My Weekly Drash -- B'ha-alot'kha

An observance you may not even know about is described in this week's
Parshah B'ha-alot'kha. Numbers 9:6-12 describes what is known as Pesach
Sheni, or second Pesach. No, you don't have to get rid of all the
chametz again. This was established because some people asked Moses
how they could offer up the mandatory Pesach sacrifice if they were
ritually impure and thus forbidden from doing so. God instructs
Moses that such people could fulfill their obligation a month later.
This hasn't been an issue in the nearly two millennia since the
destruction of the Second Temple, but it reminds us that a missed
opportunity isn't always lost forever. It may not be true, as the
movie had it, that "The Postman Always Rings Twice," but when it
comes to fulfilling our Jewish obligations a present inability
doesn't always foreclose a future chance to make it up.


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