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The Laws › Commandment #55
Commandment #55 · Positive · Sabbath & Holy Days

Observe Pesach Sheni — The Second Passover

פֶּסַח שֵׁנִי
Source: Numbers 9:11  ·  Maimonides, Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive #55

Numbers 9:6-13 records the only commandment in the Torah given in direct response to a human complaint. Men who had been ritually impure from contact with the dead asked Moses why they should be excluded from the Passover. God's answer created an entire new commandment: a second Passover, one month later, for those who could not keep the first.

בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשֵּׁנִי בְּאַרְבָּעָה עָשָׂר יוֹם בֵּין הָעַרְבַּיִם יַעֲשׂוּ אֹתוֹ
"The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it."
Numbers 9:11 — Open in Torah Reader

The Men Who Asked the Question That Created a Commandment

לָמָּה נִגָּרַע לְבִלְתִּי הַקְרִיב
"Wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season?"
Numbers 9:7 — Open in Torah Reader

Numbers 9:6-7: "And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day: And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?"

Their question was not complaint but petition. They wanted to participate and were asking why they couldn't. Moses brought the question before God. God's response created Pesach Sheni. The second Passover exists because these men refused to accept exclusion without asking why.

God's Response: Provision for the Excluded

Numbers 9:10-12: God established the second Passover for those who were ritually impure or on a distant journey during the first. Same lamb, same matzah, same maror, same rules. One difference: no bones may be broken (same as the first) and it was observed one month later.

The Pesach Sheni provision is an expression of God's character: He does not permanently exclude those who were prevented from participating through legitimate circumstances. The man who could not keep the Passover because he was caring for the dead — a noble act in itself — was given another opportunity. The commandment honors both the seriousness of the original Passover and the mercy for those who could not keep it.

Hezekiah's Application: National Pesach Sheni

2 Chronicles 30 records Hezekiah applying the Pesach Sheni principle at national scale. The priests had not sanctified themselves in time, and neither had enough people gathered. So Hezekiah kept the Passover in the second month. The Levites and priests prepared quickly; unclean people came and ate though not properly purified; Hezekiah interceded and God accepted them.

Hezekiah's Passover shows that the Pesach Sheni principle — God's provision for those who could not keep the first — could be applied not only to individuals but to entire communities in exceptional circumstances. The second chance was real.

Key Figures

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The Unnamed Men Who Petitioned Moses — The Originators
Their question created a commandment. They are unnamed, but their refusal to accept exclusion without inquiry produced one of the Torah's most distinctive laws. The Pesach Sheni exists because they asked.
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Hezekiah — The National Applicant
His application of the Pesach Sheni principle to an entire nation that had failed to prepare in time shows the commandment's scope. The provision for the excluded individual extended to the excluded community.

Study Questions

For reflection and group study
The Pesach Sheni was created in response to a petition, not a pre-planned divine instruction. What does a commandment that originated from a human question say about the nature of the Torah's legal development and God's responsiveness?
See Num 9:6–12; 27:1–7; Lk 18:1–8
The men who asked were ritually impure from caring for the dead — a noble act. God did not condemn them but provided for them. What does the Pesach Sheni provision say about the relationship between legitimate unavailability and covenantal exclusion?
See Num 9:6–7; 19:11–13
Hezekiah applied the Pesach Sheni principle to an entire nation. God accepted unclean people based on Hezekiah's intercession. What does this corporate application reveal about the commandment's underlying principle — is the second chance individual or communal?
See 2 Chr 30:17–20; Num 9:10–12
The Pesach Sheni has the same requirements as the first — lamb, matzah, maror, no bones broken. What does maintaining identical requirements reveal about the nature of the second chance? Is it a diminished version or a full repetition?
See Num 9:11–12; Ex 12:46
Numbers 9:13 says that someone who was not impure or on a journey and still missed the Passover "shall be cut off from his people." The second chance has limits. What does the co-existence of mercy (Pesach Sheni) and judgment (being cut off) reveal about how covenant obligations work?
See Num 9:13; Ex 12:15; Heb 10:26–27

Read this commandment in the original Hebrew.

Open Numbers 9:11 in Torah Reader
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