Each week we discuss one familiar halakhic practice and try to show its beauty and meaning. The columns are based on the commentary "Meaning in Mitzvot" on the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, which is serialized on Yeshivat Har Etzion's "Virtual Beit Midrash", www.vbm-torah.org. Subscribers are currently learning about Shabbat. On both Pesach and Sukkot, the final day has the status of a Yom Tov when melakha is forbidden, while the intermediate days have a partial Yom Tov status, as evidenced by their paradoxical name, "chol hamoed" - the "weekdays of a festival". On these days we say hallel, but there is an important distinction. At Sukkot we say the full hallel on each day (SA OC 644:1), whereas at Pesach we say only half-hallel both during chol hamoed and also on the last day. (SA OC 490:4.) Why this distinction? The Beit Yosef and the Mishna Berura cite a Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni Emor) which explains that full hallel is not said on the last day of Pesach because on that day we crossed Yam Suf and the Egyptian soldiers drowned; we don't want to show excessive joy on the day of their defeat, according to the verse "Don't rejoice at the fall of your enemy". (Mishlei 24:17.) It seems unusual for halakhic works to explain the law through a Midrash when the gemara itself gives a compelling halakhic explanation for the difference. In Arkhin (10a-b) we learn that distinction in the recitation of hallel is due to the fact that the intermediate days of Sukkot are considered holidays in themselves, which we see, in our parsha, from the fact that each one has a distinct musaf sacrifice (Bamidbar 29:12-38). Whereas on Pesach each musaf is the same as that of the first day (Bamidbar 28:24). Perhaps there is a connection between the two rationales. Thirteen bulls are offered in the musaf sacrifice the first day of Sukkot; after that the number declines by one each day until on the seventh day only seven are offered. Thus there are seventy bulls in all on the seven days of the festival. The gemara (Sukkot 55b) explains the total number of bulls by saying that these seventy bulls are on behalf of the seventy archetypical nations of the world; various Midrashim elaborate that these sacrifices atone for the nations, provide them with rain, keep them from extinction and protect their tranquility. Rashi's commentary explains also the pattern of sacrifices: the number declines each day, symbolizing theprogressive decline of the seventy nations, referring especially to the wickedness they represent. (See Zohar III:256a.) This is why the number of sacrifices differs every day; otherwise, it would have been sufficient to offer ten bulls each time. So the reason given in Arkhin, that on Sukkot there is a different sacrifice every day, expresses the idea that on Sukkot we anticipate and celebrate our ultimate victory over our enemies. On Pesach where this differentiation is absent, this aspect of rejoicing in our victory over the nations is likewise absent. But this is none other than the reason given in the Midrash! In a broader perspective, Pesach is the holiday where we distinguish ourselves from the nation. It commemorates the birth of a nation, when we became separated and severed from Mitzrayim. The Pesach sacrifice demands milah, the sign of the covenant, and is forbidden to non-Jews (Shemot 12:43-50). On this day we emphasize our independence, and it is inappropriate to relate to the other nations either for good or for bad. After this wrenching and liberating experience, the Jewish people can begin to reconstruct their relationship with other nations. On the one hand we seek their welfare and friendship, as signfied by the number of Sukkot bulls, which come to atone for and protect the other nations. But on the other hand, we are acutely aware of the spiritual dangers inherent in alien customs and ideologies, and look forward to they day when our friendship with the nations will be complete - when it will be based on the basis of holiness, and not expediency. This represents the pattern of the musaf sacrifices, representing the decline of the nations, goyim, which really means the decline of their geyut or pride, their insistence on domination of Israel. Rabbi Asher Meir is in the process of writing a monumental companion to Kitzur Shulchan Aruch which beautifully presents the meanings in our mitzvot and halacha. Rabbi Meir - who had given a series on Business Halacha at the Center, and has taught a series on the Meaning in Mitzvot. We hope to have him back at the Center some time in the future.
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