Today is Pesach Sheni. When we counted the Omer, we start to count the Omer of Pesach Sheni.
What’s the significance of that?
During the second year in the desert, when Bnei Yisrael brought the korban pesach, there were two people who were contaminated and couldn’t take part. Most opinions hold that they became tameh when they carried out the bodies of Nadav and Avihu, who died on Rosh Hodesh Nissan, and they couldn’t purify themselves. So they came to Moshe Rabbenu and said two words:
למה נגרע
Why should we be left out?
We did a Mitzvah and took care of our fallen brothers, and now we can’t be with the rest of the Jewish people in Korban Pesach?
Ordinarily one would say, Well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles; sometimes people miss out on things- You’ll get to do it next year.
But Moshe Rabbenu said,
עמדו ואשמעה
Stand up and listen to what Hashem says. And sure enough Hashem told them that there would be a “rain date”, a make-up date on Pesach Sheni, one month later, when they could eat Matzah, bring the Korban Pesach, and eat Maror. We don’t have this “make-up date” concept for any other holiday. It doesn’t exist for Yom Kippur or Succot. Only Pesach.
It says that these two men merited to bring down a new concept in the Torah. Surely it was supposed to be that way beforehand, but it says, Righteous people have the ability to bring down positive things.
Since Pesach is so important, G-d wanted that if they missed out on the first one, they could have the second one.
What’s the lesson for us?
Rav Sadok HaKohen says something fascinating. First, the words that Moshe Rabbenu used were,
עמדו ואשמעה
Stand up and listen.
The Gemara in Masechet Berachot says,
אין עמידה אלא לשון תפלה,
When it says stand up ((עמדו/עמידה it means to pray.
He was telling them:
“Pray to Hashem from the depths of your heart, and through that crying out and yearning, you can bring upon me a message from G-d.”
And that’s what happened. Because they had such a strong desire, they were able to create Pesach Sheni.
Rav Sadok teaches us the following lesson from this:
כי יש תקוה לכל נפש מישראל
Every soul has hope- No matter how far you are, or what you are. You have hope. That’s the lesson of Pesach Sheni. We have the ability to cry out to G-d, and He will create a new concept for us, that didn’t exist before.
He says, in another place, that Moshe Rabbenu really had no answer for them.
The rule was:
שעבר יומו בטל קרבנו
If you miss the day, you miss the korban. There are no make- ups. That’s it.
But he tells us that the rule is that there is no such thing as no hope.
There is always hope, and that is the lesson of Pesach Sheni. Never give up hope. Both physically and spiritually, there’s always hope.
Rav Sadok says elsewhere as well, that
אין ליהודי להתייאש משום דבר
A Jew never gives up hope, and never despairs.
Whether it’s physically, (as it says, even if there’s a sword on your throat don’t give up hope), or spiritually. Regardless of where a person is, never give up hope.
If you yearn to Hashem, He will create something new.
This concept is demonstrated with a beautiful story.
During the times of the Chazon Ish there was a man who lost everything: his whole family, his entire community, in the Holocaust. He was broken, and didn’t want to continue living. He had given up hope.
Rabbi Galinsky brought the man to the Chazon Ish, who told him the following story:
There was a man who used to go to a fair annually, to buy goods that he would later sell to live off of for the entire year. One year he was sick and couldn’t travel, so he sent his wife, with instructions and money, to buy all the goods he needed.
In the commotion of the fair, she somehow misplaced the money he had given her. When she realized she lost the money that was to be used for their whole year’s parnasa, she screamed in panic and despair, and fainted, having given up any hope of getting the money back.
A few hours later a poor man found the money and told the local rabbi that he intended to keep it. The rabbi asked how he could do that? The man said he had seen the lady faint, and they all knew she’d made ye’ush/given up, so he was rightfully entitled by law to keep it. He cited Masechet Baba Masia to make his point.
It was a question, so they went to the great rabbi of the town, Rav Yitzhak Elchanon, who listened to the man’s claim. The rabbi then said the lady may have given up hope, but it wasn’t her money. It was her husband’s. You can’t give up hope on someone else’s money, the rabbi said. And since her husband hadn’t yet known about the loss, he certainly didn’t give up. Therefore the money went back to lady.
The Chazon Ish used this story to show the man that you can’t give up on yourself, because you don’t belong to yourself. You belong to G-d. G-d didn’t give up hope on you. He knows He can pull you out of anything. The man accepted the lesson, picked himself up, and went on with his life.
That’s the great lesson of Pesach Sheni. Don’t despair. Those men wanted it, and
G-d created the impossible. He created a make-up Korban Pesach for them.
We should remember this always, and especially at the time of Pesach Sheni.