## Chizkuni, Numbers

###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:1:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:1:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:1:1)

**בחדש הראשון** כתיב הכא במדבר סיני וכתיב התם במדבר סיני באחד לחודש מה להלן ר״‎ח אף כאן ר״‎ח, כאן פירש״‎י פרשה זו שבראש הספר לא נאמרה עד אייר למדת שאין סדר מוקדם ומאוחר בתורה. ולמה לא פתח בזו מפני שהיא גנותן וכו'. ואם תאמר אי זה גנות הוא הרי בפרשת בא תלה הכתוב מצות פסח בביאתן לארץ אלא יש לומר גנות הוא להם שאם לא חטאו במתאוננים היו נכנסים לארץ באותו אייר כדכתיב ויהי בשנה השנית בחדש השני בעשרים בחודש וגו׳‎ ויאמר משה לחובב נוסעים אנחנו אל המקום וגו׳‎ ופרש״‎י מיד עד שלשה ימים אנו נכנסים לארץ וכו׳‎ והיו עושים פסחיהם בארץ ועכשיו שחטאו עשו שם חדש כדכתיב לא יום אחד תאכלו וגו׳‎ עד חדש ימים משם באו לחצרות ועשו שם שבעת ימים להסגר מרים ושלחו המרגלים שעל ידם נגזר עליהם להיות במדבר ארבעים שנה וזהו הגנות.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
בחדש הראשון, “in the first month;” The Torah writes here: במדבר סיני, “in the desert of Sinai,” and it did so also in Numbers 1,1, when that date was in the second year of the Israelites’ wanderings. This teaches that what was communicated to the Israelites on both occasions was told to them on the first day of the month. Here Rashi comments that the communication recorded there was not communicated to them until the beginning of the second month. This was to teach us that the author of the Torah did not feel obligated to order Moses to write things down in chronological order. Why did the Torah (Moses) not write this chapter at the beginning of the Book of Numbers? He did not want to commence this Book with recording matters which reflected negatively on the Jewish people. If you were to counter: what is so negative, seeing that in the Book of Exodus chapter 12,25, the people’s coming to the land of Israel and receiving it as their ancestral heritage was made conditional on their observing the laws connected with the Exodus? The fact is that had it not been for the people’s complaining as reported in chapter 11, they would have come to the land of Israel much sooner and the question of observing the anniversary of the Exodus in the desert would never have arisen. They would have entered the land of Israel during the month in which the event recorded in this chapter occurred. As it is, they moved away from Mount Sinai on the 20th day of the month of Iyar, and Moses told the people that there was only eleven days’ march to the land of Canaan from Mount Sinai. In fact, in expectation of this, Moses had invited his father-in-law Yitro to accompany them on that short journey in verse 29 of our chapter, indicating that they would move on forthwith. According to Rashi, the way Moses had formulated this invitation it meant that within a maximum of 3 days the Israelites would break camp and enter the Holy Land. They would have had ample time to prepare for the Passover which was to commence on the evening of the fifteenth of that month. Now, seeing that the Israelites had become guilty of the sin of demanding meat in an unfitting manner, and they had spent a whole month eating the quail, except for the ones who died from overindulging even earlier, the time to observe the Passover in the Holy Land had already passed. (Numbers 11,29) They were delayed again on account of having to wait until Miriam had been healed after she had spoken deprecatingly of her brother Moses. (Numbers 12,116). Subsequently, they were delayed for 40 days while Moses had to send out spies to pacify the doubters. To cap it all, the whole generation of the adults who had left Egypt were condemned to die in the desert for having preferred to return to Egypt rather than to trust the Lord to bring them to the Holy Land. All of this were events which Moses did not wish to record at the beginning of this Book.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:2:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:2:1)

**ויעשו בני ישראל את הפסח** הפ״‎א בקמץ גדול.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויעשו בני ישראל את הפסח במועדו, “let the Children of Israel perform the Passover rites at its appointed time in the calendar. The letter פ in the word: הפסח has the vowel kametz gadol under it.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:3:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:3:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:3:1)

**וככל משפטיו** פירש״‎י כגון שבעת ימים למצה ולביעור חמץ לשבעת הימים כדכתיב שבעת ימים תאכל מצות, ולמצה כדכתיב על מצות ומרורים יאכלהו, לביעור חמץ דכתיב לא תזבח על חמץ דם זבחי.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
וככל משפטיו, “and according to all the ordinances thereof;” according to Rashi, this refers to the festival being observed for the full seven days, the search for chametz and its disposal prior to the beginning of the festival, all in accordance with what has been written in chapter 12 of the Book of Exodus.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:5:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:5:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:5:1)

**ויעשו את הפסח** רבי יוסי אומר לא עשו ישראל פסח במדבר אלא אותו בלבד והטעם לפי שבאותה שעה היו חונים במקום אחד ויכולים היו למול הזכרים הילודים להם כדי שלא תעכב להם מילתם מלאכול בפסח אבל מכאן ואילך שהלכו במדבר ולא מלו הילודים להם משום חולשא דאורחא וסכנת הנימול שיניעוהו בדרך כדכתיב וכל העם הילודים במדבר בדרך בצאתם מארץ מצרים לא מלו ומילת זכריו מעכבתו לאכול בפסח כדכתיב המול לו כל זכר ואז יקרב לעשותו לפיכך לא עשו פסח. ורבותינו אמרו לפי שכל ארבעים שנה שהיו ישראל במדבר לא נשבה להם רוח צפונית ולא היה להם יום צח למול.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויעשו את הפסח, “they performed the ritual of the Passover;” according to Rabbi Yossi in the Tossephta, this was the only time in all the years that the Israelites wandered in the desert that the Passover was actually observed. The reason for this was that at the time described they were encamped in a location where it was possible to perform circumcisions without endangering the lives of the infants being circumcised. This has been explained at the beginning of the Book of Joshua where a mass circumcision took place of all the people who had been born after the Exodus and who could not have been circumcised on account of the danger to the lives of these infants.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:6:1)

**[ויהי אנשים** דרך המקראות לומר לשון יחיד אצל רבים]


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:2
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:6:2)

**ויהי אנשים** אחד עושה פסח שני ולא צבור וביום שהוקם המשכן נאמרה כמו ששנינו בגיטין.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ויהי אנשים, “There were certain men, etc.” this paragraph teaches that the legislation for a “second Passover”, i.e. instead of the original date, is applicable only to individuals but not to the whole congregation, regardless of why they could not observe the original date. This legislation was made public on the day that the Tabernacle had been erected, i.e. two weeks before the date of Passover, (Sifri on verse 13)


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:3
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:6:3)

**אשר היו טמאים** רבי יצחק אומר אם נושאי ארונו של יוסף יכולים ליטהר ואם נושאי ארונו של נדב ואביהוא יכולים להטהר שהרי באחד בניסן הוקם המשכן שני לו שרף אלעזר את הפרה ואמרו בגיטין שמנה פרשיות נאמרו בו ביום שהוקם המשכן ופרשת פרה אחת מהן ובו ביום שהוקם המשכן היה ר״‎ח ניסן, שהרי בר״‎ח מתו נדב ואביהוא כדמפורש בפרשת שמיני, הלכך יכולין היו להזות עליהם מימי חטאת שנעשו בשני בניסן לטהר כל טמאי מתים שהיו מר״‎ח ניסן עד פסח לעשות פסחיהן בטהרה, אלא למי היו טמאים למת מצוה נטמאו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
אשר היו טמאים לנפש אדם, “who had become ritually impure due to contact with a dead human body;” according to Rabbi Yitzchok, if these people’s impurity stemmed from the fact that they had been the carriers of the ark in which the remains of Joseph were being transported, they would have had time enough to purify themselves as the people had been stationary since the first of month at the latest. On the other hand, if these men were the ones who had carried the caskets in which Nadav and Avihu were being carried, they had plenty of time to purify themselves as these two men had died on the eighth day of Nissan; the Tabernacle had been erected on the first day of Nissan; on the second day of Nissan Eleazar had burned the red heifer (Jerusalem Talmud, Megillah, 3,3) and according to the Talmud in tractate Gittin on that day eight different subjects were revealed, one of them being the one containing the legislation about the red heifer. Seeing that the two sons of Aaron died on the first day of Nissan, according to parshat Sh’mini, these men could have completed their purification rites already on the eighth day of that month, in plenty of time before Passover. We are left therefore with the question whose death had caused their ritual impurity? The only answer that is reasonable is that they became ritually impure through burying someone who had no relatives who could bury him, and they fulfilled this commandment, something that if it occurred to a High Priest even he would have been obliged to attend to. (Compare Sifri)


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:4
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:6:4)

**ולא יכלו לעשת הפסח** לפי שאין אדם טמא רשאי לאכול בקדשים כדכתיב בפרשת צו והנפש אשר תאכל מבשר זבח השלמים אשר לה׳‎ וטומאתו עליו וגו'

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ולא יכלו לעשות הפסח, “so that they had been unable to observe the commandment of offering the Passover.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:5
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:6:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:6:5)

**ביום ההוא** אין יכולים לעשות הא מחר יכולין לעשות מצינו למדים שחל שביעי שלהן בערב הפסח.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ביום ההוא, “on that day.” The emphasis on the word ההוא suggests that if Passover had commenced only a single day later, these people would have completed their purification rites in time. In other words, their last day of purification rites occurred on Passover eve. (Sifri)


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:7:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:7:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:7:1)

**למה נגרע.** למה אין אנו רשאים לאכול קדשים בטומאה הרי אשתקד אכלנו הפסח במצרים אפילו בטומאה והטעם שעדיין לא הוזהרו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
למה נגרע, “what for are we to be denied?” Why are we not allowed to eat holy things while in a state of ritual impurity, seeing that last year when we were in Egypt we also ate it in a state of ritual impurity? The reason is that at that time we had not been warned not to do so.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:10:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:10:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:10:1)

**או בדרך רחקה** נקוד על ה״‎א לדרוש דרחוקה לא קאי אבדרך שהרי נקודה הה״‎א דכמאן דליתא היא אלא קאי אאיש כלומר אם רחוק הוא.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
או בדרך רחוקה, “or on a journey far off;” there is a dot on the letter ה in the word רחוקה; this dot is not connected to the word בדרך, for if so, the word would be treated as if it had not appeared. Rather, that dot connects to the word איש, “a man or person;” we are to understand the person concerned as being spiritually on a journey that had estranged him to Judaism and its G-d.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:10:2
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:10:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:10:2)

**או לדרתיכם** פירוש **או בדרך רחקה לכם** עכשיו **או** כשאירע דבר זה לכם לדרתיכם.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
או לדורותיכם, “or someone of your generations;” the verse means that the person described is either at this time far from you spiritually or time wise, in other words, if many years from now there will be someone who due to the time that elapsed since the Exodus feels disconnected to our history, and therefore would not observe the Passover ritual by not having his heart in it.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:11:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:11:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:11:1)

**בחדש השני** לפי שפסח מצרים לא היה רק יום אחד לא נצטוו עליו, עכשיו כשנבנה המשכן נצטוו שיעשוהו כמשפט עיקר מצותיו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
בחודש השני, “in the second month;” seeing that the observance of the original Passover in Egypt was restricted to a single calendar day, they were not commanded concerning this now; but once when the Tabernacle had been built, people who had missed it through no fault of their own would be given a chance to make up for all of its essentials.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:13:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:13:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:13:1)

**ובדרך לא היה** או בדרך לא היה דוגמא מכה אביו ואמו.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ובדרך לא היה, “and he did not have the excuse of being too far away from Jerusalem,” or he had never even set out on the journey to Jerusalem; we find a similar construction in Exodus 21,15: מכה אביו ואמו, “if someone strikes his father or his mother. Not “his father and his mother.” The connective letter ו in the word בדרך here, also means “or,” not “and.”


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:13:2
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:13:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:13:2)

**וחדל לעשות הפסח.** מעשות הפסח שיאמר הרי יש לו תשלומים. דוגמא ויחדלו לבנות העיר, אשר ברא אלוקים לעשות שפי׳‎ כי בו שבת מעשות מכל מלאכתו אשר ברא.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
וחדל לעשות הפסח, “and he omits to perform the Passover ritual;” the Torah could have written: מעשות הפסח, thus saving a full word. The choice of words by the Torah teaches that the person the Torah has in mind here is the one who reasons that he can always make up for his failure to observe the Passover in Nissan, by observing it in lyar. We can find the root חדל used in a similar fashion in Genesis11,8, ויחדלו לבנות העיר, when the people of the generation of the Tower gave up that attempt after their languages had become confused. The choice of the word לעשות, instead of מעשות was also used when the Torah described G-d in Genesis 2,3 as having ceased His creative activities of the first six days. Instead of writing כי בו שבת מעשות כל מלאכתו וחדל לעשות, “for on it He ceased from completing all His work,” the Torah wrote אשר ברא אלוקים לעשות, thereby hinting that He was going to continue being involved in the improvement of His universe. The correct translation of that line would be: “for on it He ceased from completing all His work of creating.”


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:14:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:14:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:14:1)

**וכי יגור אתכם גר** אהדריה קרא לפסח שני.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
וכי יגור אתכם גר, “and when a stranger has taken up temporary residence amongst you;” at this point the Torah reverts back to the rules governing the “second,” or “substitute” Passover.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:15:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:15:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:15:1)

**וביום הקים את המשכן** לפי שרוצה לדבר במסע הדגלים מגיד לך מנהג הענן שעל המשכן מיום שהוקם.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
וביום הקים את השמכן, ”and on the day when the Tabernacle had been erected;” since the Torah wished to speak about the journeys and the flags, it informs us about the manner in which the cloud that rested above the Tabernacle when the Israelites were stationary, ever since the Tabernacle had been put up.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:15:2
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:15:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:15:2)

**כסה הענן את המשכן** על המשכן לבדו היה ענן מיוחד ומעולה יותר מאותן שהיו בשביל ישראל כדאיתא בתנחומא וענן השכינה שהיה מהלך על גבי מחנה הלויים וכו'.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
כסה הענן את המשכן, “the cloud covered the Tabernacle.” This cloud was not the same cloud as the one that enveloped the entire camp of the Jewish people, and which therefore was at a higher elevation, as pointed out by Tanchuma Bamidbar 12. The cloud mentioned as covering the Tabernacle actually covered it as well as the surrounding area where the Levites had their dwellings.


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:20:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:20:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:20:1)

**[יחנו, יסעו** לשון הווה הוא].


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:21:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:21:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:21:1)

**ונעלה הענן בבקר** ללמדך שלא הטריחם הקב״‎ה ליסע מחצות ואילך.

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
ונעלה הענן בבקר, “and when the cloud had ascended in the morning, etc.” This teaches that G-d did not inconvenience the people by making them break camp at midnight, etc. (B’chor shor)


###### Chizkuni, Numbers 9:22:1
[Chizkuni, Numbers 9:22:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Chizkuni/s/Numbers/r/9:22:1)

**או ימים או חדש או ימים** אלו לא נאמר פסוק זה הייתי אומר לא היה הענן מאריך על המשכן פחות משנה אלא ה״‎ק מערב עד בוקר או ימים או חודש או ימים .

**Chizkuni, translated and annotated by Eliyahu Munk:**
או יומים או חדש ימים, “or two days, or even a month of days.” If the Torah had not written this verse I would have said that the cloud never moved until it had remained in place either for a whole year or only for one night. This is why it had to add the words: “or two days.”