Pesach Sheni
When you miss the boat, gather the materials at hand and build a new boat.
Second chances don’t come easy. When they do, they are profound and can change your life. There were those souls who, due to extenuating circumstances, could not experience Passover freedom to the fullest. Thus was instituted a day, exactly one month later, for all those souls to offer freely and connect completely. Better late than never, say the bumper stickers. Sometimes, especially when it comes to soulful matters, being late could also end up being right on time.
The Missing Complaint
A group of Jews had found themselves in a state which, by divine decree, absolved them from the duty to bring the Passover offering. Yet they refused to reconcile themselves to this.
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The Distant Road
The Second Passover is “a festival in its own right,” offering an opportunity for a teshuvah that is not limited to the literal sinner.
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The Conquest of Time
Thus, the story of the “Second Passover” gives rise to the principle that “There is no earlier or later in Torah.”
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An Outsider’s View: Jethro and Moses
What was Jethro’s addition to the Torah? What did it contribute to our understanding of the Divine wisdom? How did Jethro and Moses both contribute?
Read MoreThe Conquest of Time: The Second Passover
The eternal significance of the “Second Passover” is that there are no missed opportunities, that it is never too late to rectify a past failing. Even one whose compromised spiritual state (his “ritual impurity”), or his alienation from his people and G-d (his being “on a distant road”), have prevented him from fulfilling a certain aspect of his mission in life, there is always a second chance.
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