Thinking about Passover during these difficult times? Learn from our Executive Director…

TAKE A SECOND TO LOOK AT A SECOND CHANCE
By Rabbi Gordon Fuller
Executive Director, Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies

It's clear the Covid-19 situation is wreaking havoc on all of civilization. Now that Purim is past, we have a great opportunity to provide some education, as well as practical advice, that could help with at least one upcoming challenge, and give people a second chance.

Pesach is the next annual holiday, and if you're like me, you're wondering what's prudent to do about sedarim. Do we have them as usual? Do we do them by an online platform? Are there other options?? What happens with the people who have the Coronavirus disease?

The answer is definitively that our tradition already provides us an option! In Numbers 9:4 - 11, we read about the men who went to Moses to complain that they couldn't partake of the Pascal sacrifice at the appropriate time because they were in a state of ritual impurity. Moses says let me check with God, and God then tells Moses to announce the ruling that those who were ritually impure, along with those we were too far away (geographically? spiritually? medically?) to participate, could fulfill this mitzvah on Pesach Sheini, a second chance to take part in the Passover rituals exactly one month after Pesach. This year, that would be observed on Friday night, May 8 (the 14th of Iyar); however, there are varying traditions about when to eat the meal. In some traditions, it's that afternoon; in others, it's that night or the following night. Generally, it is only observed one night rather than an entire week, and one doesn't have to completely rid the house of chametz for Pesach Sheini. But having a seder at an appropriate time is paramount, with the consumption of matzah and maror - the "Hillel sandwich" of matzah and bitter herbs together (to which I like to add a piece of cooked lamb - as some haggadot specify in the Hebrew). And as research has shown, the two most observed Jewish rituals today are the Passover seder and the lighting of Chanukah menorahs.

Not many Jews know about the second chance that Pesach Sheini brings, so at the very least, beginning to talk about it now will be educational. In my humble opinion. anyone with Covid-19 should certainly qualify as being in a state of ritual impurity. But even if you don't buy that argument, there's no question that pikuach nefesh - the priority of saving lives - takes precedence over any of the commandments (except three*), including eating matzah and maror at a Pesach seder. And some of the (unfortunately few) clear messages from health care providers today say that the more people who get sick, and the more quickly they get sick, the more overwhelmed our healthcare system will be, and therefore more people will die. It's simple math, and the reason for the extreme measures our governments (local, state, and federal) are taking.

Now is the time to begin thinking of creative ways we can continue to celebrate our holidays and rituals safely within our peoplehood. Pesach Sheini in May is a beginning. But if the pandemic isn't resolved by then, couldn't it be postponed a month more using the same Torah logic? What will we do about other holidays where the same threats may still be virulent (Yom Hashoah, Yom Ha'atzma'ut, and Shavu'ot)? Certainly it's preferable to observe the holidays at their sanctified time, but as we see, sometimes conditions can justify a relaxed ruling. Let's keep our creative ideas for meeting the spirit of the law flowing. If not now, when?

(* murder, idolatry, and sexual impropriety)