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 The importance of
the Korban Pesach ceremony for Jewish national unity and identity is
emphasized by the Torah in various places. Converts to Judaism are
expected to perform the sacrifice as a mark of their total entry into
the Jewish people. Here again we have the solid connection between the
Korban Pesach and Brit Milah. Only someone who is circumcised can
perform the sacrifice, and conversely, a Jewish apostate is forbidden
to eat from the Korban.
Since the Jews during their 40 year
wanderings in the desert were not circumcised, they could not observe
the sacrifice. Only when the Jews crossed the Jordan into Israel under
Joshua and underwent mass circumcision the next logical step in the
reaffirmation of a unique Jewish identity was to perform the Korban
Pesach (Joshua 1 1:12).
Another connection between Korban Pesach
and circumcision is the identical penalty imposed on someone who has
failed to perform each of these positive commandments. In both cases,
the punishment is karet (separation) a form of spiritual
death and severance from the Jewish people. To ensure that such
instances were few, the Torah provided a second opportunity for people
who were far away or ritually impure and thus prevented from performing
the commandment. Korban Pesach enables us to connect with our Jewish
identity and unity; the absence of Korban Pesach is an impediment to
Jewish unity and identity.
The performance of the KorbanPesach was a
logical first step following every national and religious revival after
periods of moral decline and assimilation.
When King Josiah decided to purge the
country from idolatry, his first step after removing all idols was to
celebrate the Korban Pesach (Kings Chapter 23)
In later generations circumstances
prevented Jews from visiting the Temple and King Hezekiah decided to
remedy the situation by summoning all the people to celebrate Passover
in Jerusalem and perform the ritual of the Korban Pesach (Chronicles
II, Chapter 30) King Hezekiah also realized that the best way of
reinstituting unity among the Jewish people was by means of the Korban
Pesach.
When the Jewish people returned from the
Babylonian captivity, Ezra the Scribe sought to reestablish Jerusalem's
centrality for the Jewish people. At that time, many Jews, especially
among the elites, preferred the fleshpots of Babylon. He did this by
offering the Korban Pesach for the Jews who had remained in the
Diaspora, as well those who had properly returned to Jerusalem. (Ezra
6:19-22)
We can see from the above that the Korban
Pesach was the supreme symbol of Jewish unity. Such unity never came at
the expense of individuality, for it achieved an exquisite balance.
While this commandment was to be performed by the entire Jewish people
the fact that each quorum was composed of family and friends
demonstrated that unity would not swallow up personality and
individuality. The loss of the Korban Pesach left a void in the Jewish
people who were deprived of a very potent symbol of unity.
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