The Secret of Pesach Sheni

Editor’s Note: Pesach Sheni is celebrated on the 14th of Iyar. In 2023, the holiday falls on Friday, 5-May.

A Second Chance

Imagine yourself as Moshe Rabbeinu. Someone asks, “I missed putting on tefillin today – can I put them on now that it is nighttime?” The answer is obviously not! Jewish law specifically states that the mitzvah of tefillin is only for daytime – you cannot put them on at night. Why even bother asking?

The mitzvah to bring the Passover sacrifice or Korban Pesach is also for a specific time – the 14^th of Nissan in the afternoon, on the eve of Passover. If you miss it, you miss it! Who would think about trying to do the Passover sacrifice after Passover? It’s ludicrous. Why even ask?

But a group of Jews came to Moshe Rabbeinu and asked this exact question! They explain that they were tamei, spiritually impure, at the time that they should have brought the Korban Pesach because they were carrying Yosef HaTzaddik’s coffin. Someone who is tamei is not allowed to bring sacrifices, so they were unable to participate in the Korban Pesach at the prescribed time. Now, they want to bring it later!

Moshe Rabbeinu wants to say that there is nothing to do – so next year, you’ll do it right. But they had such true desire, and they were upset that they were not able to bring the sacrifice – they wanted so badly to bring the sacrifice. “Why should we miss out?” they said. So Moshe Rabbeinu brings G-d their question – let’s see what G-d will say.

Hashem gave the mitzvah of Pesach Sheni – a second Passover! Someone who missed out on the Korban Pesach because they were tamei can bring the sacrifice one month later, on the 14^th of Iyar. They do it exactly like it should have been done the month before, in all its intricate details. And retroactively, it becomes as if they did the Korban Pesach at the right time!

Even more, Pesach Sheni now became eternal. It wasn’t only for those people, just that year – every single year we are given another opportunity to get it right, to make up the past, on Pesach Sheni. It’s a new mitzvah! Hashem created a new Torah for them!

Nothing Stands in the Way of the Will

There is an incredible message to learn from this – the incredible power of ratzon, of desire. You want something? You’re truly upset that you aren’t able to keep this mitzvah? Keep wanting, keep praying and don’t give up! Rebbe Nachman writes in Likutei Moharan that whatever a person truly wants, he gets!

I saw this today with one of my students. He told me a few days ago that he wanted so badly to go to Meron for Lag B’Omer. But what can you do? Everything is closed because of Corona, it’s forbidden. But he was literally crying because he had so much desire, and he was so upset to miss it this year. He came to me today – he got special permission to go!

The same thing with Uman Rosh Hashanah. I could fill a whole book with stories of people who wanted to go and were unable, and in the end, went anyway. Nothing stands in the way of will! Nothing!

This is also a special message for anyone who feels impure, or thinks he is on a low level. He thinks to himself, “What have I done? I have done so many sins, I am so spiritually impure…” You want? G-d will make for you a new Torah! Even if you are in the lowest place, wherever you might be, you can come close to Hashem, and you can fix everything!

Someone came to me the other day, saying that he was on such a low level, he had fallen so low… I told him, “There is only one failure that a person can have. And that is if he falls from his desire [to fix].” If a person holds onto his will, and his desire to change, there is nothing that can stop him!

Watch this video about the significance of Pesach Sheni: