שמור את חודש האביב, “You shall observe the month of spring, etc.” The Torah in Leviticus, chapter 23 has already provided us with a list of these festivals and details regarding their observance as well as the communal offerings to be offered by the priests on those occasions. [Also, more specifically, in Numbers chapter 28. Ed.] This is why Moses does not repeat the legislation concerning these offerings. The emphasis in this chapter is on the duty for the male adults to make the three pilgrimages to the Temple each year in order to pay one’s respects to the Shechinah, the benevolent presence of Hashem in the Temple. Although certain of G’d’s blessings may only be consumed within the boundaries of the holy city of Jerusalem, notably the second tithe, (at anytime of the year), there are three fixed dates when such appearances are mandatory. Whereas Moses does not repeat the precise dates of these festivals, the Torah having done so twice already, he does repeat the months in which these festivals occur.

וזבחת פסח לה' אלוקיך, צאן ובקר, “you are to slaughter the Pessach offering for the Lord your G’d consisting of the flock and the cattle;” Nachmanides writes that from the plain text, as compared with 14,4, the meaning of such words as צאן, בקר is illustrated as respectively שור and שה, oxen and sheep. This would lead us to believe that Moses includes an ox or calf as a possible candidate for the Pessach offering. Seeing that elsewhere (Exodus 12,3-4) the Torah had restricted the animals fit to serve as the Pessach offering to being a male sheep or goat both below the age of I year, the term בקר, cattle used by Moses here must refer to the unspecified offering called חגיגה, festival offering, which may consist of any of the domestic mammals normally offered on the altar as a שלמים, peace-offering. Each individual will bring the type of animal he can afford to discharge the commandment not to appear before the Lord empty handed. (Verse 16) The fact that the formula used by Moses here, i.e. וזבחת פסח...צאן ובקר is similar though not identical with such formulas elsewhere where it says מן הצאן ומן הבקר תקריבו את קרבנכם, (Leviticus 1,2) makes it clear that what is discussed here is not the Paschal lamb but the accompanying chagigah offerings.

ולא ילין מן הבשר אשר תזבח בערב ביום הראשון לבוקר, “no flesh that you offer on the previous evening shall remain overnight until morning.” Nachmanides writes that the reference is to the offering presented on the first night of this seven-day holiday. Neither the calendar date of the first day of Passover nor the evening ushering it in, had been mentioned by Moses in this paragraph. Seeing that the consumption of the Paschal lamb and when and how it is to be eaten and consumed has been described repeatedly, Moses only repeats a ruling here that applies beyond the time of its being offered, namely not to allow it to become נותר, left over offering, something basically an affront to the sanctity of consecrated meat, and to G’d.

ובשלת ואכלת, “you are to roast it and eat it.” Actually, ובשלת means to prepare it so it is fit to be eaten; seeing that the Torah had forbidden for it to be boiled in water, etc., already in Exodus 12, Moses refers to the known manner of its preparation, i.e. roasting on the spit.

וביום השביעי עצרת לה' אלוקיך לא תעשה מלאכה, “and on the seventh day you will observe an assembly for Hashem; on that day no work is to be performed.” Nachmanides draws to our attention that Moses here has not referred to the prohibition to carry out work on the first day of Passover, neither did he refer to the work prohibition on Shavuot or Sukkot, just as he did not refer to the commandment of the four species to be used on the Sukkot festival. The New Year holiday and the Day of Atonement are similarly omitted altogether in this chapter. The reason is that Moses’ main concern in this chapter is to emphasise the commandment to make the pilgrimages to the Temple on the three festivals on which they are mandatory. The reason why the work-prohibition on the seventh day of Passover is highlighted, is that on that day matzah does not have to be eaten, it is eaten voluntarily only because leavened bread is prohibited, a law that had as yet not been sufficiently defined. The wording וביום השביעי, וגו' is a hint that though we might have thought that by eating matazh for 6 days, as mentioned in our verse, that this concludes the Passover festival, it is not so, but the seventh day is special, including a work prohibition. We might have thought it is special only in that we continue to eat מצה, but the fact is that it is a full-scale festival, no work is to be performed. It is distinguished as such by the presentation of another fire offering of a communal character in honour of the day. [It is, of course, the anniversary of the splitting of the Sea of Reeds, and the drowning of the Egyptian army in its waves and, being so, concludes the celebration of the Exodus. Ed.]

מהחל חרמש בקמה, “when the sickle is first out to the standing grain.” The precise date when this occurs has already been spelled out in Leviticus 23,15 as being the 16th of Nissan.

במקום אשר יבחר ה' אלוקיך לשכן שמו שם, “in the place that the Lord your G’d will choose to rest His name there.” Nachmanides explains that the message of our verse is that once the Temple will be erected, the communal sacrifices on the festivals will not again be presented in any other location. This has already been hinted at once before in verse 5 where the Torah (Moses) stated that once in the Holy Land, the Israelites would not be allowed to sacrifice the Paschal lamb (an individual offering) in any of the towns that they dwelled in. It is also possible that the meaning of our verse is that the previously legislated pilgrimages on these festivals will not become applicable until the permanent Temple has been built in that location.

ושמרת ועשית את כל החוקים האלה, “You shall observe and perform all these decrees.” Nachmanides says that the reason why Moses applied the term חוקה, decree, to these festivals, is because the Torah did not offer a rationale for the observance of the festival of Shavuot, and it did not offer a rationale why this festival is to be observed 50 days after the offering of the Paschal lamb. Some commentators answer the question simply by saying that seeing this is the anniversary of the giving of the Torah, and its observance does not depend on G’d offering His reasons for the legislation, it deserves to be described as a חוקה, legislation by decree.

שבעת ימים תחוג לה' אלוקיך, For seven consecutive days you shall celebrate to the Lord, your G’d;” this imperative is directed at the entire community, or Moses exhorts every individual to offer up his burnt offerings and his peace offerings.

כי יברכך ה' אלוקיך, “for the Lord your G’d has bestowed blessings on you;” the seven days of jubilation are in respect of all the blessings Hashem has bestowed upon you. Some commentators hold that the blessings referred to are in the future [just as the word יברכך is in the future tense Ed.] At that time, instead of rejoicing for only seven days, your life will be one of ongoing joy. It is noteworthy that the expression שמחה does not appear in conjunction with the holiday of Passover, seeing that the stalks of the crop are still in the ground and it is premature to rejoice in a harvest that has not yet been brought in. By Shavuot, when part of the crops of the field and orchards have been reaped, but have not yet been stored, the rejoicing is for one day only. By the time Sukkot has rolled around it is time to rejoice in thanksgiving for a full week. The Torah therefore, repeats the word שמחה, joy, in that connection

ובכל מעשה ידיך, “and in all your handiwork.”.

שופטים ושוטרים, “Judges and enforcement officers,” Moses appended this portion immediately after that dealing with the festivals involving pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to tell us that although he commanded us to make the pilgrimages to the place where the priests perform their service and you have an opportunity to consult with them on any matter that is of concern to you, be it of a legal or ritual nature, this is not sufficient, and you must appoint the appropriate mechanism in every city, i.e. judges and enforcement officers. Nachmanides writes that actually, already in Exodus 21,6 and 22,7 the Torah clearly presumed the existence of a judiciary, i.e. אלהים, as well as פלילים; the addition here is the command to appoint enforcers of the judgments handed down. Here we also learn that such institutions must be established in all towns in the land of Israel. When someone feels that he has been wronged, it is up to him to cry out, i.e. to demand that the judges meet to hear his complaint. (Compare Ezekiel 44,24) According to what is written here, Jewish communities in the Diaspora do not require permanent courts, etc., but these are convened on an ad hoc basis. This is also the view of Maimonides (hilchot Sanhedrin 1,2).

לשבטיך, “according to your tribes.” Rashi explains this to mean that every tribe must establish such courts in each of its cities. This means that a city populated by members of different tribes has to establish at least two separate courts. Nachmanides writes that it is possible to understand our verse to mean that there should be a tribal high court for each tribe. The members of that high court, as one of their tasks, have to oversee the appointment of lower courts in each city under their authority. Litigants are not free to choose a court other than that in the city where they live. This applies even if two litigants resident in the same city agree to take their case to a court in another city, this is also forbidden. The local court can force any litigant belonging to that tribe to appear before it, even if the litigants themselves prefer to appear before that tribe’s supreme court instead. The tribal high court, however, can demand that certain litigants have their case dealt with by that court (instead of the local court). If the need arises to rectify some impropriety or deficiency in the tribal courts’ set up, the problem must be dealt with by the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court. Details about the functions of this Supreme Court are discussed in tractate Horyot. The local courts are obligated to operate on the basis of the instructions they receive from the Supreme Court. The plain meaning of our verse is “you have to appoint judges that are members of your respective tribes, so that members of a certain tribe will be judged by judges belonging to that tribe, in the various cities.”

צדק, צדק תרדוף, “Righteousness, righteousness, you shall pursue!” According to Nachmanides the reason why Moses repeated the word צדק here is to exhort not only the judges to pursue righteousness but also the ordinary citizen to pursue every avenue to ensure that public affairs are run on a basis of righteousness. Judges appointed to a court must be people possessed of a blameless reputation. [Sodom also had judges, but what judges! Ed.] Ibn Ezra writes that the reason the word appears twice is to teach that righteousness must be pursued regardless of whether it results in one’s advantage or even if it is liable to result in one’s disadvantage. Alternately, Moses repeated the word to encourage you to make this pursuit something that is not restricted to a one-time effort, but to urge to keep striving for righteousness.

לא תטע לך אשרה, “Do not plant for yourself a tree that symbolises idolatry.” Nachmanides writes that any tree planted at the entrance of the Temple is described as אשרה, suggesting that a reason for this might be the fact that in Psalms 50,23 the words ושם דרך אראנו, instead of using the conventional translation, could be read with the letter ש having the dot on the right, so that it would mean “and there I will show him the way.” When Bileam (Numbers 24,17) speaks about visions he has, he describes them also as אשורנו, the same as אראנו, “I will see it.” If in the popular parlance of the gentiles, such trees are spiritually symbolic, the Torah does not want us to employ idolaters’ symbols in connection with our spiritual Center. [Moreover, we must not confuse the holiness of beauty (in nature) with the beauty of holiness. [My version of the concept. Ed.]

ולא תקים לך מצבה, “neither are you to erect a pillar for yourself;” Rashi explains that even if that pillar is not in honour of idolatry but in honour of Hashem, this is not an acceptable venue for honouring Hashem. Nachmanides writes that if Rashi were correct then Moses should also have prohibited the erecting of altars, seeing that this is also a cultural symbol of all idolaters and we are commanded not to copy their cultural mores (Leviticus 18,3). Moreover, the Torah expressly commanded us to destroy all such altars, not only not to erect them. (Compare Deut. 12,3) Perhaps we need to understand what is written here in light of historical facts. The Canaanites, i.e. every one of them, owned a pillar used for idolatrous purposes, whereas only a minority of them actually built altars to offer sacrifices to their deities. Hence, Moses draws a distinction between the two types of idolatrous symbols. Personally, (Nachmanides continuing) I believe that the Canaanites erected altars in each one of their temples for the purpose of offering sacrifices thereon; at the entrance to each temple they had erected a tall pillar on which their priests stood. Beyond that, at the entrance they had planted decorative trees in order to serve as landmarks for the people approaching the temple. The local Christian population in that country does so even in our time. Hashem hates all their “cultural” displays and He outlawed every pillar and every tree located in an entrance of a temple, house of worship. He did not outlaw altars altogether, as they are needed for facilitating the Jewish way of presenting sacrifices to Hashem. In Yaakov’s time this prohibition was not yet in force, as the general principle of ובחוקותיהם לא תלכו, “do not adopt any of their religious or cultural mores,” had not yet been legislated. This is why Yaakov had been free to anoint pillars, erect altars, and the like in order to worship Hashem Nowadays, after the revelation, all of this has been outlawed as it would create the impression that we are not so different from other religions. Or, we would even stoop as low as to bow down to a אבן משכית, a flooring stone. (Leviticus 26,1) [Mosaic flooring with or without images as part of the pattern]