Meaning Behind Pesach (Passover)

There are examples throughout Tanach (all the books of the Bible) that show the Jewish people observe some form of cleansing processes which is subsequently followed by observing the holiday of Pesach. What is it about Pesach that the nation feels they must repent, cleanse themselves and then celebrate this holiday?

I think the most appropriate way to begin this discussion is to start off by discussing the genesis of this holiday. In Shemos (12:12-13):

יב  וְעָבַרְתִּי בְאֶרֶץ-מִצְרַיִם, בַּלַּיְלָה הַזֶּה, וְהִכֵּיתִי כָל-בְּכוֹר בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, מֵאָדָם וְעַד-בְּהֵמָה; וּבְכָל-אֱלֹהֵי מִצְרַיִם אֶעֱשֶׂה שְׁפָטִים, אֲנִי יְהוָה.	12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.
יג  וְהָיָה הַדָּם לָכֶם לְאֹת, עַל הַבָּתִּים אֲשֶׁר אַתֶּם שָׁם, וְרָאִיתִי אֶת-הַדָּם, וּפָסַחְתִּי עֲלֵכֶם; וְלֹא-יִהְיֶה בָכֶם נֶגֶף לְמַשְׁחִית, בְּהַכֹּתִי בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם.	13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

G-D is telling us that it is only because we sacrificed the Passover offering that He is "passing over" our houses. This seems very strange, why should this offering grant such great protection and, essentially, be the deciding factor of who is a Jew and who is an Egyptian? Apparently, if a Jew refused to sacrifice the passover offering and smear it's blood on his or her door post they would be considered just like the Egyptians and the "plague" would enter their house indiscriminately.

There are many other places in the Torah where the Jews seem to have a mass repentance and then, once they return to religious observance, do they celebrate the holiday of Pesach.

The first occurrence of the Jewish people keeping Pesach (Passover) outside of the Chumash (first five books of Moses) is found in Joshua (5:2,6-8,10):

ב  בָּעֵת הַהִיא, אָמַר יְהוָה אֶל-יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, עֲשֵׂה לְךָ, חַרְבוֹת צֻרִים; וְשׁוּב מֹל אֶת-בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, שֵׁנִית.

2 At that time the LORD said unto Joshua: 'Make thee knives of flint, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.'

ו  כִּי אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה, הָלְכוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל בַּמִּדְבָּר, עַד-תֹּם כָּל-הַגּוֹי אַנְשֵׁי הַמִּלְחָמָה הַיֹּצְאִים מִמִּצְרַיִם, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-שָׁמְעוּ בְּקוֹל יְהוָה:  אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה, לָהֶם, לְבִלְתִּי הַרְאוֹתָם אֶת-הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע יְהוָה לַאֲבוֹתָם לָתֶת לָנוּ, אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ.	6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the nation, even the men of war that came forth out of Egypt, were consumed, because they hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD; unto whom the LORD swore that He would not let them see the land which the LORD swore unto their fathers that He would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
ז  וְאֶת-בְּנֵיהֶם הֵקִים תַּחְתָּם, אֹתָם מָל יְהוֹשֻׁעַ:  כִּי-עֲרֵלִים הָיוּ, כִּי לֹא-מָלוּ אוֹתָם בַּדָּרֶךְ.	7 And He raised up their children in their stead; them did Joshua circumcise; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised by the way.
ח  וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר-תַּמּוּ כָל-הַגּוֹי, לְהִמּוֹל; וַיֵּשְׁבוּ תַחְתָּם בַּמַּחֲנֶה, עַד חֲיוֹתָם.  {פ}	8 And it came to pass, when all the nation were circumcised, every one of them, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole. {P}

י  וַיַּחֲנוּ בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל, בַּגִּלְגָּל; וַיַּעֲשׂוּ אֶת-הַפֶּסַח בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ, בָּעֶרֶב--בְּעַרְבוֹת יְרִיחוֹ.

10 And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal; and they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho.

It was only once the Jewish people had a mass circumcision and the generation that had the Sin of the Golden Calf and the Sin of the Spies, that caused the Jews to wander in the desert for 40 years, passed away did the Jewish people once again keep the Passover holiday.

King Hezekiah (Chizkiyahu) is found to be a completely righteous king, but he ruled after his father who was a wicked king that followed foreign gods. Therefore, when Hezekiah inherited the kingdom, his subjects were idol worshipers because of the influence of his father. This can be seen in Chronicles 2 (29:6,7):

ו  כִּי-מָעֲלוּ אֲבֹתֵינוּ, וְעָשׂוּ הָרַע בְּעֵינֵי יְהוָה-אֱלֹהֵינוּ--וַיַּעַזְבֻהוּ; וַיַּסֵּבּוּ פְנֵיהֶם מִמִּשְׁכַּן יְהוָה, וַיִּתְּנוּ-עֹרֶף.	6 For our fathers have acted treacherously, and done that which was evil in the sight of the LORD our God, and have forsaken Him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the LORD, and turned their backs.
ז  גַּם סָגְרוּ דַּלְתוֹת הָאוּלָם, וַיְכַבּוּ אֶת-הַנֵּרוֹת, וּקְטֹרֶת, לֹא הִקְטִירוּ; וְעֹלָה לֹא-הֶעֱלוּ בַקֹּדֶשׁ, לֵאלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.	7 Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt-offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.

After King Hezekiah had the Levites cleanse the temple and he destroyed all of the idols, he moved on to congregate everyone in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover holiday (Chronicles 2 30:1):

א  וַיִּשְׁלַח יְחִזְקִיָּהוּ עַל-כָּל-יִשְׂרָאֵל וִיהוּדָה, וְגַם-אִגְּרוֹת כָּתַב עַל-אֶפְרַיִם וּמְנַשֶּׁה, לָבוֹא לְבֵית-יְהוָה, בִּירוּשָׁלִָם--לַעֲשׂוֹת פֶּסַח, לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.

1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, to keep the passover unto the LORD, the God of Israel.

Also, later in Chronicles 2 we see that King Josiah (Yoshiayahu) inherited the kingdom from the wicked King Menashe. Menashe had completely devastated the religious practices of the Jewish people, but when Josiah came to power he went on a rampage destroying all the idols that his father had erected or allowed to be erected. Once he was finished cleansing the land we are told that he then kept the holiday of Passover (Chronicles 2 35:1):

א  וַיַּעַשׂ יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ בִירוּשָׁלִַם פֶּסַח, לַיהוָה; וַיִּשְׁחֲטוּ הַפֶּסַח, בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר לַחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן.

1 And Josiah kept a passover unto the LORD in Jerusalem; and they killed the passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.

There are more instances, but I think these cases are sufficient to point out that there is something about Passover that connects to the Jewish people only when they are following the Torah appropriately. Not only must they be following the Torah, but there is a special emphasis that once the Jewish people are cleansed of some imperfection THEN they celebrate the holiday of Passover.

Hezekiah celebrated the Passover only once he had destroyed all of the idols his father, Ahaz (Achaz), had built and had cleansed the Temple. Also, we are only told that Josiah (Yoshiyahu) kept the Passover once he abolished all of the idols in the land and had cleansed the Temple. Joshua and the Jewish people of his time only kept the Passover once they were cleansed from the previous generation that had sinned by the golden calf and the spies and only once everyone was circumcised, another form of cleansing the Jewish people, did they celebrate the Passover. Therefore, we must consider why the Passover holiday is so connected to the Jewish people cleansing themselves of sin and returning to the proper service of G-D.

I think the answer can be found in the establishment of the holiday. Passover is all about us becoming the Jewish people solely because we follow G-D's commandments. This is seen by the original Korban Pesach (Passover sacrifice). The Jews were differentiated from their Egyptian neighbors solely because they showed the sign, blood on the door post, that meant they followed G-D's command. There were no other significant factors that separated the Jewish household from the Egyptian's household. Even if you were a Jew, if you did not have the sign on the door post, you were treated as a regular Egyptian.

This is why by Joshua, Hezekiah, and Josiah the Jewish people decided to celebrate Passover once they had returned to the service of G-D, because they understood the meaning of Passover.What is the point of the Tanach telling us that, specifically, at these times did the Jewish people keep Passover? There must have been many Passovers that the Jewish people kept that the Tanach does not mention. The Tanach is teaching us that once the Jews had returned to the service of G-D then Jews kept Passover  because the significance of the holiday is that only when we are acting as the people of G-D then are we able to follow G-D's commands. The entire point of Pesach is the acknowledgement of the Jewish people's recognition of a G-D in heaven. This is why we say in so many prayers "in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt" (Zecher yetzias mitzrayim). We follow G-D because he revealed himself to us on this holiday, which culminates with the death of the first born Egyptians that died while the Jewish people were spared. What differentiated the people who were spared from the ones who were killed? Was it birth? Was it coincidence? No, it was based on whether you followed the command of G-D and sacrificed the Pesach offering and put the blood on the door post.

This is the essence of Pesach. Pesach is a recognition that G-D is the one who freed us from Egypt. We celebrate the holiday because we recognize that G-D is our leader. Therefore, the Tanach emphasizes the celebration of Pesach only when the Jewish people recognize the reason and significance of this holiday. The Tanach is, in essence, telling us that this is how one should celebrate the holiday, because the commitment and zeal that these people are showing is the essence of the holiday. Without the recognition of G-D as the one we follow and give complete obedience to, there is no point in celebrating the holiday.

The Ten Plagues, A lesson in Repentance

The Midrash Tanchuma in Parshas Vaera can teach us a quite powerful lesson. It quotes a verse in Iyov, "Behold, G-D, in His omnipotence, will raise up. Who can instruct as He does?" (Iyov 36:22) The Medrash tells us that this means that G-D instructs the wicked how to repent their evil ways. This is done through G-D giving the wicked a certain illness or other hardship that relates to their misdeed. The ten plagues are the paradigm for this idea.

Blood: The reason for this plague was because the Egyptians did not allow the daughters of Israel to use the mikvah and purify themselves from their menstrual impurity. Thus, they effectively were prohibiting the Jews from procreating since a man can not lie with his wife unless she cleanses herself in the mikva. Therefore, the Egyptians were reminded of this sin by being punished with blood.

Frogs/Crocodiles: The Egyptians would force the Jews to chase after these creatures and bring them to the Egyptians. Therefore, the Egyptians were punished with the very thing that they forced the Jews to do.

Lice: The Egyptians would force the Jews to sweep the streets and market places (a pointless task as well) therefore the dust that the Jews were forced to sweep turned to lice.

Wild Beasts: The Egyptians would force the Jews to capture wild beasts for them just to torture the Jews. Therefore, the Egyptians were tortured with wild beasts.

Pestilence (for the animals): The Egyptians forced the Jews to watch after their animals in the desert, the mountains and the valleys in order that the Jews should not procreate by being allowed to return home. Therefore, all of the animals that the Jews had to watch were killed.

Boils: The Egyptians would force the Jews to get hot water for their baths and cold water if it was too hot. They tortured the Jews in order to take care of their bodies so their bodies were punished by being covered in boils.

Hail: The Egyptians made the Jews plant gardens and orchards. Therefore, G-D brought the hail to destroy these plantations.

Locusts: The Egyptians made the Jews plant wheat and barely. Therefore, G-D made the locusts come and destroy these crops.

Darkness: The reason for this plague was in order to get rid of the Jews that were wicked. G-D could not bring a plague on them while the Egyptians could see because then the Egyptians would say that just like we are plagued so too are the Jews. Then the Jews would not be freed. Therefore, G-D cast darkness over the land of Egypt to punish the wicked Jews.

Death of the firstborn: The Eitz Yosef says that it was because the Egyptians killed many Jews.

Going into Pesach we can learn many important things from the ten plagues. However, I think that the most important aspect is that of reflection. This is a time of year where we can reflect and think about G-D's influence in our lives. What types of messages has He been sending to us. Should I be repenting for certain things? Have I made the wrong choices? Little signs, or big signs, can help guide us in the right direction, all we have to do is look.

Connecting Purim to Pesach

There is a very famous story that happened many years ago. It involves the Jews and the foreign land they lived in. The story contains a wicked oppressor and a great Jewish leader. It begins with the antagonist making a decree against the Jews and the protagonist coming and rescuing the Jewish people and freeing them from oppression. Also, the oppressor was smitten in ten ways and in the end he was killed.

Many might think that I am referring to Passover, but in truth I am talking about Purim. After the destruction of the first temple the Jews were sent into exile in Babylon (which later became part of the Persian Empire). Almost seventy years later they were oppressed by Haman, a very wicked man, who made a decree that every Jew should be killed. Mordechai, the leader and savior of the Jews, was able to save the Jews from destruction. In the end Haman was smitten in ten ways by having his ten sons hanged on the gallows along with himself.

These similarities bring about a very interesting correlation between Passover and Purim and reveals to us the similarities between Mordechai and Moshe as well as the similarities between Haman and Pharoh. The renewal of the dedication to the Torah by the Jews during Purim was so great that it is referred to as kimu vikiblu (establishing and keeping) and is compared to the receiving of the Torah (Esther 9:27). So the question here remains that if it is supposed to be just like Passover and the only difference is that one was for the First coming into Israel and one was for the second coming, since Jews returned to Israel after Purim, what happened? Why was the second coming so much weaker than the first coming and why did Mordechai, the savior of Purim, not lead it? By Passover the entire congregation of Israel came to the land without hesitation, but by Purim there was much hesitation and only 43,000 people came at first. Also, if Mordechai is compared to Moshe why was he not the one to lead the Jewish people in, why was Ezra hasofer the one to lead the Jews into Eretz Yisroel?

Here we can delve into the differences between Passover and Purim. The biggest difference is that very few people went back with Ezra to Israel after Purim as apposed to when everyone left Egypt with Moshe. This seems to be caused through the fact that in Egypt Hashem let the Jewish people see his great miracles openly whereas the Jews of Persia only realized how Hashem guided the events secretly. In Egypt, Hashem had these cataclysmic wonders destroy the Egyptians, but in Persia Hashem made everything occur naturally and through the Jewish people defending themselves. They fought against non-Jews that attacked them and killed 75,000 of them as it is stated in Megilas Esther (Chapter 9), but that was a hidden miracle.

Based on this we can point out the difference in thinking by the redemption in Egypt and in Persia. In Egypt, the Jews were so overcome by all of the plagues and wonders that they automatically accepted Hashem and there was no way to deny Him or ignore what He said. However, by Persia the Jews realized the wonders and miracles Hashem did, but He performed them in such a way that people could be less wowed by them. People thanked Hashem, but returning to Israel was still not important enough to forgo the comfort of the Persian Jews current living situation. Especially when we see what happened to the Jews in the books of Ezra and Nechemia. There were constant raids on the Jews trying to rebuild Jerusalem and many people died. There was no security and one would be putting blind faith in Hashem. This blind faith was attainable for everyone in Egypt, but the slightest bit of doubt would turn anyone away in Persia since Hashem only performed hidden miracles and there was no guarantee of redemption, in most people’s minds. This lack of faith is what caused the Second temple to be much weaker in spiritual holiness than the first temple.

The next difference is the leaders of the two holidays, Moshe and Mordechai. Both were undoubtedly great men and had much fear of heaven, but there was a difference. This can be seen in the listing of names of prominent people in Ezra and Nechemiah by the different houses that came to Israel. Among these names of prominent people, Mordechai is mentioned. There is, however, one discrepancy in these two different books. In Ezra, Mordechai is mentioned 5,^th whereas in Nechemiah, he is mentioned 6^th. So the question here is why exactly was he mentioned later in the book that takes place at a later time period? What caused him to be given less honor and be mentioned later?

My Rebbe, Rav Parnes, wanted to say the following. If we look at Mordechai in the book of Esther we see that at the end of the story he became the viceroy of Persia. Now, a Jewish scholar is given his position based on his knowledge and expertise in Halacha. The head of the court should be the most knowledgeable and, usually, the person given the most respect is the one who knows the most and is the wisest. So, what my Rebbe wanted to say was that maybe it could be that Mordechai got too involved in politics and never really went back to learning like he did before the Purim story. Yes, public affairs are important, but once they are finished with and everything is set straight the scholar needs to go back to his usual studies, otherwise he will become less of an expert and not be as knowledgeable. This could have been what happened to Mordechai. He might have gotten too caught up with being the viceroy and did not return to his learning and thereby he became less of an expert. It is because of this he may have been demoted in status compared to others. However, this is the opposite of Moshe who was able to juggle the role of being a leader and learn as much as he needed to in order to remain the ultimate authority. Nevertheless, both were great men and magnificent leaders.

These two differences could be the cause for why Mordechai was not the one to lead the Jews into Israel and why the people of Egypt all came to Israel instead of just a fraction. This is not a good excuse though, just an area for future generations to work on. We, for example, need to look at Purim and at Passover and be able to say that just like Pesach was from G-D so too was Purim.