Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
How did it feel to offer and eat the קָרְבַּן פֶּסַח (korban pesah, pesah offering)?
This pasuk contains some clues. It describes rules about the korban pesah, for when it is offered in the years after יְצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם (yetziat Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt).
(מו) בְּבַ֤יִת אֶחָד֙ יֵאָכֵ֔ל לֹא־תוֹצִ֧יא מִן־הַבַּ֛יִת מִן־הַבָּשָׂ֖ר ח֑וּצָה וְעֶ֖צֶם לֹ֥א תִשְׁבְּרוּ־בֽוֹ׃
It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the meat outside the house; and do not break a bone of it.
Inside of bones there’s something called marrow. It’s edible, and some people like to break the bones of animals they eat in order to also eat the marrow. But the Torah tells us not to do this when eating the korban pesah. Our פַּרְשָׁנִים (parshanim, commentators) wonder why.
What kind of experience is this rule supposed to create?
שֶׁאֵין כָּבוֹד לִבְנֵי מְלָכִים וְיוֹעֲצֵי אֶרֶץ לְגָרֵר הָעֲצָמוֹת וּלְשָׁבְרָם כַּכְּלָבִים, לֹא יֵאוֹת לַעֲשׂוֹת כָּכָה כִּי אִם לַעֲנִיֵּי הָעָם הָרְעֵבִים.
וְעַל כֵּן בִּתְחִלַּת בּוֹאֵנוּ לִהְיוֹת סְגֻלַּת כָּל הָעַמִּים מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים וְעַם קָדוֹשׁ, וּבְכָל שָׁנָה וְשָׁנָה בְּאוֹתוֹ הַזְּמַן, רָאוּי לָנוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת מַעֲשִׂים הַמַּרְאִים בָּנוּ הַמַּעֲלָה הַגְּדוֹלָה שֶׁעָלִינוּ לָהּ בְּאוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה. וּמִתּוֹךְ הַמַּעֲשֶׂה וְהַדִּמְיוֹן שֶׁאֲנַחְנוּ עוֹשִׂין נִקְבַּע בְּנַפְשׁוֹתֵינוּ הַדָּבָר לְעוֹלָם.
Royalty and wise people don’t smash bones and break them the way a dog does. Only starving poor people do that.
At the beginning of our journey to become God’s treasured people—a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation—and then again every year at this time, it’s a good idea for us to act in ways that demonstrate the high level that we rose to then. By acting out our imagination about this, this loftiness can be established in our souls forever.
- There are different times for eating in different ways. Sometimes, it’s ok to eat in a messier way, and sometimes we need to have the highest manners. Can you think of a time for each?
- What is the Sefer Ha-Hinukh telling us about the way we are supposed to see ourselves?
וְעֶצֶם לֹא תִשְׁבְּרוּ בוֹ - כְּדֶרֶךְ אֲכִילַת חִפָּזוֹן:
And do not break a bone of it - this is how you eat in a hurry (when you don’t have time to break the bones of what you’re eating).
- Sefer Ha-Hinukh sees the experience of korban pesah as being about acting free and wealthy, while Rashbam considers it an experience of acting out the events of yetziat Mitzrayim. What is each parshan noticing in our pesukim?
- Are these two experiences part of your Pesah seder? How so?
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