The Intermediate Festival Days and Leaping the Year for Spring

Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 34:7

Curated by Arthur·Told by Maggid·

"The feast of unleavened bread you shall keep" (Exodus 34:18). This taught concerning the intermediate days of the festival [chol ha-mo'ed], that work is forbidden on them. Yet not every kind of work is forbidden on them, but only so that the day should not be like an ordinary weekday in every respect. "At the appointed time of the month of Aviv [spring]" (Exodus 34:18). One might think that when there is ripe spring grain you make the Passover, and if not, you do not make the Passover. Therefore the verse teaches, "The feast of unleavened bread you shall keep" — whether you have spring grain or you do not have spring grain. If so, what does the verse teach by saying "at the appointed time of the month of Aviv"? Scripture made it a sign for it. And from here we learn that they intercalate the year on account of the spring.

Themes

HolidaysPassoverCommandments

Continue Reading

Mekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelHow, Then, Am I to Understand and You Shall Slaughter the Pesach toR. Eliezer addresses an apparent contradiction in the laws of the Passover offering. One verse describes the Pesach as taken specifically from the flock, "an unMekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelThe Eating of the Pesach Is a Positive Commandment and MatzothThe Mekhilta examines how the various foods of the Passover night relate to one another, asking which obligation can stand in for which. The first question is wMekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelRabbi, Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi, the Redactor of the Mishnah the EarliestRebbi, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the redactor of the Mishnah (the earliest code of rabbinic law) and the most authoritative sage of his generation, weighs in on theMekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelYou Shall Circumcise Him Then Shall He Eat of It His"and you shall circumcise him; then shall he eat of it" (Exodus 12:44). The verse speaks of a purchased servant in the household of an Israelite, and the MekhilMekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelWhen Does the Prohibition on Chametz Actually BeginThe verse (Exodus 13:7) commands, "Matzoth shall be eaten the seven days, and chametz shall not be seen unto you." A straightforward reading suggests these two Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben YochaiThis Day of Remembrance Becomes a Festival ForeverWhen the Torah calls Passover "a day of remembrance," it raises a small but real puzzle. Which day, exactly? The sages tie it down by cross-checking the verses: