KORBAN PESACH The Essence of the Korban Pesach Why should the Korban Pesach not be brought on behalf of a single individual, and why isn’t the korban invalidated if this halachah is not observed? Is the Korban Pesach an individual offering or a communal one? What is the rationale behind the prohibition to remove the meat of the Korban Pesach from the house where it is eaten? * וזאת חקת הפסח... כל עדת ישראל יעשו אותו )שמות יב, מג-מז(. This is the statute of thePesach offering… The entire congregation of Yisrael shall do it (Shemos 12:43-47). Korban Pesach [23] יחיד ששחט את הפסח לעצמו כשר, והוא שיהיה ראוי לאכול את כולו, ומשתדלין שלא ישחט לכתחילה על יחיד שנאמר, "יעשו אותו" )רמב"ם פ"ב מהלכות קרבן פסח ה"ב(. If an individual slaughters the Pesach offering for himself, it is valid, provided he is capable of eating the whole thing. Ideally, we endeavor not to slaughter it for a single individual, for the pasuk states, They shall do it (Rambam, Laws of the Pesach Offering, 2:2). Rambam derives this ruling from a Gemara in Maseches Pesachim (95a), where Chazal cite a pasuk (Bamidbar 9:12) that states, with regard to the Pesach Sheni offering, Like all the laws of the Pesach they shall do it. Chazal infer from the pasuk’s use of the plural form that it is preferable that the Korban Pesach be brought on behalf of a group of people, rather than on behalf of a single individual. According to Rabbi Yosi in the Mishnah (ibid. 91a),1 if the korban is brought on behalf of an individual it is still valid. Rabbi Yehudah (ibid.), however, maintains that this halachah even affects the status of the offeringbedi’eved , meaning that the Korban Pesach is invalidated if it is brought by a single individual instead of by a group. Regardless of whether this requirement affects the validity of the korban, it represents a most unusual aspect of the Korban Pesach; no other sacrificial offerings that are not offered on behalf of a congregation are subject to such a requirement. What makes the Korban Pesach so different from otherkorbanos that it has the unique requirement to be offered on behalf of a group rather than an individual? An Individual Offering That Is Similar to a Communal Offering Rambam describes this unique characteristic of the Korban Pesach in his introduction to Seder Kadshim, where he enumerates the various types of sacrificial offerings, including the Korban Pesach. There, Rambam describes theKorban Pesach as “an individual offering similar to a communal offering…for it overrides Shabbos and tumah, as does a communal offering.” This comparison relates not only to the laws that apply to the korban but also to the manner in which it is brought. The Gemara (Yuma 51a) states that this korban is “brought in a gathering,” which makes it be considered similar to a korban tzibbur, 1. See Kesef Mishneh on Rambam, ibid., and the teshuvah of Rabbi Avraham, the son of Rambam, which is printed on the margin of Rambam (in the Frankel edition). [24] DORASH DOVID a communal offering. For this reason, it takes priority over the restrictions of both Shabbos and tumah.2 On the other hand, Tosafos (Yuma 6b) state that since the Korban Pesach is not a korban that is brought jointly by the entire nation together, it is not considered a full-fledged communal offering, and as a result, even according to the Talmudic opinion that maintains that tumah is “hutrah” (i.e., the restrictions on performing the sacrificial service in a state of tumah are entirely lifted) for a communal offering, when the Korban Pesach is brought in a state of tumah, one should endeavor to join a group whose members are tahor.3 (Even though communal offerings may be brought in certain situations of tumah, there is a dispute among the Amora’im regarding the exact parameters of this halachah. One school of thought maintains that tumah is merely dechuyah, “pushed aside,” but one should still do whatever is possible to minimize one’s exposure to tumah. The other school of thought maintains that tumah is hutrah, completely permitted, under such circumstances and that there is no need to make any effort to avoid it at all. In fact, the Torah itself, in its commandment to bring the Korban Pesach, indicates the dichotomy that characterizes this offering. The Torah instructs us (Shemos 12:3), They shall take, each man a lamb for a father’s house, a lamb for a household. In this pasuk, the word ish, “each man,” implies that acquiring the Korban Pesach should be an individual act performed by every man on behalf of himself and his household. At the same time, the Torah goes on to state (ibid. v. 6), They shall slaughter it, the entire congregation of the community of Yisrael, implying that the korban should be slaughtered by the entire nation as one. This is a detail of thePesach offering that does not apply to other korbanos.4 2. If the majority of the nation is tamei, or even if exactly half of the people are tamei, the Korban Pesach is brought even by those who are tamei. Similarly, even if only the kohanim or the vessels of the Beis Hamikdash are tamei, the Korban Pesach is still brought. 3. In fact, if the Korban Pesach is brought when exactly half of the people – not the majority – are tamei, it is forbidden to create a group that includes both pure and impure members (Pesachim 79a-b). 4. The midrash Shemos( Rabbah 19:2) cites the pasuk (Tehillim 119:80), May my heart be perfect in Your statutes, and makes a puzzling statement: “This refers to the statute of thePesach [offering] and the statute of the parah adumah…for they are similar to one another. About one the Torah states (Shemos 12:43), This is the statute of the Pesach [offering], and about the other it states (Bamidbar 19:2), This is the statute of the Torah. On the surface, this midrash is difficult to comprehend; in what way are these twomitzvos similar to each other? Based on our discussion, we can explain that the similarity lies in the fact that each of these two mitzvos embodies a seeming contradiction. Theparah adumah purifies those who aretamei , but at the same time it causes those who are tahor to become tamei. The Korban Pesach also has its own dichotomy, since it is brought both as a communal and as an individual korban. Korban Pesach [25] This duality is unique to the Korban Pesach, and it is a phenomenon that begs explanation. Why is this specific korban a cross between a communal and an individual offering?5 The Rationale for the Mitzvah of the Pesach Offering In order to explain this, let us first understand the underlying rationale of the mitzvah of Korban Pesach, as it is set forth by the Torah and the Rishonim. There is one reason for this mitzvah that is stated explicitly in the Torah, in the pasuk (Shemos 12:27), You shall say, ‘It is a Pesach offering to Hashem, Who passed over the houses of Bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim when He smote Mitzrayim, and He saved our households.’ According to Seforno’s explanation of these pesukim, this explains why the Korban Pesach is brought on an individual level rather than on a communal level: In Mitzrayim, Hashem saved each individual Jewish family from destruction; as a result, the Jewish people were commanded to bring a Korban Pesach on behalf of each household. Seforno sees this requirement in the pasuk (ibid. v. 26), When your sons will say to you, ‘What is this service to you?’ He comments on this pasuk, “Why isn’t a single korban sufficient for all of Bnei Yisrael, as is the case for other communal offerings? [The answer is that] it is a Pesach offering (ibid. v. 27) – this offering is brought because of the ‘passing over’…and everyone must bring this offering, because the miracle occurred to every person individually, not to the people as a whole.” This idea is likewise reflected in the Torah’s choice of words in a laterpasuk (ibid. 13:8), in which it states that when the Korban Pesach is brought, a person should tell his son, “Because of this Hashem acted for me when I left Mitzrayim.” The singular form implies that there is an inherent obligation for each individual to bring his own korban as an expression of gratitude to Hashem for both his physical liberation from bondage in Mitzrayim and his release from the spiritual defilement of that land. At the same time, Sefer Hachinuch teaches us (mitzvah 13) that the Korban Pesach is “a sign and a commemoration of the fact that we came at that time into the shelter of 5. See Zera Avraham (sec. 4 and sec. 6), where both Harav Menachem Ziemba and Harav Avraham Luftbier explain, based on the Mefaresh on Mechilta (Beirurei Hamiddos on Mechilta, Parshas Bo, Masechta d’Pischa, ch. 5, sec. 34), that there are, in fact, two distinct requirements to bring the Korban Pesach: a personal requirement that applies to every individual, and a communal requirement. Since the individual korban is brought by groups of people, it serves as a communal offering as well. (See ibid., sec. 6, where proof of this idea is brought from Tosefta, Pesachim ch. 4, based on the text as it appears there.) Zayis Raanan (on Mechilta, by the author of Magen Avraham), however, explains this passage in Mechilta differently, and Zera Avraham itself (sec.