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Good Question

By: Rabbi Yitzchak Lerner

The scenerio in this week’s Parsha is very inspiring. Bnei Yisrael were all in a Korban Pesach preparation mode. Families were uniting to join together in eating the Korban. Klal Yisroel is getting ready for the first Pesach since leaving Egypt. We can only imagine what that first seder must have looked like. This was the generation that actually left Mitzrayim!!

Amidst all the preparations, a group of men come to Moshe complaining. “Why should we be any less than everyone else”, they said. The gemorah explains that these men were designated in carrying the bones of Yosef. By doing this act they actually became impure as touching the corpse of a dead Jewish body renders one impure and one needs to be pure in order to bring the Korban Pesach.

Moshe was perplexed. Good question he said- wait here and I will ask Hashem what to do. Unlike any other prophet, Moshe is able to turn to Hashem whenever he wants to get an immediate audience and reply. 

The Torah then goes on to give us a new commandment of pesach Sheini. If one happens to be impure on the day of Pesach, then the following month on the same day he is allowed to bring in the Pesach offering as well - sort of a second Pesach.

The question that bothers the commentaries is why does the Torah bring this whole story? Why the lead up to this new mitzvah (side note - similar question is asked in the story of Zlophchad's daughters )? Just give us the mitzvah like all the others: "And the lord spoke to Moshe saying…".

Rashi tells us that the Torah tells the story of pesach sheini and Bnos Tlzophchad to give merit to the one who asked the question. Do not think that if they never had asked the question there would only be 611 commandments - 613 was always the right number - but Hashem wants to teach us a lesson of the power of a question.

I often asked myself - why is the Talmud written in a way of question/answer - just give us the bottom line.  I think we see from this story just how important questions are in our mesorah.

May we always merit to continue growing by always asking the right questions. 

Shabbat  Shalom




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