sacrifice of a lamb in Exodus 13

The Passover sacrifice (Hebrew: korban Pesakh קרבן פסח ), also known as the "sacrifice of Passover", the Paschal Lamb, or the Passover Lamb, is the sacrifice that the Torah mandates to be brought on the eve of Passover, and eaten on the first night of the holiday with bitter herbs and matzo. According to the Torah, it was first offered on the night of the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt. Although practiced by Jews in ancient times, the ritual is no longer performed today except by certain minority groups.^[who?]

Hebrew Bible[link]

The blood of this sacrifice sprinkled on the door-posts of the Israelites was to be a sign to God, when passing through the land to slay the first-born of the Egyptians that night, that he should pass by the houses of the Israelites (Exodus 12:1-28) This is called in the Mishnah the "Passover of Egypt" (Pesaḥ Miẓrayim in M.Pesach ix. 5). It was ordained, furthermore (Exodus 12:24-27), that this observance should be repeated annually for all time once the Israelites entered into their promised land. Exodus 12:25 "It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service (NKJV). This so-called "Pesaḥ Dorot," the Passover of succeeding generations (Mishnah Pesach l.c.), differs in many respects from the Passover of Egypt (Pesaḥ Miẓrayim). In the pre-exilic period, however, Passover was rarely sacrificed in accordance with the legal prescriptions (comp. II Chron. xxxv. 18).

The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, on the first new moon of the second year following the exodus from the land of Egypt, saying: Let the Israelite people offer the passover sacrifice at its set time: you shall offer it on the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, at its set time; you shall offer it in accordance with all its rites and rules

— Num. 9:1–3, JPS translation

Rabbinical interpretation[link]

According to Rashi, on Numbers 9:1, only once during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, one year after the Exodus, was the sacrifice offered. For the next 39 years there was no offering, according to Rashi, as God stipulated that it could only be offered after the Children of Israel had entered the Land of Israel. In fact, the bringing of the Pesach sacrifice resumed only after the Israelites had taken possession of the land, and then the sacrifice was made annually until during the times when Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple stood and functioned. During this time there was a definite ritual for the offering, in addition to the regulations prescribed by the Law. The following is a brief summary of the principal ordinances and of the ritual accompanying the sacrifice:

The sacrificial animal[link]

A stained glass window depicting the Passover Lamb.

The sacrificial animal, which was either a lamb or goat, was necessarily a male, one year old, and without blemish. Each family or society offered one animal together, which did not require the "semikah" (laying on of hands), although it was obligatory to determine who were to take part in the sacrifice that the killing might take place with the proper intentions. Only those who were circumcised and clean before the Law might participate, and they were forbidden to have leavened food in their possession during the act of killing the paschal lamb. The animal was slain on the eve of the Passover, on the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan, after the Tamid sacrifice had been killed, i.e., at three o'clock, or, in case the eve of the Passover fell on Friday, at two.^[1]

The killing took place in the court of the Temple at Jerusalem, and might be performed by a layman, although the blood had to be caught by a priest, and rows of priests with gold or silver cups in their hands stood in line from the Temple court to the altar, where the blood was sprinkled. These cups were rounded on the bottom, so that they could not be set down; for in that case the blood might coagulate. The priest who caught the blood as it dropped from the victim then handed the cup to the priest next to him, receiving from him an empty one, and the full cup was passed along the line until it reached the last priest, who sprinkled its contents on the altar. The lamb was then hung upon special hooks or sticks and skinned; but if the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, the skin was removed down to the breast only. The abdomen was then cut open, and the fatty portions intended for the altar were taken out, placed in a vessel, salted, and offered by the priest on the altar, while the remaining entrails likewise were taken out and cleansed.^[1]

While the required quorum for most activities requiring a quorum is usually ten, the Korban Pesach must be offered before a quorum of 30. (It must be performed in front of kahal adat yisrael, the assembly of the congregation of Israel. Ten are needed for the assembly, ten for the congregation, and ten for Israel.) According to some Talmudic authorities, such as Rav Kahana IV, women counted in the minyan for offering the passover sacrifice (B.Pesachim 79b).

Timing: Passover Eve on the Sabbath[link]

Even if the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, the paschal lamb was killed in the manner described above, the blood was sprinkled on the altar, the entrails removed and cleansed, and the fat offered on the altar; for these four ceremonies in the case of the paschal lamb, and these alone, were exempt from the prohibition against working on the Sabbath. This regulation, that the Sabbath yielded the precedence to the Passover, was not definitely determined until the time of Hillel, who established it as a law and was in return elevated to the dignity of nasi by Judah ben Bathyra.(B.Pesachim 68a).

The three groups of lay people[link]

The people taking part in the sacrifice were divided into three groups. The first of these filled the court of the Temple, so that the gates had to be closed, and while they were killing and offering their paschal lambs the Levites on the platform (dukan) recited the "Hallel" (Psalms 113-118), accompanied by instruments of brass. If the Levites finished their recitation before the priests had completed the sacrifice, they repeated the "Hallel," although it never happened that they had to repeat it twice. As soon as the first group had offered their sacrifice, the gates were opened to let them out, and their places were taken by the second and third groups successively.

All three groups offered their sacrifice in the manner described, while the "Hallel" was recited; but the third group was so small that it had always finished before the Levites reached Psalm 116. It was called the "group of the lazy" because it came last. Even if the majority of the people were ritually unclean on the eve of the Passover, the sacrifice was offered on the 14th of Nisan. Other sacrifices, on the contrary, called "ḥagigah," which were offered together with the paschal lamb, were omitted if the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, or if the sacrifice was offered in a state of uncleanness, or if the number of participants was so small that they could not consume all the meat. When the sacrifice was completed and the animal was ready for roasting, each one present carried his lamb home, except when the eve of the Passover fell on a Sabbath, in which case it might not be taken away.^[1]

The Home Ceremony[link]

The first group stationed itself on the mount of the Temple in Jerusalem, the second group in the "ḥel," the space between the Temple wall and the Temple hall, while the third group remained in the Temple court, thus awaiting the evening, when they took their lambs home and roasted them on a spit of pomegranate-wood. No bones might be broken either during the cooking or during the eating. The lamb was set on the table at the evening banquet (see Passover Seder), and was eaten by the assembled company after all had satisfied their appetites with the ḥagigah or other food. The sacrifice had to be consumed entirely that same evening, nothing being allowed to remain overnight. While eating it, the entire company of those who partook was obliged to remain together, and every participant had to take a piece of the lamb at least as large as an olive. Women and girls also might take part in the banquet and eat of the sacrifice. The following benediction was pronounced before eating the lamb: "Blessed be Thou, the Eternal, our God, the King of the world, who hast sanctified us by Thy commands, and hast ordained that we should eat the Passover." The "Hallel" was recited during the meal, and when the lamb had been eaten the meaning of the custom was explained, and the story of the Exodus was told (see Passover Seder).^[1]

The paschal sacrifice belongs to the shelamim, thus forming one of the sacrifices in which the meal is the principal part and indicates the community between God and man. It is really a house or family sacrifice, and each household is regarded as constituting a small community in itself, not only because the lamb is eaten at home, but also because every member of the family is obliged to partake of the meal, on pain of ritual excommunication, although each man must be circumcised and all must be ritually clean. The fact that the paschal lamb might be killed only at the central sanctuary of Jerusalem, on the other hand, implies that each household was but a member of the larger community; this is indicated also by the national character of the sacrifice, which kept alive in the memory of the nation the preservation and liberation of the entire people.^[1]

Modern attempts to revive the sacrifice[link]

In 2007, a group of rabbis led by Adin Steinsalz and supported by the Temple Mount Faithful and the New Sanhedrin Council identified a Kohen who was a butcher, made plans for conducting a passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount, and petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice for permission. The Court sided with the government and rejected the request, holding that such an event would inflame religious tensions and would threaten security. The incident was a successor to a series of earlier attempts by various groups to perform such a sacrifice, either openly or by subterfuge.^[2][3]

In 2008 animal rights group Tnoo Lachayot Lichyot ("Let the Animals Live") sued the Temple Institute, claiming its conduct of a practice passover sacrifice demonstration would constitute animal cruelty. An Israeli court rejected the claim. ^[4]

Christianity[link]

The Lamb of God carrying the vexillum, often found in Christian imagery.

In Christianity, the Passover Lamb is fulfilled in the Lamb of God, both of which mediate salvific effects in the Old and New Covenant respectively.^[5][6]

See also[link]

• Passover
• Korban

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jewish Encyclopedia article on the Passover Offering

Humani generis unitas (Latin for On the Unity of the Human Race) was a planned encyclical of Pope Pius XI before his death on February 10, 1939, which condemned antisemitism, racism and the persecution of Jews. Because it was never promulgated, it is sometimes referred to as "The Hidden Encyclical" or "The Lost Encyclical."

History[link]

In June 1938, Pius XI summoned American Jesuit John LaFarge, who began to prepare a draft of Humani Generis Unitas, which LaFarge and two other Jesuits—Gustav Gundlach and Gustave Desbuquois^[1]—worked on in Paris;^[2] the draft was approximately 100 pages long.^[3] Another Jesuit translated the draft encyclical into Latin, presenting it to Vladimir Ledochowski, then the General of the Society of Jesus^[4]—who had chosen Gundlach and Desbuquois for the project.^[1] The draft encyclical was delivered to the Vatican in September 1938.^[1]

Some secondary sources—as well as Cardinal Tisserant the Dean of the College of Cardinals^[5]—claim that Humani Generis Unitas was literally on Pius XI's desk when he died of a heart attack on February 10, 1939.^[3]

Pope Pius XII, who succeeded Pius XI, did not promulgate the encyclical in the exact form of the draft left by Pius XI. Critics of Pius XII—notably John Cornwell in his controversial work Hitler's Pope—have cited his failure to promulgate the encyclical as evidence of his alleged silence toward anti-Semitism and The Holocaust, though a revised form of the encyclical was actually issued by Pius XII in October 1939^[1][2][6] and analysis of the encyclical figures prominently in most comparisons of the policies of Pius XII and his predecessor.^[4]

Pope Benedict XVI decreed in June, 2006 that all documents from the reign of Pius XI in the Vatican Secret Archives should be opened,^[7] and on September 18, 2006 over 30,000 documents were made available to researchers.^[8]

Content[link]

The first 70 paragraphs, probably authored by Gundlach, are a critique of theological modernism, unorthodox re-interpretation of Sacred Scripture, nationalism, and racism; the remaining 108, likely authored by all three Jesuits, contextualized the first part of the encyclical with the social role of Catholic educational institutions and anti-Semitism.^[1]

Although the draft encyclical clearly condemned racism and anti-Semitism, the document is deeply grounded in anti-Judaism^[2]. The draft encyclical criticizes the majority of post-Messianic Jews for not acknowledging Jesus Christ as the true Jewish Messiah.^[9]

Racism[link]

The “encyclical” clearly condemns American racial segregation and Racism and Nazi German anti-Semitism ^[10] Racism is a denial of the unity of human society. ^[11], a denial of the human personality ^[12] and a denial of the true values of religion ^[13] There is no relation between race and religion ^[14] last not least because racism is destructive to any society ^[15] The text points out that racism is destructive not only for social relations within a society but also for international relations and relations between different races. ^[16]

Antisemitic accusations[link]

The encyclical condemns the persecution of Jews as well. “These persecutions have been censured by the Holy See on more than one occasion, but especially when they have worn the mantle of Christianity". ^[17] “This unjust and pitiless campaign against the Jews has at least this advantage”, according to the “encyclical”, because the true nature, the authentic basis of the social separation of the Jews from the rest of humanity … is religious in character. …Essentially, the so-called Jewish question … is a question of religion and, since the coming of Christ, a question of Christianity. ^[18] The encyclical blames the Jews of the time of Christ for having brought their own Messiah Jesus Christ to death: "The very act by which the Jewish people put to death their Savior and King was, in the strong language of Saint Paul, the salvation of the world". ^[19] The draft encyclical continues by accusing Jews of blind materialism.

• Blinded by a vision of material domination and gain, the Israelites lost what they themselves had sought. A few chosen souls, among whom were the disciples and followers of Our Lord, the early Jewish Christians, and, through the centuries, a few members of the Jewish people, were an exception to this general rule. By their acceptance of Christ's teaching and their incorporation into His Church, they shared in the inheritance of His glory, but they remained and still remain an exception. "What Israel was seeking after, that it has not obtained; but the chosen have obtained it, and the rest have been blinded" (Romans 11:7). ^[20] The planned encyclical argues, that

• By a mysterious Providence of God, this unhappy people, destroyers of their own nation, whose misguided leaders had called down upon their own heads a Divine malediction, doomed, as it were, to perpetually wander over the face of the earth, were nonetheless never allowed to perish, but have been preserved through the ages into our own time. No natural reason appears to be forthcoming to explain this age-long persistence, this indestructible coherence of the Jewish people.^[21]

Reaction of Pope Pius XII[link]

Pope Pius XII, who according to the authors, was not aware of the text before the death of his predecessor, ^[22] chose not to publish this encyclical. However, his first encyclical Summi Pontificatus (October 12, 1939), published after the beginning of WWII, has the identical title On the Unity of Human Society and uses many of the arguments of the text, avoiding most of the negative characterisation of the Jewish people and rabbinic religion still contained in the text of the original encyclical, planned and written before the invasion of Poland and the start of the Second World War.^[23]

Summi Pontificatus sees Christianity being universalized and opposed to every form of racial hostility and against racial superiority. There are no real racial differences, because the human race forms a unity, because "one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth".

• What a wonderful vision, which makes us contemplate the human race in the unity of its origin in God. . . in the unity of its nature, composed equally in all men of a material body and a spiritual soul; in the unity of its immediate end and its mission in the world; in the unity of its dwelling, the earth, whose benefits all men, by right of nature, may use to sustain and develop life; in the unity of its supernatural end: God himself, to whom all ought to tend; in the unity of the means for attaining this end;. . . in the unity of the redemption wrought by Christ for all.^[24]

This divine law of solidarity and charity assures that all men are truly brethren, without excluding the rich variety of persons, cultures and societies.^[25]

References[link]

• Georges Passelecq and Bernard Suchecky, L’Encyclique Cachee de Pie XI, Une occasion manqué de l’Eglise face a l’antisemitisme , Editions La Decouverte, Paris 1995, (engl)The Hidden Encyclical of Pius XI (Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1997).
• Encyclical Summi Pontificatus on the Vatican website

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Humani Generis Unitas draft of a section as of 1938
• Pius XI and the mystery of the disapperead encyclical (YouTube video, original Italian, with English subtitles, duration 04:38)

This article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject. Please help improve the article with a good introductory style. (March 2009)

Rabbi Yisrael Ariel was the chief rabbi of the evacuated Israeli settlement of Yamit in the Sinai desert during the years when the Sinai was controlled by Israel, and the founder of the Temple Institute (Machon HaMikdash). His brother, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, served as the rosh yeshiva in the yeshiva in Yamit and is currently the chief rabbi of Ramat Gan.

As a young man, Ariel served in the Paratroopers Brigade unit that liberated the Western Wall (kotel) in the Six-Day War. For the 1981 Knesset elections, Ariel ran as number two on the Kach list with Rabbi Meir Kahane in the number one spot.

As of 2006, aside from being the head of the Temple Institute, he is also involved in an attempt to revive the Sanhedrin.

Rabbi Ariel urges that the Pesach sacrificial service on the Temple Mount should be resumed, and that the Temple should be rebuilt as soon as possible.

In December 2006, he was briefly arrested and interrogated by Israeli police after confronting General Elazar Stern, before being released.

See also[link]

• Modern attempts to revive the Sanhedrin

External links[link]

• Temple Institute - Machon HaMikdash
• Temple Institute - Liberating the Temple Mount '67

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