Parshat Behaalotcha 5777-Pesach Midbar-An insight into a famous story and a great’Pilpul’ on the subject.

(as heard in a shiur in Jews College in 1991 from Rabbi Isaac Bernstein zal)

The Talmud(Pesachim 3b)relates a fascinating story about a certain non Jew:

ההוא ארמאה דהוה סליק ואכיל פסחים בירושלים אמר כתיב (שמות יב, מג) כל בן נכר לא יאכל בו (שמות יב, מח) כל ערל לא יאכל בו ואנא הא קאכילנא משופרי שופריWith regard to the investigation of the priestly lineage, the Gemara relates: A certain gentile would ascend on the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, claiming he was Jewish, and eat Paschal lambs in Jerusalem. He would then return home and boast about how he had tricked the Jews. He said: It is written: “This is the statute of the Paschal lamb; no foreigner may eat of it” (Exodus 12:43), and another verse says: “Any uncircumcised man shall not eat of it” (Exodus 12:48). And yet, I ate from the finest of the fine portions of the Paschal lamb.

אמר ליה רבי יהודה בן בתירא מי קא ספו לך מאליה אמר ליה לא כי סלקת להתם אימא להו ספו לי מאליה כי סליק אמר להו מאליה ספו לי אמרו ליה אליה לגבוה סלקאRabbi Yehuda ben Beteira said to him, in an attempt to thwart any repetition of this action: Did they feed you from the fat tail of the lamb? Do you really think they gave you the finest portion? The gentile was ignorant of the fact that the fat tail is sacrificed on the altar, not eaten. The gentile said to him: No. Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira replied: If so, when you ascend there next time, say to them: Feed me the fat tail. The next year when he ascended, he said to the other members of the group he joined: Feed me from the fat tail. They said to him: The fat tail is offered up to God.

אמרו ליה מאן אמר לך הכי אמר להו רבי יהודה בן בתירא אמרו מאי האי דקמן בדקו בתריה ואשכחוהו דארמאה הוא וקטלוהו שלחו ליה לרבי יהודה בן בתירא שלם לך ר' יהודה בן בתירא דאת בנציבין ומצודתך פרוסה בירושליםThey said to him: Who said that to you, to ask for that portion? He said to them testily: It was Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira. They said: What is this incident that has come before us? Could Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira have told him to eat the fat tail? This matter must be investigated further. They investigated his background and found that he was a gentile, and they killed him. They sent a message to Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira: Peace unto you, Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira, as you are in Netzivin and your net is spread in Jerusalem. Despite your distance from Jerusalem, you enabled us to apprehend a person who deceived us……………………………..

The commentaries are all perplexed that R.Yehuda did not go to Jerusalem himself but only set the trap for this non Jew to ‘hang himself’. Tosephot answer this question:

תוספות מסכת פסחים דף ג עמוד ב

ורבי יהודה בן בתירא שלא עלה לרגל י"ל שלא היה לו קרקע

‘The reason why R’Yehuda did not go to Jerusalem to do Korban Pesach was because he did not own land in Israel and was thereby exempt from the Mitzva.’

The Mishneh Lemelech(Rabbi Judah Rosanes.d.1727, Turkey) asks as to where such a novel law(chiddush) is alluded to in the Torah? Where does it say that you must own land in Israel  to bring the Pesach lamb?

Meshech Chochma(R.Meir Simcha:Poland.d.1926) answers the question by referring to our parsha,(ch9 v.14).

במדבר פרק ט פסוק יד

וְכִֽי־יָג֨וּר אִתְּכֶ֜ם גֵּ֗ר וְעָ֤שָֽׂה פֶ֙סַח֙ לַֽיקֹוָ֔ק כְּחֻקַּ֥ת הַפֶּ֛סַח וּכְמִשְׁפָּט֖וֹ כֵּ֣ן יַעֲשֶׂ֑ה חֻקָּ֤ה אַחַת֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם וְלַגֵּ֖ר וּלְאֶזְרַ֥ח הָאָֽרֶץ: פ

The law of the sacrifice here refers to the convert and the Jew.However it adds the words:לְאֶזְרַ֥ח הָאָֽרֶץ.’native of the land’. This expression is found 3 times in Torah only in reference to Korban Pesach, and this is the allusion that you must have a foothold in the land itself to bring the Korban Pesach.

A further question arises: How did Tosephot know that R’Yehuda B’Beteira had no land in Israel? (No IRS returns in those days!)

The Vilna Gaon gives a brilliant answer to this question.

Talmud Sahedrin 92b:

ר"א בנו של ר' יוסי הגלילי אומר מתים שהחיה יחזקאל עלו לארץ ישראל ונשאו נשים והולידו בנים ובנות עמד ר"י בן בתירא על רגליו ואמר אני מבני בניהם והללו תפילין שהניח לי אבי אבא מהםRabbi Neḥemya said to Rabbi Yehuda: If it was truth, why do you refer to it as a parable, and if it was a parable, why do you refer to it as truth? Rather, it means: In truth, it was a parable. Rabbi Eliezer, son of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili, says: Not only was it not a parable, the dead that Ezekiel revived ascended to Eretz Yisrael and married wives and fathered sons and daughters. Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira stood on his feet and said: I am a descendant of their sons, and these are phylacteries that my father’s father left me from them.

ומאן נינהו מתים שהחיה יחזקאלThe Gemara asks: And who are the dead that Ezekiel revived?

אמר רב אלו בני אפרים שמנו לקץ וטעו שנאמר (דברי הימים א ז, כ) ובני אפרים שותלח וברד בנו ותחת בנו ואלעדה בנו ותחת בנו וזבד בנו ושותלח בנו ועזר (ואלעזר) [ואלעד] והרגום אנשי גת הנולדים בארץ וגו' וכתיב (דברי הימים א ז, כב) ויתאבל אפרים אביהם ימים רבים ויבאו אחיו לנחמוRav says: These were the descendants of Ephraim who calculated the time of the end of the enslavement and the redemption from Egypt and erred in their calculation. They left before the appointed time and were killed, as it is stated: “And the sons of Ephraim; Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Tahath his son. And Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead whom the men of Gath that were born in the land slew, because they came down to take their cattle” (I Chronicles 7:20–21), and it is written: “And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him” (I Chronicles 7:22).............................................

R’Yehudah B’Beteira stood up and announced that he is descended from the people of the ‘valley of dry bones’ and he knows they went to Israel and died there and he has the Tefillin to prove it.

Who were these people of the ‘valley of dry bones’? The Gemara says they were part of the tribe of Ephraim who tried to leave Egypt early and were massacred.

The Talmud in Bava Batra(8th perek) explains that the land of Israel was divided out either to those who left Egypt or those who came into Israel.The people of Ephraim who were killed never left Egypt and never came in with Yehoshua to Israel.They never had land in Israel(even if they later acquired land, this would return to its original owner in the Jubilee year,and this excluded those people of Ephraim) and this is how Tosephot knew that R.Yehuda never had land in Israel.

Now there is one last point. The Minchat Chinuch(Rabbi Y.Babad:19th century,Poland) asks (in mitzva #5): If we have now proved that land ownership is a major criteria for bringing the Korban Pesach, according to Tosephot, why is a ger/convert obligated in the Mitzva of Korban Pesach? He has no land in Israel?

To answer this, we must return again to our parsha:

וְכִֽי־יָג֨וּר אִתְּכֶ֜ם גֵּ֗ר וְעָ֤שָֽׂה פֶ֙סַח֙ לַֽיקֹוָ֔ק כְּחֻקַּ֥ת הַפֶּ֛סַח וּכְמִשְׁפָּט֖וֹ כֵּ֣ן יַעֲשֶׂ֑ה חֻקָּ֤ה אַחַת֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם וְלַגֵּ֖ר וּלְאֶזְרַ֥ח הָאָֽרֶץ: פ

This pasuk says clearly that the ger/convert decides to bring a Korban Pesach, but it does not state that he has to bring a korban Pesach.This is not the understanding of the Minchas Chinuch but it seems to be clear in the verse that the ger is doing a voluntary and not obligatory act.

The same expression for the ger/convert is found in Shemot ch.12.

שמות פרק יב פסוק מח

וְכִֽי־יָג֨וּר אִתְּךָ֜ גֵּ֗ר וְעָ֣שָׂה פֶסַח֘ לַיקֹוָק֒ הִמּ֧וֹל ל֣וֹ כָל־זָכָ֗ר וְאָז֙ יִקְרַ֣ב לַעֲשֹׂת֔וֹ וְהָיָ֖ה כְּאֶזְרַ֣ח הָאָ֑רֶץ וְכָל־ עָרֵ֖ל לֹֽא־יֹ֥אכַל בּֽוֹ:

The answer to the question is not found in ‘lomdut’ but in a definitive examination of the verses of the Torah.The ger/convert is not  obligated and therefore the issue of land ownership is not relevant to him.His Korban Pesach will always be voluntary as opposed to the Jew whose Korban Pesach is obligatory and requires land ownership according to the opinion of Tosephot as seen above.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Rabbi Bernstein zal delivered this kind of ‘pilpul’ (which was not very often)it showed the breadth of knowledge (and enthusiasm)which he had in the wider aspects of Torah interpretation. He always linked his ideas back to the actual verses themselves. This always made a great impression on me, that with all the analysis done in the Yeshiva,   the Torah text must always remain in our minds and become the reference point which we must always return to.This is an invaluable lesson for Torah study and analysis and it has stayed with me since I first heard these lectures in Jews College in the early 1990’s.May his memory be for a blessing.