Studying the halachos of Pesach

[A] (Halacha 226)

We Ask and Expound - On the Halachos of Pesach

Question: Is there a time at which we must begin to study the halachos of Pesach?

Answer: The Gemara in Maseches Pesachim¹ states: 'As it was taught: We ask and expound on the halachos of Pesach thirty days before Pesach; Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: two Shabbosos. What is the reasoning of the first Tanna? For Moshe stood at the first Pesach and warned about the second Pesach, as it is stated, "ויעשו בני ישראל את הפסח במועדו" ("And the Children of Israel shall offer the Pesach in its appointed time"), and it is written, "ויהי אנשים אשר היו טמאים לנפש אדם" ("And there were men who were impure by reason of the dead body of a man").'

And the Ran wrote² [and so it is in the Rashba³]: 'And that which we say generally, that we ask about the halachos of Pesach thirty days before Pesach, that is a different matter, for it does not mean that one is obligated from that time to expound on the halachos of Pesach, but rather to say that one who asks about them in the study hall at that time is called one who asks "in the matter," as we hold regarding two students who ask — that if one asks "in the matter" and one asks "not in the matter," we first attend to the one asking "in the matter."'

That is, according to the view of these Rishonim⁴ there is no obligation to teach the halachos of the festival thirty days before the festival; rather it is only a law of precedence, that it is incumbent upon the Rav to give precedence to the question of the student who asks about the laws of the festival before the student who asks about another topic.

And some have written⁵ that the Mechaber⁶, who wrote: 'We ask about the halachos of Pesach thirty days before Pesach' — and omitted the word 'and expound' — did so because he held in accordance with this view.

But most of the Rishonim derived from this Gemara that the Rav is to teach the halachos of the festival thirty days before, and as the words of Rashi⁷: 'They come to hear the halachos of the festival thirty days before the festival.' And the Mishnah Berurah in the Biur Halacha there brought that so too wrote the She'iltos and the Bahag.

And the Bach wrote⁸: 'In Sanhedrin, the first chapter and the chapter "Hayu Bodkin," it is explained that it is a complete obligation to expound thirty days before, for we say, "Now, from Purim to Pesach is thirty days, and from Purim we expound, etc." And at the end of the chapter "Maaser Behema"⁹ it is explained that on Purim itself¹⁰ we expound, for then the thirty days begin — the sixteenth of Adar and the fourteenth of Nissan.'

And the Alter Rebbe wrote in Siman 429, Se'if 1: 'The early Sages instituted, at the time when the Beis HaMikdash stood, that the preachers should begin to expound publicly on the halachos of the festival thirty days before the festival, that is, that from Purim¹¹ onward they would expound the halachos of Pesach, and from the fifth of Iyar onward they would expound the halachos of Atzeres, and from the fourteenth of Elul onward they would expound the halachos of the festival; for each and every person who dwells in Eretz Yisrael is obligated to bring on the festival three korbanos: the olas re'iyah, the shalmei chagigah, and the shalmei simcha, and every korban must be free of any blemish and of other matters that disqualify the korban. Therefore the Sages instituted to expound the halachos of the festival thirty days before it, in order to remind the people of the festival so that they not forget to prepare animals fit for the korban, and so that they have a respite of all thirty days.'

And in Se'if 2: 'And this enactment was not nullified from Israel even after the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, for every sage would teach his students the halachos of the festival thirty days before it, so that they would be well-versed in its halachos and would know the deeds that they should do; and for the common people they would expound the halachos of the festival on the Shabbos before it, for on that Shabbos all the people would gather from all the villages to hear the halachos of the festival from the mouth of the sage. Therefore it became the custom in the later generations that the sage expounds the halachos of Pesach on the Shabbos before it, if it is not Erev Pesach, and the halachos of the festival he expounds on Shabbos Shuvah (but Atzeres has no special halachos, for every prohibition and permission that applies on it applies likewise on Pesach and Sukkos). And the essential point is to expound and instruct to them the ways of Hashem and to teach them the deeds that they should do, and not as they are accustomed to do nowadays.'

Se'if 3: 'And in these generations, in which the sage does not teach his students the halachos (since everything is written in a book), it is a mitzvah upon each and every person that he study the halachos of the festival before the festival until he is well-versed in them and knows the deeds that he should do.'

Summary of the words of the Alter Rebbe: a) The enactment of Chazal to expound the halachos of the festival thirty days before the festival was on account of the korbanos that were offered on the festivals. b) Even after the destruction the enactment continued, and the Rav taught his students the halachos of the festival. c) However, for the general public they expounded on the Shabbos before the festival — 'Shabbos HaGadol' — practical halacha and not pilpulim. d) Nowadays, when everything is written in books, it is incumbent upon each man and woman to study by himself — to know what to do.

The Rebbe wrote in a letter of the 18th of Adar, 5716¹² to Rabbi Greenglass in Montreal: 'In accordance with what has been said, that thirty days before the festival we expound on the halachos of the festival, and especially since the festival is already drawing near, the students should be engaged in studying these halachos, and as regards Chassidus as well, concerning the maamarim of Chag HaPesach or of the second of Nissan and what is related to this.'

¹ ו, א ↩

² מגילה ב, ב מדפי הרי"ף ↩

³ מגילה ל, א ↩

⁴ וראה בשו"ת יביע אומר ח"ב או"ח סי' כב אות ו עוד ראשונים שלמדו כך ↩

⁵ משנ"ב בביאור הלכה ד"ה שואלין. וראה מ"ש בשו"ת יביע אומר שם אות יב ↩

⁶ או"ח סי' תכט ס"א ↩

⁷ ב"ק קיג, א ↩

⁸ או"ח סי' תכט ↩

⁹ בכורות נח, א ↩

¹⁰ הפר"ח אות א סובר שפורים עצמו עוסקים בהלכות פורים ולא בהלכות פסח, אך חלקו עליו האחרונים כמ"ש הבאר היטב ס"ק ב. ולהעיר גם מדברי הרבי בשיחת אור לטו"ב אדר שני (תו"מ תשד"מ ח"ב ע' 1280): 'ובזה מודגש הקשר דמבצע פורים עם הימים שלאחריו - שכן בפורים עצמו מתחילים לדרוש בהלכות הפסח (מבצע פסח) וממשיכים בזה בימים שלאח"ז' וכן הרבה פעמים בהתוועדויות של פורים עורר על מעות חיטים לפסח ↩

¹¹ הרבי העיר (תו"מ התשד"מ ח"ב ע' 1280 וע' 1349) שלפי דברי אדמו"ר הזקן שהעיקר בזמנינו הוא לא ענין הקרבנות אלא ללמד את הלכות הפסח הנוגעים כיום למעשה בפועל א"כ כיון שישנם דינים רבים הנוגעים כבר בליל יג ניסן - בדיקת חמץ א"כ לכאורה היו צריכים לקבוע שיתחילו לדרוש ביג אדר ולא בפורים - יד אדר ↩

¹² אג"ק חי"ב ע' שנב ↩

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