Summary of the day
Pesach Sheni (the Second Pesach) is on 14 Iyar, a month after Pesach. In Temple times, someone who could not bring the Pesach offering on time, because he was impure from a corpse or “on a distant journey”, could bring it in the following month (Numbers 9:6-12). Today there is no offering, and the custom is to eat matzah and to omit Tachanun, as a sign that the possibility of repair is always there.
Mitzvot and customs of the day
- Eating matzah, in memory of the offering (custom).
- No Tachanun in the prayers.
- Learning about the Second Pesach, and about the theme of the “second chance”.
- A fresh start: a good time to take on something we missed before.
Origin in history
In the second year after the Exodus, in the desert, men who had become impure through contact with a corpse said to Moses: “Why should we be diminished, so as not to bring the offering of the Lord at its appointed time among the Israelites?” (Numbers 9:7). Moses turned to God, and the answer was the mitzvah of the Second Pesach, on 14 Iyar, for anyone who was impure or on a distant journey. The Sages say they were the bearers of Joseph’s coffin, or those who buried Nadav and Avihu. The passage was written in their merit.
The message for today
The message: do not give up. People who wanted to take part, and could have excused themselves with the claim “we are impure”, chose to insist. And the Torah gave them a second chance, and even an eternal law. There is no “too late”: one can always begin again, even after we missed. And a people that holds on to a second chance is a people that does not give up on anyone.
Torah and haftara readings
The passages read in synagogue, with their start and end.
The source in the Torah
- Torah · Morning
Numbers 9:1–14
Source of the law: "Any man who is impure through a dead body"
Why this reading? The reading of Pesach Sheni (Numbers 9:1-14) takes place on Chol HaMoed Pesach, to remind us that even someone who missed Pesach can repair it. On 14 Iyar itself there is no special reading.