Shabbat Chol Ha-Moed Pesach: How Did We Pass Over This One Before???

It doesn't matter how many times you read through the Torah, it can still blow your mind. Don't believe me? Well, brace yourself. I'm on Year Ten of writing this Torah commentary, and I wrote a weekly column as a rabbinical student for my congregation in North Carolina before that.

I've led Pesach Seders a whole bunch of times by now, and I've participated in the holiday festivities since I was born. So I didn't necessarily think the Torah text could surprise me all that much. Well, I was wrong. You know how the name of the holiday comes from the night that God sent the tenth - and final - plague against the Egyptians? How the Angel of Death slew the firstborn child in every Egyptian home, but PASS(ED) OVER the homes of the Israelites? It's in the Hebrew as well; God will see the lamb's blood on the doorposts of the Israelite homes, "U'fasachti" - "And I will pass over you" (Ex. 12:13). "Fasachti" comes from the root "PeSaCH." And yet, somehow (and quite shockingly), that isn't the origin of the holiday name at all...

Our Conservative Movement Chumash, the Etz Hayim, just throws out this gem in the commentary, like it's no big deal at all: "The Hebrew noun 'pe-sach'... is
assumed in this narrative to be an immediately understandable term, so it too must have a history that predates the Exodus." WHAAAA???? The author then goes on to suggest it's actually related to an Akkadian (!!) root meaning "to appease," and says this notion of "passing over" is only one of three traditions as to what this word is really trying to convey. The other two possibilities are "to have compassion" and "to protect." Again, I've celebrated Pesach for close to four decades now; I NEVER before heard that the term "Pesach" predated the entire Exodus story, came from an Akkadian word, and might actually have had nothing to do with passing over anything. Mind. Officially. Blown.

But while we're already exploding old narratives, why stop there? The Etz Hayim has yet another lovely little nugget to share with us as well. In Exodus 12:14-20,
the Torah first tells us that "this day," namely the 14th of the month of Nisan, will be a day of remembrance for all time. It will be celebrated with the Paschal offering. THEN the text starts talking about the 15th of Nisan being the start of a seven-day holiday, known as the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. As if it were the most obvious thing in the world, the commentary then states: "Without doubt, throughout the biblical period this celebration remained distinct from the one-day paschal rite." Oh, sure. Didn't we all just KNOW that once upon a time there were TWO, separate holidays, one called Pesach and the other 'The Festival of Matzah'??? I mean, geez, who didn't know THAT?!?!

I hope you know I'm being facetious here. I didn't know any of this. Just as I didn't know the name of the holiday predates the festival itself. But I never mind learning
this kind of stuff. I absolutely LOVE that the Torah can still surprise me with new and substantial realizations after years and years of study. The Talmud has a famous saying: "Shivim Panim La-Torah," meaning "The Torah has 70 faces." So I guess if I learn a new face/nuance/approach/interpretation each year, I've still got a little more than 30 yet to learn!! :-) We could spend more time on these two startling new insights. But for now, my main point is, our text is even more ancient than we sometimes give it credit AND it can surprise us even when we least expect it! Maybe next year, when we're preparing for the Seder, we'll try on yet another face(t) and see what we think. Then we'll only have 30 more left to try on... :-) Happy Passover!!


CC images in this blog post courtesy of:
1. @GwynethJones on Flickr.com
2. pxhere
3. Avital Pinnick on Flickr.com
4. Wikimedia Commons