Second chances are important. But what happens when it comes to major moments on our private/public calendar? A surprising amendment indicates the wisdom of being flexible about everything - including the sanctity of time.
It’s been a year since leaving Egypt, and in our story - the Hebrews are prepared to celebrate their first official commemoration of the Exodus. Passover is observed as instructed, while the sun sets and the full moon of spring rises, exactly on time. Imagine what it may have felt like to mark this momentous occasion only one year later. Myth or history, fact or fiction - Chapter 9 in our wild book narrates this festive occasion, except there is one flaw. Some of the people are not able to participate in the sacrificial offering of lambs since they are defiled by contact with a corpse.
They approach Moses and Aaron and protest - we want to be part of this new national holiday, and it’s not our fault that the laws of purity prevent us from passing over with y’all.
After a brief consultation with the highest authority the surprising solution is delivered by the divine. Passover - the MakeOver! Exactly one full moon following the official date, Passover, Plan B - may be conducted for those who were unable to celebrate either because of contamination or because they were on the road:
בַּחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִ֜י בְּאַרְבָּעָ֨ה עָשָׂ֥ר י֛וֹם בֵּ֥ין הָעַרְבַּ֖יִם יַעֲשׂ֣וּ אֹת֑וֹ עַל־מַצּ֥וֹת וּמְרֹרִ֖ים יֹאכְלֻֽהוּ׃
“They shall offer the Paschal offering on the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs” (Ba. 9:11)
The second month - Ha’Sheni - is clearly the month following the Exodus. What a great solution. It’s the only holiday to have this option. Two suspicious items in God’s generous offer here to expand the holiday’s validity stand out as possibly hints at the real reason for this plan B. One - in a later verse all are expected to celebrate - even the foreigners living among the Hebrews, although they or their ancestors did not go through the Exodus. Passover becomes a defining collective national holiday and perhaps that’s the reason for having a make-over date.- and insisting that everyone participate no matter what? Second - the people’s protest was due to death-related contamination but the divine solution also added the reason of ‘being on a far away journey’ as a legitimate cause for celebration a month later. What far away journey? The Hebrews are all traveling together in the wilderness, camped around the tent of time?
There are several layers here, including the possible origins of Passover as two different holidays that have to do with grain harvest (which is flexible due to weather conditions) and the season of new lambs being born. Scholars analyze these and the above facts to suggest that this Torah text was edited over time to accommodate evolving socio-geographic realities and needs. By the time Passover is celebrated in the Jerusalem temple and the bible begins to be canonized as sacred scriptures, it was reasonable for some to be away on a journey and for many gentiles to live among the Jews, and partake of the passover. Over time the holidays became one, grain harvest or not, and the option of Passover II remained but needed a story.
Whatever the history of Passover II, what we learn is about the power and flexible possibilities of second chances, even when it comes to historical commemorations as central as the Exodus. This chapter was cited a lot during the first year of the Corona Pandemic, as many struggled with Seder but were hoping that one month after there was a better chance of meeting up with family and friends. Both the reasons of ‘contaminated by death’ and ‘being on a road’ - as in ‘being far away from where we want to be’ were used to help people feel at ease about a delayed celebration.
Dr. RabbiStephen Garfinkel writes a compelling essay about this story, claiming that here, uniquely, “the Torah shows a preference for the acceptance and understanding of human reality over and above the perfect and pristine performance of ritual duties.”
How can this surprising story help us find more flexibility in our own spiritual and ritual lives and in the ways we mark the milestones on our calendars?
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