English translation — ימים אחרונים דחג הפסח

Final days of Passover<pg>14</pg>

A.

From the Rambam¹

: "On every night of a festival and on the night of Yom Kippur we recite Shehecheyanu,

And on the seventh of Passover we do not recite the blessing of Shehecheyanu^*1

because it is not a festival in its own right and he has already recited the blessing over the time at the beginning of Passover."

And we need to understand why the Rambam elaborated on the reason that we do not recite Shehecheyanu on the seventh day of Pesach,

for seemingly the reason "because it is not a festival in its own right" suffices,

and why did he also add "and he has already recited the blessing over the time at the beginning of Pesach"?

And one can say — that it teaches that if one did not recite [Shehecheyanu] all the days of Pesach, he recites it on the last day of Pesach².

But it must be said,

that more than this the Rambam teaches us,

and with introduction that in this manner it is puzzling in the language of our master the Alter Rebbe in his Shulchan

(Hilchos Pesach³),

that he wrote "And we do not say Shehecheyanu in the Kiddush of the two nights

[the last ones]

since we already said it on the two first nights of Pesach",

and that is that he did not bring at all

(the beginning of the language of the Rambam)

that the seventh of Pesach "is not a festival in itself",

and wrote only

(in the manner of the conclusion of the language of the Rambam)

"that we already said it on the two first nights of Pesach".

[And further perplexing,

for in the Magen Avraham there⁴

indeed he wrote

(in abbreviation)

"that it is not a festival in itself",

and the Alter Rebbe omitted this matter,

and in its place wrote "that we already said etc."!].

And one may add further: above in this same section⁵,

the Alter Rebbe explains the reason for reciting Hallel only "on the first two days of Pesach but not on Chol HaMoed and the last days" — because⁶

that "on Pesach, since the offerings of all the days are equal to the offerings of the first day, therefore all are secondary⁷

to the first day, and none of them is a festival in its own right⁸

and they did not institute reciting Hallel except at intervals, i.e., on festivals that come from time to time, and at the beginning of the festival they instituted reciting it."

And based on this it is puzzling why regarding the blessing of Shehecheyanu he wrote the reason "that they already said etc.",

and behold that same reason

(which he already brought earlier)

that we do not recite Hallel on Chol HaMoed and the last days — because they are not "a festival in its own right and they did not institute reciting Hallel except at intervals..

and at the beginning of the festival" — applies also regarding the recitation of Shehecheyanu

(which is only on festivals that "come from time to time"⁹,

and we bless it only on the<pg>15</pg>

Beginning of the festival"¹⁰)?

B.

And it must be said that it teaches us much in this addition,

And with the preface of what there is to doubt regarding the definition of the blessing of the time on the festivals,

That it is to be explained in two ways:

A)

The obligation is like the blessing of Shehecheyanu on mitzvos that come from time to time or on a fruit that renews from time to time, and the like,

which is because of the novelty in the thing¹¹,

and so in our matter,

that the blessing of the time on the festivals is because of the novelty in the arrival of this special time¹².

B)

The blessing of the time on the festivals is on the entirety of the time of the festival,

that in addition to the mitzvos that are obligated in them on each and every festival,

there is an obligation of a blessing on the essence of the time of the festival

(that is, not because of its novelty but because of the very fact of its being a time of festival¹³).

And the difference between these two approaches is regarding the completion of the blessing of the time,

as ruled in halachah

(in the Magen Avraham¹⁴,

and likewise in the Shulchan Aruch of the Alter Rebbe¹⁵)

that "if one did not recite the blessing on the first night, he recites it all seven days",

that the nature of these completions depends on the two aforementioned approaches:

According to the first approach, that the blessing of Shehecheyanu on the festivals is due to the novelty of the arrival of this specific time,

the time of obligation for this blessing is on the first night of the festival¹⁶,

at the time of the arrival of the festival¹⁷

(and this is the intent of the blessing,

upon the arrival of the time of the festival),

except that if one did not recite it then,

<pg>16</pg>

completes all seven days of the festival*17

;

but not so regarding the second manner,

the blessing applies to each and every moment of the festival time*16,

that is, each and every moment of the festival is obligated in this blessing,

except that the blessing on the first night exempts the entire festival.

And according to this,

even when one recites the blessing on the remaining days of the festival, the meaning is not that he blessed in the time of completion,

but rather the entire festival is its time*18.

And the practical difference for halacha¹⁹

— regarding what was said by the Tzemach Tzedek²⁰

concerning mitzvos that have a continuous time,

that one should investigate "whether it means that the obligation is upon him immediately, only that he can complete it within the time,

or that from the outset the law is such that he can do it throughout²¹

this time"²²

— "And the practical difference if an unavoidable circumstance occurred to him afterwards, whether it is considered a make-up, then he transgressed"

(since at the time of obligation there was no unavoidable circumstance),

but if the entire continuous time is called the time of the mitzvah,

then he does not transgress because he was forced during the time of obligation].

3.

Based on this, one can explain the reason for the Rambam's addition in the reason for not reciting Shehecheyanu on the seventh day of Pesach "

(because it is not a festival in itself)

and he already recited the blessing over the time at the beginning of Pesach":

That we do not recite Shehecheyanu on the seventh day of Pesach because it is not a festival in its own right,

can be explained in two ways — corresponding to the two ways mentioned above

(section b)

:

a)

Since it is not a festival in its own right but only a continuation of the first days,

from the outset there is no obligation to recite Shehecheyanu,

because there is no novelty here,

since we have not "arrived" at a new festival.

b)

Essentially, there is an obligation of the blessing of Shehecheyanu on&lt;pg&gt;17&lt;/pg&gt;

the seventh day of Pesach,

because every moment of the festival is obligated in a blessing,

but since the seventh day of Pesach is not a festival in its own right,

therefore,

the blessing that one recited at the beginning of the festival also exempts its obligation.

And one must say,

that this is the intention of the Rambam

(and likewise our master the Alter Rebbe in his Shulchan [Aruch])

that we do not recite Shehecheyanu on the seventh day of Pesach because "he already recited the blessing over the time at the beginning of Pesach",

namely, according to the second manner above²³,

that essentially there is an obligation to recite Shehecheyanu also on the seventh day of Pesach,

except that this obligation is exempted²⁴

by his blessing which he recited "at the beginning of Pesach"

(since it is not a festival in its own right).

And based on this, one can also explain that which the Alter Rebbe omitted

(the beginning wording of the Rambam)

"that it is not a festival in its own right",

and wrote only "since he already recited it on the first two nights of Pesach":

If he had written that the seventh day of Passover is not a festival in its own right,

this would give room for error that his intention is in the manner of what was said previously regarding the matter of not reciting Hallel on Chol HaMoed and the last days of Passover,

that "they are all secondary to the first festival day and not one of them is like a holiday in its own right, and they did not institute to recite Hallel except at intervals, i.e., on festivals that come from time to time, and at the beginning of the festival they instituted to recite it" — and similarly regarding the blessing of Shehecheyanu on the seventh day of Passover,

that they instituted the blessing only "at the beginning of the festival"

(when the time of the festival arrives),

and afterwards there is no obligation from the outset;

And therefore the Alter Rebbe omitted the phrase "is not a festival in its own right",

to emphasize more the difference between not reciting Hallel

(on Chol HaMoed and the last days)

and not reciting Shehecheyanu on the seventh and last day of Passover,

that they are two different categories,

and that which we do not recite Shehecheyanu then is because one is exempted by his blessing that he recited on the first nights of the festival.

4.

And there is room for examination,

for behold this explanation in the category of the blessing of Shehecheyanu

(whose obligation applies for the entire time of the festival,

except that one is exempted by his blessing that he recited at the beginning of the holiday)

is not only regarding the seventh

(and last)

of Passover,

but also regarding the intermediate days of the festival.

And based on this, it is puzzling that the Rambam

(and likewise the Alter Rebbe)

teaches us this novel idea specifically regarding the seventh

(and last)

of Passover.

And even though it is not a full-fledged difficulty,

for it is not the way of the Rambam²⁵

(and likewise the Alter Rebbe²⁶)

to write novel laws that are not found in the Talmud<pg>18</pg>

And the poskim before him,

and so in our matter,

that the Rambam did not write this law explicitly,

only hinted at it in the fluency of his language regarding the reason for not saying Shehecheyanu on the seventh of Pesach — nevertheless, based on what is known about the great precision of the language of the Rambam

(and likewise of the Alter Rebbe in his Shulchan Aruch HaZahav),

it must be said,

that there is precision in that this novel idea is hinted at specifically by the seventh

(and last)

of Pesach.

And the point of the explanation in this — that regarding the seventh

(and last)

of Pesach there is a logical assumption that it is not exempted by the Shehecheyanu that one recited at the beginning of the festival

(even though it is not a festival in its own right),

and therefore the Rambam needed

(and the Alter Rebbe)

to emphasize,

that also on them we say that the blessing that one recited at the beginning of the festival exempts the obligation that applies on the last days of the festival.

5.

Explanation of the concept:

The holiday of the seventh day of Passover is connected with the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea

[Therefore we read on the seventh day of Passover the Song of the Sea²⁷],

In this miracle we find two matters:

a)

it is the conclusion and completion of the Exodus from Egypt

(since then "Israel saw Egypt dead on the seashore"²⁸),

and as it is brought in the Tosefta²⁹

that "one must mention

(in "Emet VeYatziv")

the Exodus from Egypt etc. and the Splitting of the Red Sea",

because "the completion of the redemption was at the Splitting of the Red Sea"³⁰.

[And one could say,

that this is the reason that the seventh day of Passover "is not a festival in its own right",

since its entire matter is the conclusion and completion of the Exodus from Egypt].

b)

In this miracle there was a semblance of the future redemption to come

(that then "and the spirit of impurity I will remove from the earth"³¹

— in the manner of the death of the Egyptians in such a way that "not one of them remained"³²),

this is one of the reasons that in the Song of the Sea were included the prophecies concerning the third Beis HaMikdash that will be built by the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself,

"the Sanctuary, O L-rd, [which] Your hands have established",

at the time that "the L-rd will reign forever and ever"³³

— because then the Jewish people were worthy of the true and complete redemption,

and furthermore,

that immediately at the beginning of the song — "Then Moses sang"³⁴

— was hinted the matter of the resurrection of the dead³⁵.

[And the matter of the future redemption is emphasized even more on the second day of Yom Tov of the Diaspora

(of the seventh day of Pesach)

— the last day of Pesach³⁶,

that the main length of the haftarah of the day is concerning Mashiach our Righteous One,

"and a shoot will go forth from the stem of Yishai and etc."³⁷].

And now regarding the relationship of the future redemption to the redemption from Egypt,

we find two matters: a)

the redemption itself will be incomparably greater than the redemption from Egypt³⁸,

to the extent that it is<pg>19</pg>

in the category of a novelty relative to the redemption from Egypt.

b)

On the other hand, it is known,

that all redemptions,

also the future redemption,

have their source in the redemption from Egypt,

which was like "the opening of the pipe"³⁹

regarding the matter of redemption.

And it can be said that this is⁴⁰

among the reasons of the halachah⁴¹

that we mention the Exodus from Egypt also in the days of Mashiach,

because even the redemption of that time comes from the power of the Exodus from Egypt.

And based on this, it can be said,

that there is room for a special obligation of the blessing of Shehecheyanu by itself on the last days of Pesach⁴²,

due to the novelty of the future redemption,

which is entirely above the redemption from Egypt,

and cannot be included in the blessing that was recited at the beginning of the festival.

However, it is impossible to recite Shehecheyanu on the future redemption,

for the blessing of Shehecheyanu is only on the joy of the heart from something that exists in actuality and is readily available,

and we are still before the future redemption⁴³

[On the contrary,

the mention of the future redemption also causes great sorrow,

that all the deadlines have passed and it has still not come,

and if so, certainly it is impossible to recite the blessing of Shehecheyanu on this⁴⁴].

And this is the innovation in the words of the Rambam and the Alter Rebbe, that the blessing of Shehecheyanu of the first festival day of the holiday includes and exempts the blessing of Shehecheyanu of the last festival days,

for although there is a wondrous virtue in the last festival days of the holiday,

in that they are connected to the future redemption that is to come,

nevertheless,

as long as it has not yet come into actuality,

what is now felt is only the matter of the redemption as it is drawn from the Exodus from Egypt

(for the power for the future redemption is already drawn in actuality from the redemption from Egypt),

and from the perspective of this matter, the blessing of Shehecheyanu at the beginning of the festival can well include also the blessing of Shehecheyanu of the last festival days.

(From the talks of the eve of the seventh day of Passover 5723,

5734,

the seventh day of Passover 5749)