PESACH
Can you figure out what each picture has to do with the Yom Tov of Pesach?
Rabbi Dani Staum
KEY to Pesach Pix
Blow Torch – Kashering for Pesach requires that all absorbed taste of Chometz be purged. If chometz was cooked, baked or roasted, the oven or vessels used need to be purged of that taste with intense heat.
Clocks – One of the great lessons of Pesach is about the value of time. Dough less than 18 minutes can be baked into matzah and used at the seder. A moment beyond 18 minutes the dough becomes chometz and one crumb of it can disqualify an entire pot from being used on Pesach.
Half Hallel – After the first day of Pesach (two days of Pesach outside Eretz Yisroel) we only recite half-hallel for the remainder of Pesach. This is because on Pesach the korban Mussaf brought each day was the same (unlike on Succos where there was a different Mussaf brought each day of the Chag.) In addition, because the Egyptians drowned at the sea, we mitigate our Hallel somewhat, because it is sad when Hashem must destroy His creations, even when they are wicked. (Gemara Arachin 10)
Wolf and Lamb – The haftorah for the eighth day of Pesach is from chapter 11 in Yeshaya which speaks about the messianic era when there will be world peace, including “the wolf will dwell with the sheep” (pasuk 6).
Lost in the desert – During the days of Chol Hamoed Pesach, after our ancestors left Mitzrayim they actually were instructed to turn round and reenter the borders of Egypt. With incredible faith they followed Moshe and did so. This caused Pharaoh to think they were lost and that emboldened him to chase the newly freed nation, which led to the eventual showdown at the Yam Suf. See Rashi Shemos 14:5 where he details the chronology of events. This is part of the laining of the seventh day of Pesach.
Haman – Haman was incriminated by Esther, condemned by Achashveriosh and hanged on the second day of Pesach. Many have the custom to sing Shoshanas Yaakov at their seudah on the second day of Pesach.
Just dew it – We “bentch Tal”, pray for dew and a successful bounty during the upcoming summer season, during davening on the first day of Pesach.
Shiras Hayam – The epic song sung by the nation on the seventh day of Pesach. We lain the account on that day.
Techilyas hameisim – On Shabbos Chol Hamoed Pesach the haftorah read is the incredible account from the prophet Yechezkel in which Hasheem instructs him to prophesize about the dry bones of Jews in the desert that would come back to life. Chazal say those were the bones of members of Shevet Ephraim who tried to leave Egypt before the time of redemption and were massacred. (Sanhedrin 92b)
Seudas Moshiach – Many have the custom to have a “seudas Moshiach” in the waning moments of Pesach. It is a custom from the holy Ba’al Shem Tov. It is connected to the haftorah read earlier that day about times of Moshiach. Celebrating our first redemption throughout Pesach gives us courage and excites us for the ultimate redemption with the coming of Moshiach.
Barley – On the second day of Pesach in the Bais Hamikdash a special korban was brought which included offering barley that was harvested the previous evening. We begin counting Sefiras HaOmer until Shavuos from the day when that korban was brought in the Bais Hamikdash.
