night when we shall already be clean: see Note). Thereupon he said to them: “Stand still (i.e. wait a short time) and I will hear [what the Lord will command concerning you]” — he said this with confidence, like a pupil who is certain that he will get information from his teacher at any time. Happy, indeed, is a human being (lit., one born of woman) who may so confidently rely that at any time when he wishes to do so he may speak with the Shechinah! — This section, in fact, ought to have been said by Moses, just as all the other sections of the Torah, only that these men were privileged that it should be promulgated through their intervention, because “meritorious deeds are brought about by worthy men” (Sifrei Bamidbar 68; Bava Batra 119b).

או בדרך רחקה. נָקוּד עָלָיו, לוֹמַר, לֹא שֶׁרְחוֹקָה וַדַּאי, אֶלָּא שֶׁהָיָה חוּץ לְאַסְקֻפַּת הָעֲזָרָה כָּל זְמַן שְׁחִיטָה (פסח' צ"ג); פֶּסַח שֵׁנִי מַצָּה וְחָמֵץ עִמּוֹ בַּבַּיִת, וְאֵין שָׁם יוֹם טוֹב, וְאֵין אִסּוּר חָמֵץ אֶלָא עִמּוֹ בַאֲכִילָתוֹ (שם צ"ה):

או בדרך רחקה [IF ANY MAN … SHALL BE UNCLEAN BY REASON OF A DEAD,] OR BE ON A DISTANT JOURNEY — There is a dot on it (on the ה of the word רחקה which letter is therefore regarded as non-existent; cf. Rashi on Genesis 18:9 and Note thereon), in order to tell that what Scripture means by בדרך רחקה is that it (the journey) need not really be a distant one, but that his sacrifice is postponed even though he was merely outside the threshold of the forecourt during the whole time that the ceremony of slaughtering the Passover sacrifice tasted. (Pesachim 93b, cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 69:2). — On the “Second Passover” one may have with him unleavened and leavened bread together in his house, and there is no festival in connection with it, and the eating of leaven is forbidden only together with it (the Passover Sacrifice) — i.e. while the sacrifice is being eaten (cf. Pesachim 95a).

וכי יגור אתכם גר ועשה פסח. יָכוֹל כָּל הַמִּתְגַּיֵּר יַעֲשֶׂה פֶסַח מִיָּד, תַּ"ל "חֻקָּה אַחַת" וְגוֹ', אֶלָּא כָּךְ מַשְׁמָעוֹ — "וְכִי יָגוּר אִתְּכֶם גֵּר" וּבָא לַעֲשׂוֹת פֶּסַח עִם חֲבֵרָיו, "כְּחֻקַּת הַפֶּסַח וּכְמִשְׁפָּטוֹ יַעֲשֶׂה" (ספרי):

וכי יגור אתכם גר ועשה פסח AND IF A STRANGER SHALL SOJOURN AMONG YOU, AND WILL KEEP THE PASSOVER [ACCORDING TO THE ORDINANCE OF THE PASSOVER … SO SHALL HE DO] — One might think that this verse implies that anyone who becomes a proselyte (גר) must keep the Passover offering rite immediately after his circumcision (even though it has not taken place just before Passover), therefore Scripture states, “yo shall have one ordinance, [both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land]” (which implies that just as the native brings the offering on the fourteenth of Nisan, so the proselyte, too, must bring it only on the fourteenth of Nisan; cf. Rashi on Exodus 12:48). What the first part of the verse implies is, therefore, the following: “and if a proselyte will sojourn among you, and comes to celebrate the Passover rite together with his fellows, then according to the ordinance of the Passover and according to the manner thereof shall he do” (i.e. ועשה פסח is not a predicative clause — when he becomes a proselyte then shall he offer the Passover, i. e. offer it immediately — but it is a conditional clause, coordinate to וכי יגור אתכם and the apodosis begins with כחקת הפסח etc.) (Sifrei Bamidbar 71).