Timeless Torah

“G-d spoke to Moshe in the second year of the Exodus from Egypt saying, ‘Let the children of Israel make the Pesach sacrifice at its proper time...’ There were men who were impure, due to contact with a dead man, and they could not make the Pesach sacrifice, and they came before Moshe and Aaron. They said, ‘We are impure due to contact with a dead man; why are we worse, that we should not bring a sacrifice before G-d in its time, amongst the children of Israel?’”

As with any episode that G-d deemed worthy to record in His Book of Eternal Lessons, there is always any number of Sages with a variety of insights explaining the subtle meaning of the Biblical story. Here too we find differing opinions as to the identity of the dead man. One Talmudic Rabbi suggests that the corpse was that of Joseph whose bones were being manually carried through the desert sands for burial in the Promised Land. Others point out that it was the two sons of Aaron who had without warning expired just weeks before the first Pesach holiday. A third Sage argues for yet another character to play the role of the dead man, and so the discussion in the Talmud goes.

Of course, each perspective has an accompanying ethical lesson that could and must be gleaned; otherwise the variety of explanations cannot be truly appreciated. As space in the weekly TIMELESS TORAH is limited, I will focus on merely one opinion not yet mentioned.

The Talmud determines that these individuals who presented their complaint were involved in the burial of a “Mes Mitzvah”, a dead body with no one else to bury it. Doing this final act of kindness for such an individual takes precedence even over the Pesach sacrifice. Consequently, this group took this Mitzvah upon themselves, even though it would render them impure and unable to participate in the first Passover sacrifice brought by the once former, but now liberated, slaves.

As a result, G-d bequeathed to us the laws of “Pesach Sheni”, the Second Pesach. This second chance to offer the festival sacrifice one month later was Heaven’s response to these men. Although we should have learned these laws directly through Moshe, the merits of these individuals caused the laws of the Second Pesach to be taught for all generations in conjunction with their story. As Rashi elucidates, “These people gained the merit of having it said through them, because Providence brings about merit through the meritorious.”

What exactly did they do that was so exemplary? Would not most people stop and address a problem if they saw that there was no one else around to deal with it? I believe that their well deserved praise is due to two factors. First, these individuals certainly knew that by getting involved they would be impure on the eve of Pesach and thus be unable to offer the sacrifice. Nonetheless, they also knew that their immediate obligation was to help the deceased reach his or her final rest. Thus they taught us to act in respect to today’s obligations, and not worry about their impact on tomorrow.

This moral is pertinent to those who when offered the opportunity to spend a year after high school to learn more about Judaism and prepare themselves for Jewish lives, say no because of the fear of graduating late, or missing an early placement. Hence we are told to execute today’s obligations instead of worrying about tomorrow’s.

There is a second aspect of the story which is just as relevant. These selfless individuals who performed the burial knew that they would miss the first-ever sacrifice commemorating the Holiday of Freedom. And yet they did the burial, a kindness for a stranger who could show no gratitude, and who had no known relatives who would offer thanks on his behalf. This level of generosity, of interest in others even at their own expense, was an exercise that seemingly offered no reward. To their everlasting credit and memory, G-d resolved that they would receive a second chance and an immortal place in the Book of Eternal Records.