Power of Midrash ~ Midreshei Halachah I ~ The first month

(3) Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household. (4) But if the household is too small for being with a lamb, he takes, and his neighbor who dwells nearby, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall apportion the lamb according to what each will eat.

(21) Moses then summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pull yourselves together! Pick out lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover [sacrifice].

(1) Observe the month of Abib and offer a passover sacrifice to the LORD your God, for it was in the month of Abib, at night, that the LORD your God freed you from Egypt. (2) You shall slaughter the passover sacrifice for the LORD your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD will choose to establish His name. (3) You shall not eat anything leavened with it; for seven days thereafter you shall eat unleavened bread, bread of distress—for you departed from the land of Egypt hurriedly—so that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt as long as you live. (4) For seven days no leaven shall be found with you in all your territory, and none of the flesh of what you slaughter on the evening of the first day shall be left until morning. (5) You are not permitted to slaughter the passover sacrifice in any of the settlements that the LORD your God is giving you.

This is the [first] month to you ~ The first ancestors did not count it. Is it possible that the first ancestors did not count it? Behold, the Torah was not given in their days, but from the moment Torah was given and onward, the first comers (ie, the other nations) would count. No, this is not possible: the text says - "for you". You count it [as the first month], and the other nations do not.

[First of] Months - Is it possible [that this is the first month] for [beginning of] years and shemittah [cycles] and Jubilee [cycles]? [No,] the text says "first of months" - for months it is the first, but it is not the first for the [beginning of] years, nor shemittah [cycles], nor Jubilee [cycles].

"It is first for you [all]" - and not for the tenth part of animals, and not for the fruits. Why is it the first for kings and festivals and donations of shekels and documents of houses? "It is first" - because of the general principle that is said: "guard the month of Aviv". How do you guard it? Add days to it. Is it possible that, if it was a year that lacks ten or twenty days one would complete it like that [with just ten or twenty days]? [No,] the text says "month" - there is no [adding] less than a month. Is it possible that, if it was a year that lacks forty or fifty days one would complete it like that [with forty or fifty days]? [No,] the text says "month" there is no adding more than a month. Is it possible to complete the year with Nisan? [No,] the text says "it is the first month to you" - one Nissan you make, and you do not make two Nissan. Is it possible to complete the year with Tishrei? [No,] the text says "guard the month of Aviv" - guard the month that is close to Aviv [spring], and which one is it? Adar. Is it possible that if it is an early year [ie, autumn comes early] you would add days to it? And similarly if it was a late year you would take away days from it? [No,] the text says "and you will guard this rule in its appointed time from year to year" - a year is never less than twelve months.

"It is the first month for you of the months of the year" - a second Nisan should not be done.

"Speak to all the congregation of the Children of Israel, [saying]" - it teaches that this portion was said in Hakhel. Rabbi Yehudah says: this intends to give a negative commandment to every positive commandment said in this portion. "In the tenth of this month you shall take for yourselves" - it teaches that in the Egyptian [Passover] the sacrifice needed to be acquired on the tenth - is it possible on the [Passover] of [all other] generations the sacrifice needs to be acquired on the tenth? [No,] the text says "this" - on the Egyptian [Passover] the sacrifice needed to be acquired by the tenth, but the [Passover] of [all other] generations the sacrifice does not need to be acquired by the tenth. Does this specify the first Passover but does not specify the second Passover? [No,] the text says "and it will be for you for guarding until the fourteenth of this month" - on the Egyptian [Passover] the sacrifice needed to be acquired by the tenth, but the [Passover] of [all other] generations the sacrifice does not need to be acquired by the tenth. "And you shall take" - this teaches that every single one takes for oneself. "And you shall take for yourselves" - this teaches that the individual can take for the entire company, from here they say 'the proxy of a person is like that person.' "And you shall take for yourselves, an adult" - from here they say 'there is no acquiring by a minor.' "A lamb per ancestral house" - is it possible that the Egyptian [Passover] sacrifice was only slaughtered for an ancestral house? From where do we know that even for a family [it is slaughtered]? The text says "Pull yourselves together! Pick out lambs for your families". From where do we know this applies even for a house? The text says "a lamb per house." From here they said "an adult slaughters through his minor male and female children, and through his Canaanite male slave and his Canaanite female slave, whether with their knowledge or without"

If the house is too small [to be for a lamb] - it teaches that they may decrease themselves in number continuously, provided that one from the fellowship remains, those are the words of R. Yehudah. Rabbi Yosi says: whether from the first or second fellowships, and provided that they do not leave behind any quantity of the Passover [sacrifice], the text says: '[being] for a lamb' - that is, [for maintaining it alive] for eating, and not for acquiring. Rabbi [Yehudah HaNasi] says: even for acquiring since if he does not have, he appoints others for his place, and [selects] coins for non-holy [purposes] that were taken at the outset only for this.

"And he will take" - this teaches that each and every fellowship takes for itself, from here they said 'we do not slaughter the Passover [sacrifice] for an individual from the outset, as it is written "You are not to slaughter the Passover [sacrifice] in/for one (Deuteronomy 16:5), these are the words of Rabbi Yehudah. Rabbi Yosi says: there are moments when he is only one, and we do slaughter for him, there are times when they are ten and we do not slaughter for them. How is it possible? If he is one, and is able to eat it all, we slaughter it for him; ten, and they cannot eat it all, we do not slaughter for them so that they won't invalidate the Passover [sacrifice]. "And his neighbor" - Ben Bag Bag says: [from this] I only understand [lit. hear] his neighbor in the fields, from where [do I derive] his neighbor under the same roofs? The text says "close to his house": door [next] to door. Rabbi [Yehudah HaNasi] says - three are spoken of: 'his neighbor' - this is his neighbor in the fields; 'and his neighbor' - this is his neighbor under the roof; 'close' this is the neighbor close to his house, next to the door. [In] The Egyptian Passover his neighbor [was] close to his house, and in the Passover for the other generations, his neighbor is not close to his house. Rabbi Shimeon says: Even in the Passover for the generations his neighbor is [defined as] close to his house, and the Torah only said this due to the ways of peace, so that a person would not settle one's friends, and one's close neighbors, and one's acquaintances, and one's more distant acquaintances, and one of the dwellers of his town, and then goes and does his Passover with other people so as to fulfill what is written: 'a close neighbor is better than a distant brother' (Ecclesiastes 27:10). "In proportion" [quota] - the only 'proportion' is a minian, and so He says "and the quota [levy] for Ad-nai thirty two people [lit. souls]' (Numbers 31:30). Is it possible that it is a mitzvah to slaughter to his minian and if he did not slaughter it to his minian he transgressed but it is still kosher? (No,) the text says "proportion" "you shall apportion" - the text teaches regarding him that (if he does this) it is pasul (contrary of kosher). From the fact that the text states "man" I only a male, from where do we include women and minors? The text says "persons [lit. souls]". If that is the case, why does the text say "man"? Just as a man is able to eat an olive size (of the sacrifice) so too a minor [is only considered a minor] if he is able to eat an olive size (of the sacrifice). Rabbi Yehudah says: 'just as a man knows to differentiate food, so too a minor (is only considered a minor) if he is able to differentiate food. And what is to differentiate food? Anyone to whom we give an egg and s/he keeps it; a stone, and s/he throws it.

"Proportion" "you shall apportion" - this teaches that we are counted and we count for the minian. From here they said 'the participants in a fellowship that counted others for their portion, have the permission to do so. If they want to continue and count others in their portion, they have the permission to do so. One of the participants in a fellowship that counted another person for his portion, he has the permission to do so. If he wants to continue and count others in his portion, he has the permission to do so. "According to what each will eat" - this excludes a person who is sick, an uncircumcised and one whose ritual status is 'impure'. "On the lamb" - Ben Bag Bag says: I understand [lit. I hear] a live lamb or a slaughtered one, you make the decision. Here (v.4) it says "a lamb" and there it says "a lamb" (v.3), just as the lamb said there is alive and not slaughtered, here, too, it is alive. From here they said 'we always apportion according to the Passover sacrifice, and we prevent [lit. hold their hands back] them (from apportioning) until it is slaughtered.