Pesach Sheni: On Inclusion

Dr. Stephen Garfinkel, "The Evolution and Innovation of Pesach Sheni," https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-evolution-and-innovation-of-pesach-sheni

In the Second Pesaḥ account, the Torah shows a preference for the acceptance and understanding of human reality over and above the perfect and pristine performance of ritual duties.

Rabbi Uri Amos Sharki, "Behaalotecha - the Mitsva of Pesach Sheni"

The issue is that we have a specific law: "In each generation, one should feel as if they themselves left slavery in Egypt" (Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Leavened Bread) and this calls for the seder evening. One who doesn't leave Egypt, it's as if they didn't belong to the People, and if they don't belong to the People, they also can't receive the Torah. This is why they have until Shavuot to solve this problem.

The Torah reveals us something unique: the possibility to complete this stems from a request of the people, precisely during the month of Iyar, on the day corresponding to the day of Pessah in Nisan (the 14th). [...] In the month of Iyar, the time of redemption is affixed on a request from the People - it's the People who ask for it. It's as if Iyar is the month when the People gains its independance/dignity through its own strengths.

Karen Wolfers Rapaport, "Pesach Sheni: The Holiday of Second Chances," https://aish.com/pesach-sheni-the-holiday-of-second-chances/

“What does being “contaminated by death,” and a traveling on a “distant road” have to do with us? These terms point to deeper concepts. A state of disconnection from God is a type of death. A distant road is place where we are far away from who we really are supposed to be. This is something most of us can identify with. When we are influenced by “death”, when we are traversing along a distant road, cut off from our truth and our source, we have the power to change directions and come home. How? By accessing this unbelievable gift of second chances.”

Rabbi Rachel Greengrass, "Pesach Sheni and Second Chances A reading for your Passover Seder," https://rac.org/sites/default/files/NCJW%20Florida-RAC%202nd%20Chances%20Seder%20reading.pdf

A second chance. Passover is unlike other Jewish holidays. It is the most widely observed Jewish holiday, one largely observed at home, and the only holiday where the Torah gives a second chance for those who missed its initial observance. Perhaps this is because it's a holiday that defines who we are through telling our story, giving us boundaries, and calling us to justice. Passover is the story of our liberation from captivity, from oppression to freedom. We recall what it was like to be viewed with fear, mistreated and given no rights. This memory calls us to stand up to bigotry and injustice.

We have an obligation to make sure that others have a chance to be full participants in the rites of our community, both religious and secular. This means giving people a second chance, the essence of Passover Sheni.

Rabbi Avi Strausberg, "Born of Fire and Water: Pesah Sheini and the Necessity of Inclusion," https://www.hadar.org/torah-resource/born-fire-and-water

In the Book of Numbers, each household is commanded to bring the Passover sacrifice on the 14th of Nisan in remembrance of our exodus from Egypt. This is a commandment that unites all of Bnei Yisrael through the reenactment of our collective history. In order to bring this required sacrifice, we must be in a state of ritual purity. Through no personal sin, some may find themselves not in the right state of purity to bring this communal offering. These people will be let out, they’ll find themselves on the margins of this communal celebration not because they were unfit through fault of their own but because they were occupied with performing another mitzvah: the act of caring for the dead. They will be excluded at a moment when all of Bnei Yisrael joins together. So, they cry out, “Should we be barred from offering a sacrifice along with our fellows at the time required by God?” Moses hears their cry, he consults with God, and the verdict comes back: there will be a second chance, a Pesah Sheini. For those who were unable to offer a sacrifice the first time around, they’ll have another opportunity to join with their community and to make an offering to God.

Dina Berman Maykon and Tamar Gan-Zvi Bick, in their writing on Pesah Sheini, explain that Pesah Sheini teaches us two things: First, when a small minority of people protest that they will be excluded from this holiday, the Divine cares and takes note. We might have thought, we need only be concerned with the majority; we might have said, “What obligation do we have to a small minority of the population for whom Jewish law may negatively impact?” The creation of Pesah Sheini teaches us that we must not only hear the cries of the minority, we are called upon to create change to ensure their inclusion. Second, this inclusion only comes about through self-advocacy. Had that group of Israelites stayed silent, God’s revolutionary response to create Pesah Sheini would never have occurred. With this story, the Torah invites us to never stop fighting for our rightful place within its practices and community.